They left me. No, please, goddess no, they left me?
Fire Swirl felt it dancing around him as his parents, his father a pure black earth pony with a yellow, flowing mane, his mother a blue unicorn who's pink mane bobbed in the flames, began to move further away from him. Such ironic luck it was that the orange unicorn with the black mane would meet his end here, underneath a burning tree, his hind legs crippled below his waist, crushed under the flaming wood. And his name. Fire Swirl. Of all the irony! Or is it coincidence, the young unicorn thought. Fuck, what is it?
The nine year old colt had never been the best in his grammatical studies. Always goofing around in class, his teacher Cheerilee would tell his parents. Never paying attention, disrupting other students. "Piss-poor" was the phrase he'd liked to use when he was alone, berating himself for the stupid thing he'd done, like vandalize the calk board or make a sexual joke too loud in class. He couldn't help himself, though. It was as though some sort of extraterrestrial force would take over his body, a puppeteer from within.
Maybe this is for the best. At least Ms. Cheerilee won't have to deal with me anymore. My parents won't be seen as the laughing stock of Ponyville for my actions. Maybe it's better this way.
But no. He shook his head. His parents had said they were going to get help. They wouldn't leave him. But still, why would they leave him crushed under the tree? Couldn't his mother just life the tree off of him? In blind panic, was she just not thinking clearly?
They want to get rid of me, don't they?
Fire Swirl focused all of his energy on trying to move the log. His lack of studying magic wasn't a good help in his attempts to get the giant object off of his crushed legs. He saw the energy field swirling around the tree, orange, the color of his eyes. His closed them, tensing, his face contorting as he focused on getting the tree lifted from him Remember, class, Cheerilee's voice beat against Fire's straining head like a drum. Always keep your focus on whatever it is you're moving to levitate it. Try to visualize it in a dark room.
Eyes closed, Fire saw the tree. It was a rotten old plant, red leaping from it, crawling through its cracks like rivers of blood. He could see the orange energy field around the tree. Now he could see it moving upwards, starting to straighten. As it did so, so did the fallen tree, rising up like a newly erected flag, its bare branches flowing through the air.
In the span of three seconds, Fire Swirl opened his eyes, let the tree go, and rolled away from the spot the tree would fall in. It landed with a crash, crackling flames leaping up in the sky, dancing in the night, branches snapping. Wood splintered through the flaming forest, chunks bouncing off of other trees onto the ground. Fire Swirl rested in a fetal position. He had dragged his crippled hooves up so that the knees were up to his face. He felt liquid slowly slip down his cheeks. The pain was horrible, worse than anything he could ever imagine. Just touching them made it worse, but he knew he had to protect himself somehow. After all, his parents would be back with help soon.
They would be back at some point, wouldn't they?
Fire Swirl felt something prick his back. He let out a yelp, pushing down on his injured legs with his uninjured ones, a cry of pain escaping his mouth as pain roared in them. At least I know they aren't broken forever. Right?
He stretched his head around his back, trying to look at where the pain had originated from. In his left shoulder was a splinter of wood from the burning tree. It protruded four inches from its location. The length of the piece of wood almost caused Fire Swirl to faint in sheer shock. The pain and blood- oh goddesses I'm so scared of blood- running down his back did not help.
Fire Swirl took a deep breath. Suck it up, his father would tell him. Suck it up, be a man, rub some mud on it, whatever. Fire bit his lower lip too hard. Blood began to flow from there too, a river down his chin. There was no pain, just a slight numbness. He took a deep breath, then began to drag himself in the direction he had seen his parents going, his useless hind legs sprawled out limp behind him.
Sweat poured from his mane as he struggled his way towards where his parents had gone. He thought of screeching out, calling for anypony that might be in the vicinity, though he couldn't find his voice. It was as though someone had stolen it, reached in and taken it from his vocal cords when he wasn't looking. The tears were flowing just as much as his blood, droplets splattering on the ground, moistening the dirt that made it up.
He had only dragged himself five feet from his original position, crushed under a tree, when there was a crackling sound to his left. Looking up, Fire craned his neck towards the sound. He licked his broken lips, which were beginning to dry, as he did so. A loud roar escaped from the forest as a tree, alit with flames, began its slow descent down to the forest floor. In his awe, Fire didn't realize that the tree's target location was four feet in front of him until the log banged down and sparks of flame flew into the young unicorn's eyes. Fire screeched, feeling the pain of embers on his eyes. They watered, the embers leaving, the pain staying.
I'm blind, I'm blind, oh goddess, I'm blind! Fire's mind screeched as he opened his eyes, seeing nothing but blackness. The dark lasted only a moment, replaced by the image of a crackling fallen tree in front of Fire.
It was over. His parents weren't coming back and it was over. They had, whether they had known it or not, abandoned him. Left him to die beside a burning tree. The cackling rang in Fire's ears as he rested his chin on the ground. No use hoping, I guess, the young unicorn thought, using one of his good hooves to wipe back some of his black mane that had gotten in his face. This is where it ends.
But it was only just beginning.
With the crackling of fire playing in his ears, Fire Swirl slept.
