Chapter 1: Wishing Flame (Re-edited)
Black clouds shroud the sky above a small ruined village. Fallen buildings scatter with damage from a battle that took place years ago, It was clearly visible by the piles of wreckage everywhere. The wind picked up covering the town with dust from the wreckage. The benches, trees, chariots, lamp posts also filled the streets. Newspapers flowed with the wind across the streets with the same headline "Equestria Unite!". The smell in the air was dense but breathable.
"Keep moving!" A female's voice echoed across the villages' ruined streets.
Two ponies leaped over a large pile of rubble. One an earth pony mare while the other a filly unicorn. The earth pony's coat is a dark purple while her mane is a dark blood red. Her mane style covered her right eye in a smooth and silky way while her tail was torn off by something with very sharp claws. Her eyes are a very dark blood red. The only thing that stood out was her cutie mark which was a doctor's bag. The small filly had a light brown coat while her mane and tail is pitch black with a red shine whenever it's exposed to sunlight. Her mane style is almost exactly like the earth pony apart from two ponytails waving with the wind as she ran. Unlike the mare beside her she herself has no cutie mark.
They ran as fast as their legs could carry them through the wreckage on the streets. The purple mare occasionally looked behind her dodging broken down chariots which had remnants of dead ponies everywhere. The sight never bothered the little filly since all she cared about was running away from whatever is chasing them. They dived into a broken window of a knocked down building. The sound of glass cracking as they landed inside the dark room made the filly gasp. The mare quickly covered the filly's mouth with her sweaty hoof while raising the other towards her mouth whispering the words "shh, it's okay.". The mare and filly moved away from the window to hide behind a cabinet inside the wrecked building. The mare's breathing was fine while the filly tried to keep her erratic breathing back under control. The mare went down her satchel on her back pulling out a canteen of water. She unscrewed the lid carefully trying to keep as quiet as she could. She passed the open canteen to the filly who happily took a sip. The filly felt the weight of the canteen after her sip knowing there wasn't much left inside.
"Drink it, dear," she whispered into the filly's ear. Since they've been running around for hours, it was difficult to catch a decent breather. It didn't take the filly long to gulp down the rest of the water from dehydration. Their breathing soon calmed down while their heartbeats raced faster from the sound of hoof steps outside the window. The sound of glass shattering stopped their hearts for a brief moment hoping whatever is outside walks on. The filly looked at the mare who just smiled at her filling her with some sense of security and happiness. But it was neigh, she closed her eyes from a scowling noise outside the wrecked building. The mare peered round the cabinet to see a black silhouette walk past the broken window. The mare sighed in relief from whatever just walk past. She gave a smile as towards the filly only to see a wet puddle from where she sat with a terrified upon on her. The mare didn't take long to scream "RUN!!"
The two ran out of the ruined building only to hear a loud screeching sound from behind. The filly decided to turn her head to see the ruined building crumble blinding the area with a large dust cloud. They ran as fast as their legs could once more, hoping whatever found them was long gone behind them. They continued to run till they reached the outskirts of the village. The view past the outskirts was a tragic one. The trees were dead with no hope of life, the ground had no grass only dirt and dust that picked up with the wind while mountains had this sick feeling when you look at them. It was a baron wasteland beyond the village. The mare stopped running while the little filly ran further from the village. The filly slid to a sudden stop to notice the mare slowed down. The filly watched the mare stumble as her body demanded a breather.
"I'll be right there sweetie." The mare managed to speak out towards her. The filly managed to smile as her mother started to gallop towards her... only her smile changed. her entire face changed to a petrified state as the monster came around a wrecked building. She looked at the monster witnessing its charge attack on four pitch black legs. It was clear the mare was its target. The monster is larger and bulkier than a stallion but was smaller than a minotaur. Its coat was pitch black with its mane and tail matching. But its mane and tail flowed like a snake as if it was alive. The monster had a unicorn horn while its eyes were clear white and without a visible mouth on its face. The filly stood at an awe as the monster charged towards the unsuspecting mare. The mare turned her head around to see where the noise came from. Her eyes filled with despair as she saw the pitch black monster charging towards her with no discretion. As the monster approached its horn glowed followed by its two front hoofs, changing them to what represent griffon claws. The monster leaped a great distance towards the mare grabbing her by the throat. The monster proceeded to throw the mare to the ground, pinning her with great force so she couldn't escape. The filly screamed out towards the pinned mare, watching her struggle to get free from the monster hold. The mare froze with tears in her eyes as the monster made a way closer to her face.
"Don't look sweetie!!" The filly heard her mother scream towards her. The filly shook her head as she took a few steps back trying to deny the sight she's currently witnessing. The filly gasped as the monster raised its left claw. She knew what was going to happen next. As much as she wanted to disbelieve, it was clear as day. The monster brought its left claw down piercing the mothers neck. The filly shook her head as she shouted "No!" over and over again from the sight of the mare coughing up blood. The monster waited for the mare to bleed in pain before clenching its claws grabbing a hold of the spine. The monster pulled as hard as it could causing the spine to snap in half. The filly and monster watched as the life faded away from her body quickly without mercy.
"Mom!!!" The filly screamed out in horror as her mother dropped to the floor with her bloody spine piercing her neck. The filly fell on her back legs looking at her mother with lifeless eyes. The monster turned its head slowly towards the terror-stricken filly with an intimidating stare. The fear of the monster with the loss of her mother kept her in one place. The mixture of feelings filled her eyes with tears. The monster moved its hoof over the mother's head and without hesitation crushed the mothers head. A loud cracking noise, followed with a puddle splash came from the monsters griffin claw. If it was fate that her time was due she would gladly accept her right to die. She was only 10 years old and she just witnessed her mother's death in front of her... but the thought of power crept inside her as she sat there staring towards her remains, wishing she could have done something. The monster picked up speed lessening the distance between them. She's lost everything, her home, her parents, friends... Destiny is really cruel. Dying like livestock Isn't a good way to go.
The monster sped towards the empty shelled filly with its claw raised. The filly looked up towards the charging monster in its cold dead eyes filling her with disparity. Time stood still in her mind as she watched the monster. She doesn't have any reason to carry on apart from a tiny glimpse of hope. She closed her eyes to embrace upcoming death hoping it would be over painlessly. The monster suddenly flinched with its claw raised starring at the filly's horn that illuminated with a small white light. The light soon turned orange with little wisps flying from her horn. The monster came to a sudden stop lowering its claw in the process. The monster tilted its head towards the filly in confusion from the sudden light show. The little filly was lifted off the ground by her own magic without her knowing. She was lifted head height towards the monster making it have a clear view of the filly's teary face. The wisps soon started to violently spark out from her horn rapidly. The monster was weary of the little filly at this point, taking a step back. The wisps started to fly around in a circle enveloping her with her own fire wisps. The monster took a couple more steps back from the spinning ball of fire that was in front of it. The filly felt warm inside from the wisps on her coat, reminding her of home. It felt like she was dreaming like she was in bed while her mother was beside her giving her a warm cuddle before bed. The monster transformed its claws back to hoofs and turned tail towards the ruined village. The wisps multiplied around her making the ball of fire larger than the monster itself. The filly started to cry from the thought of her mother passing on which triggered the wisps to group up onto her horn. The monster looked over its shoulder to see the filly's horn hold a large fireball larger than itself. The monster didn't stand a chance as a tremendously large beam of fire engulfed it burning it to a crisp. It was instant, everything around the monster, even her own mother, was incinerated to an unidentified crisp. The filly struggled to open her left eye from the lack of body strength. It was a huge shock on her part, she could see a strange white ghastly white silhouette walking towards her. The filly felt A hoof rub her mane with the whispers "Well done sweetie, you found your cutie mark."
"Mom?" The little filly managed to speak out before her body collapsed on itself "...I tried."
From a distance away a mysterious pony wearing a full red cloth clothing covering themselves fully noticed the large beam of orange light. They wore a red face cloth covering their face to hide their identity. The pony could see the collapsed filly on the ground. Their thoughts were clear and mind was already made up. The pony proceeded towards the filly picking her up onto her back gently. It was risky in helping other ponies in that day and age now since they could or world backstab you in the blink of an eye.
"let's get you to someplace safe little filly." A female voice emitted from the pony as she walked off towards the forest with no intention of leaving her behind.
The filly suddenly awoke in a warm sweat what looks like a hospital room. She had a look around her to see she was laying underneath covers on a hospital bed. The room was was spotless with a clean and fresh scent of flowers. She couldn't put her hoof on things, but it felt like magic was being used to change the air of the room since she knew flowers went extinct, well, that's what her mother told her anyway. A wave of light headiness suddenly develops over her making her drop back into the pillow to see the ceiling spin around her. She groaned rubbing her head and eyes with her hoofs. She only got a quick glimpse of the room, the door to her left was plain white with a basic handle while the window to the right had a clear plastic covering that only letting in the light of the sun. Beside her was a moving table that had a glass of water placed on top. She shot back up not caring about the dizziness swirling around inside her head. Picking up the glass of water with two hoofs she gulped it down in one without hesitation. She learned it hard in the wasteland with her mother that water is scarce or is already owned by somepony else. The filly's eyes teared up filling the glass with a couple more drops of water. It didn't take long for the filly to burst out crying. She's lost everything dear to her now and somehow she isn't dead. It seems fate is saying it's not her time yet even when she has nothing else to lose it, fate is so cruel. She threw the water in anger and sadness against the wall, watching it smash into a million pieces with what's left of the water. The door handle moved making the filly cover her face with the white covers. The filly grew freighted as she heard the door creak open with hoof steps following after.
"Everything's okay now." The filly responded with sniffle to the females voice. The filly gently pulled down the covers revealing her eyes to the pony standing by the open door. The filly looked to see a pure white earth pony holding a brown satchel on their back. Her mane and tail were pink while her cutie mark was a red medical sign with hearts in each corner. She wore a cap that had the same pattern as her cutie mark. She had a very gentle smile that calmed the filly down a little for her to reveal her eyes from the covers.
"There we go... Nothing bad is going to happen to you here. Your completely safe within these walls." The white pony slowly took a few steps closer to the filly's bed. The filly brought the covers back over her face as the mare reached the end of the bed. The filly from this point didn't know if she could be trusted but she knows she has no choice to.
"My names Nurse Redheart, what's yours?" Redheart kept a gentle smile as she places her satchel bag onto the bed making the filly quiver on edge.
"...I...er..um..." The filly stuttered as she avoided eye contact from Nurse Redheart.
"You can tell me your name can't you?" Redheart tilted her head towards the filly in a childish manner in the hope of making her loosen up.
"...you...erm...Flame...my mother named me Wishing Flame.." Redheart smiled as she pulled out a lollipop from the satchel and passing it towards her slowly. Flame stared towards the lollipop for a couple of seconds before turning back at Nurse Redheart with fear. Redheart backed off a little from Flame before she spoke.
"Mother told me...not to...take sweets from strangers..." Wish gently whispered making Redheart rethink herself. An idea popped into her head from looking at Flame's age. She took another trip down her bag this time pulling out what looks like a simple Daring Do doll. Flame's ears flicked on sight of the doll only to hear a chuckle from Redheart "Do you want this instead?"
Nurse Redheart gave the doll over to Flame who happily accepted. Flame pulled the doll close, looking at it with more detail. Redheart saw the opportunity, she reached down the satchel slowly trying not to alert Flame's attention. Redheart very sneakily pulled out a small syringe containing an orange syrupy liquid. She placed it behind her without being noticed by Flame who was occupied on the doll. Redheart started to move around the bed closing the distance to Flame.
Redheart stopped halfway towards Flame in worry. Redheart noticed she hasn't moved nor changed her facial expression. It was the same dead lifeless feeling the monsters emitted. Redheart panicked, diving towards Flame with the needle in a hoof. Flame's face squinted as she screamed towards the earth pony "Noo!!". Redheart didn't see it coming, a few orange wisps sparked from her horn then before she knew it she was hit by a small fire beam from the filly's horn. Redheart went flying back into the wall beside to the door staggering her. Flame quickly jumped off the bed and made her way towards the door. Flame threw the doll towards Redheart's hoofs screaming the words "You liar!! Mother told me never to trust anypony!!" In anger before she ran out of the room. Flame still felt dizzy from before just barely managing to run in a straight line without smashing into the walls of the corridor. Redheart felt her staggering body fall to the ground with her head outside the door. She watched Flame run halfway down the corridor before going down a flight of stairs. Flame managed to make her way down the flight of stairs reaching the ground floor. The sight was a dreadful one, the walls and ceiling were missing crucial parts while the floor had dusty wreckage all over. The damage portrayed a battle from the looks of it. Flame had to climb over some rubble that blocked the front doors. The filly didn't think twice about charging through the door. As she did the glare of the sun blinded her making her raise her right hoof to counter it. Her eyes adjusted pretty fast from the awful glare. She could not believe what she was witnessing, the sight of green grass, leafs, apple trees, intact buildings with a lake in the background, and most importantly, ponies were seen all around the place. Her breath being taken away made her stumble a few steps forwards onto the dirt path from the hospital. She stopped as everypony stared towards her with curious eyes. The feeling made her heart skip a beat in both joy and bewilderment. She looked left and right to see wooden houses with a lake on the outskirts. It was the first time in forever that she could look onto a green grassy again. Tears filled her eyes as she couldn't say a word, all she could do was mourn to everypony who got her there. Flame fell to the floor as she lost feeling in all four legs, it must have been from joy because she found somewhere its safe... But without her mother it didn't feel right. It felt so empty that everything turned gray and dull. She couldn't do anything but sit there and cry. Everypony didn't know what was going on as the filly in front of them cried on the ground. Flame flinched as she heard a window break behind her, she only had time to turn her head. She saw Nurse Redheart flying through the smashed window towards her with a face full of anger. She didn't have time to react, all she had time for was to feel a syringe needle pierce her neck. Flame could feel a cold liquid enter her blood stream making her squirm in place Redheart proceeded by pinning Flame down to the ground with her body weight making sure she couldn't run away.
"That's all the Resistant you're getting from us, you little runt!" She growled towards the pinned Flame. Flame on another hoof struggled only to no prevail. Flame's sight blurred once more while her body collapsed on its self, She felt her conscious fading once again making her groan before her eyes closed. Redheart got off the unconscious Flame wiping the dirt off her white body. She straightened her nurse cap before picking up Flame onto her back and making her way towards the town.
"Bucking runt got me good, why do I always get the crazy ones." Redheart scowled underneath her breath as she made her way through the small settlement to a quite large log cabin. Redheart entered the front to see one big office with whiteboards with paper documents and maps on them. Multiple chairs and couches spanned the filthy room with more documents placed on them while A large wooden desk was placed at the back by a window with a clear view of the lake. Behind the desk was a leather chair facing the window of the lake with somepony stabbing a cigar into an ashtray. The place was basically a gold mine of information of the surrounding areas of Equestria and all their resources. Redheart threw the filly in hoof onto a large couch making the documents fly everywhere around the room.
"Careful, she's still a young filly you know." The pony sitting on the chair spun around revealing an old light blue Pegasus with gray simple hair and mane, his cutie mark was a Hammer and gravel while his eyes were black with a light blue pupil.
"I don't care if she's a crippled. She attacked me when I tried to give her some Resistant!" Redheart raised her voice towards the stallion.
The pegasus clicks his tongue towards Redheart "From what I have heard their settlement somehow lived in harmony for about 5 years before the first wave of Eli's broke loose on Equestria. All she's known is peace without war or fighting, I bet they were secluded from using magic and flying to stay invisible from the Eli's. They probably don't know what Resistant is."
"Our contact says she witnessed her mother's death first hoof... it was brutal... A griffin claw into the neck trying to pry out the spine but ended up snapping instead. The blood left behind was immense. It beats me in how she's still sane after that encounter." Redheart's expression and tone changed. She sound considerate towards the laying out the unconscious unicorn.
"No..." Redheart turned her attention towards the pegasus "Shes our ticket in securing the future, she can't be sane if she plans to live in this world. how much Resistant did you give her?"
"We're running low on that stuff and you wanted me to give some to her. Are you mad, she's not one of us?" Redheart lashed out hitting the table with her hoof.
"That stuff is one of the only liquids to stop the virus spell spreading to the unicorns and Pegasi. I know we're running low on it that's why she's taking my share."
"Celestia be my witness! your generous attitude will kill you one day you know that right?" Redheart immediately replied as she stormed out of the log cabin door.
"You've changed Redheart... then again, everypony's changed when this started." The pegasus sighed deeply as he looked at his hoof to see black spots on his blue coat. He could feel a small breeze hit him through his window remembering he's alive in this hell hole.
"The prophecy... can it be true, can we all be saved with the dead coming back to us? I'm sorry Flame... I will bring them all back... even if you won't help us I will find a way to...Your cutie mark leads to the prophecy perfectly." He muttered as he looked towards the flame on her flank "You will save us... even if you don't want to."
Flame proceeded down a flight of wooden stairs looking at the pictures of her family. She could see all the fun moments in her past, like when she first used magic to levitate her father around the living room or when she teleported her family to the kitchen... In the Mayor's' house, she got in huge trouble for doing that since using any kind of magic was forbidden in the village. She stopped halfway down the stairs from the sight of the clear image of her father. A smiling blue unicorn sat on a wooden stall looking deeply into Flame's eyes as she was a tiny foal. The male unicorn had a short, brown ponytail for his mane while he had a brown long and thin tail that dangled from the stall. You could catch a glimpse of his cutie mark in the corner where he sat, it was three rolled up blueprints within a small pot.
"Flame, could you go and fetch today's water?" Flame heard her mother's sweet voice downstairs that brought a pleasant smile across her face. She proceeded down the creaking stairs and towards the front door. Flame felt something was off, making her freeze in hesitation, leaving her shaking hoof halfway towards the door handle. It didn't feel right like something horrible was going to happen. Flame turned her head towards the living room beside the stairs to see her beloved mother in the back washing dishes at a sink. Flame could feel the air around her dull down like it could be an illusion. Then it clicked, the last thing she remembered was Nurse Redheart diving out a window towards her. She quickly swung the door open with her magic in worry only to take in a breath to see a black monster stand on the porch with its horn glowing blue. Flame was at a loss for words as she saw a black ponytail float above behind it. The monster wasted no time unleashing a wave of water from its horn. Flame took in a deep breath while she closed her eyes shut.
Flame spontaneously awoke from a large quantity of cold water drenching her. She quivered on the couch where Redheart threw her, but she didn't know that. The last thing she saw was Redheart pinning her to the ground injecting her with an orange liquid. The result made her lose consciousness. The old blue Pegasus held a bucket in hoofs towards the drenched Flame.
"You awake now?" The old Pegasus said with a devilish smile giving off the impression he did it on purpose. "Good, if you sleep anymore you'll be up all night." The old Pegasus said childishly as he threw the bucket behind him without a care in the world.
Flame groaned as she got off the couch dripping wet. The old pegasus flinched, lifting his wing as Flame started shaking the water off violently soaking him in the process. The old pegasus chuckled from the now puffed mane and tailed unicorn in front of him. Flame tensed up as the pegasus rubbed her head gently with a caring smile making Flame's heart calm down.
"Don't get so tensed up, I was only joking." The Pegasus's smile turned to a grin giving Flame a small smirk. Flame watched the old Pegasus walk around a large wooden table with documents. It felt off, his body language changed instantly as well as his tone towards the little filly "This sounds rather sudden Miss Flame. You have two options in front of you, one, you can stay here in this small town and help it survive and grow, or two, you can go on your way but I doubt your mother would want that am I right?"
Flame was shocked to see the nice pegasus change ever so suddenly, It made the filly shake in fright. The Pegasus stared at the brown filly with a serious expression. The cold stare made the filly stutter jumbled words.
"HAHAHA!" Flame shook her head towards the now laughing pegasus. Flame slowly took a couple of steps towards the open door while staring at the Pegasus as if he was mad. "You think this old pegasus is mad don't you?" He asked Flame who jumped to stop at the door.
"I...It’s not...I mean." The old Pegasus chuckled as he went round the wooden table towards her.
"I won't take anything of it. I should've told you my name first, it's Oli Smack. Once a military pony now retired." Flame giggled towards Oli confusing the blue Pegasus "Did I say something amusing?"
"Oli Smack pfft haha." Flame burst out laughing giving Oli a sense of happiness. Oli finally made the filly cheer up.
"Yes, yes. My mother gave me that name when I flew around the baby room in the hospital... Well, my mother kept seeing me crash into ponies and slapping their heads with my wings. But let's get moving." Oli passed Flame and out into the wooden door. He looked back towards the brown filly to see her running up to him. She must be loosening up to him if she's walking beside him without making a run for it. But it is only the start of a friendship. They ventured around the small village to see it had a school, baker, storehouse, a forger, hospital and a lot of small cottages with about 2-3 families living inside. There are wooden beams of future houses being built. The small village was on its way in growing to a stable economy. There were major buildings missing, like a farm where they grow food or a shipping dock where they could try and see what's along the lake. Oli introduced Flame to everypony in the village as well. Even though it didn't go smoothly as the residents were afraid of her, but she couldn't put a hoof on it as to why they're afraid of her. The tour of the village came to an end when they ended up at Oli's cottage. The house was like everypony else's, it was rather large but it was trashed and ruined, the walls were logs attached together with rope giving it that unstable feeling.
The front door was filled to the brim of maps of the Everfree forest. Oli unlocked the door with a simple bang on the door. Flame's eyes widened as the door slowly opened up to reveal the house in a state. documents were everywhere with bottles of water and beer bottles on top.
"Do mind the mess, I haven't had company in a long time. Well, not since this whole mess started anyway." Oli said as he walked over the documents.
"Oli!" Flame suddenly shouted as he stepped on a beer bottle. Flame cringed as the Pegasus rolled across a large hallway. Flame rushed in after him just barely missing the bottles everywhere. She stood back as he jumped back up again shaking his head.
"That would knock some sense into anypony. Anyway, want anything Flame?" Oli walked away without a scratch on him luckily. With the mess everywhere, it's shocking he hasn't killed himself.
"I take that as a yes then. One beer coming up...wait, how old are you?" Oli questioned Flame who gave a startled reaction back. "Oh yeah...your ten so I guess alcohol is out of the question," he replied to himself as he opened up a fridge. Flame waltzed into the kitchen to see it was spotless from any paper or bottles bewildering her even more.
"You're mysterious Pegasus you know that right." Flame softly said behind Oli who was moving bottles around the fridge.
"Heh. Says the unicorn who blasted an Eli to ashes." Oli chuckled as he pulled out two cans of cola.
"Eli's?" Flame asked as the Pegasus pulled out two stools from underneath a table.
"The monsters you hid from for 5 years in a settlement with your parents. They're also the monsters you encountered before you arrived here, and might I add, you better thank the pony who brought you here when you go to school tomorrow. But we're getting off-topic, The Eli's appeared here in Equestria about 5 years ago when the sky turned black with a rupture of magic scouring the land. Everypony never thought anything off it at first. But things deteriorated pretty quickly. The first sight of Eli's was in Canterlot...from the castle. We didn't know what was going on at first when Canterlot was burned to the ground with piles of dead corpses everywhere. The damage was catastrophic, barely anything remained in that town now only Eli's roam the city streets. And before you ask, no, Princess Celestia and Luna went missing when the Eli's appeared giving worry all over Equestria. I have my own reasons in why this all started. But listen to me ramble, you better get ready for school tomorrow... it will decide your fate with the rest of the foals." Oli finished explaining taking a sip from the cola can with his two hoofs.
"What about the history of Eli's? I want to know more!" Flame groaned towards Oli. The blue pegasus chuckled with laughter as he gave the cola to Flame who walked off into what looks like the living room... a very messy document ridden living room. But a queen sized bed was prepared for her right by the closed curtain window. Candles lit the room giving off a sweet scent. Did Oli plan it a little or was it his generosity showing? Either way, this would be the only night in 6 months she's going to get a good night's sleep. Flame looked outside to see it was still day time but the clocks on the walls were clicking at 10 P.M. It was strange for Flame, probably for everypony, because the sun stays in place, no matter what time it is. This started to happen when her village secluded itself from the rest of Equestria 5 years ago. A lot of ponies believed the Princess of the sun was vanquished which would explain why the sun hasn't moved for half of decade. The sky does turn black whenever an Eli is present or the weather changes for an unknown reason. Anyway, Flame tucked herself and resting her eyes in the dark living room. It's surprising in how she could get to sleep from past events that happened, it felt like she didn't have to worry as much like her mother was watching her as she slept. Flame soon drifted away in slumber.
"Good luck tomorrow, you're going to need it," Oli whispered as he stood at the door watching over Flame. He drank the last drop of cola before throwing it into a black bag.
"...I gave You that cola for a very special occasion..." Nurse Redheart came in through a back door.
Oli's head tilted to the floor as he sighed "The redhead follows me and Flame home and tells me what I can and can't do... Please, mare.". Oli quickly finished the rest of the Cola before throwing it on the floor.
Redheart groaned at the blue Pegasus for the rude reply. She passed her satchel on the table and reached down bringing out a syringe with the Resistant in. Oli raised his right hoof to see the black spots manifested turning the bottom of his hoof black. Redheart noticed Oli's sudden movement in trying to hide his hoof from her.
"You aren't saying no to this Oli!" Redheart raised her voice making the Pegasus jump towards her covering her mouth. Redheart tried to speak only to hear a muffled sound instead. She growled in anger before biting the hoof in her mouth. Oli's wings spread as his brain cut out pain for a second before he yelped in pain. Redheart watched Oli hit his head on the ceiling hitting the ground beside the table. Redheart chuckled as she leant down to his head which was on the floor "Somepony still forgets I don't like to be pony handled, Mr Smack."
"Keep your voice...er...what are you?" Oli laid on the floor looking at Redheart who had an evil grin on her face that says she's going to enjoy this.
"You skipped your daily ration of Resistant, I'm only here to give you your injection...now hold still." Redheart chuckled evilly as she quickly stabbed the needle into the Pegasus's rear. Screams from Oli's house could be heard from all over the village. Nopony cared about the screams as they knew it was their regular routine once a week. It was funny every time the townsfolk heard it as it brought up their spirits.
A dust storm brewed out in the wasteland covering visibility to a bare minimum. A group of five ponies stood creating a circle. They all wore different colour cloth rags to keep their coats protected from the dust and sand. The only part of their body that was visible was their hoofs but the sky turned black which didn't help them. Their conversation was hazy to each other as the wind pick up.
"How's Las Pegasus?" A female's voice was heard from the circle.
"I managed to take out a couple of Eli's but..." The pony who responded sounded upset "They...they didn't make it."
"May Celestia give them a quick death. What about you, how's your objective coming along?" The same pony raised her voice over the storm which raged even further.
"I could sense magic emit from the area of Appleloosa. Even though it only consisted of earth ponies there's something fishy going on at that place." Another female's voice was heard over the storm.
"No Eli's?"
"....Nnnope" A male's voice was heard this time making the pony who was talking sigh from the lack of information.
"What about the girls? Are they heading to Shiretown?"
"They'll arrive in the morning, I hope they don't do anything stupid." One of them sighed tilting their head to the floor.
"They will be fine. They've grown up since I last saw them."
"That's not what I'm worried about..." The female who spoke replied in a flat monotone.
"Just have faith it's not like their going to scare the foals stupid. So be calm okay. Now onto important matters, investigating Canterlot..."
Flame stood outside the so called school. Like the rest of the village, it was built out of logs but for some reason its size was of the houses. Flame stayed stood outside the door for a good twenty minutes thinking about what will they say or how will they react because she arrived late to her first day at a school. Flame took in a deep breath before pushing the door wide open. Flame saw the whole room filled to the brim of young fillies and colts and one yellow mare using magic on a piece of chalk on a chalkboard. Desks pointed to the away from Flame so everypony looked over their shoulder towards her in bewilderment.
"She finally grew the courage to meet her classmates." The teacher placed down the chalk and used her magic to pull out Flames seat in the middle of the room. Flame shook a little from being nervous around so many ponies at one time. She never had this many of her age in one place before so it did feel off. She placed her satchel down underneath the singular wooden desk and waited patiently for everypony to look back at the teacher. But they didn't, they stared at her constantly like she was an outsider, Even though she was it was still rude in her eyes. Flame caught on after a minute of staring. Everypony around her was mainly an earth pony with five or six Pegasi. She continued to scour across the room to see the foals whispering.
"I know it's not every day you meet a new class member, especially a unicorn. But please pay attention." The teacher spoke in a cheerful tone as she continued to write on the chalkboard. Everypony in the room stopped staring towards her to focus on the teacher's writing. Flame saw the chalkboard filled with the history of Equestria and more.
"Can anypony tell me what happened before the Breakout?" The teacher asked the whole class with a couple of hoofs raising to the air.
"The land was ruled by two Princesses..." Flame whispered to herself while one colt raised his voice.
"What were their names?"
"Celestia and Luna, they were both alicorns. Celestia controlled the sun while Luna the moon."
"Boring!" A green filly groaned at the top of her voice "Get to the part about the Eli's."
"Cinnamon!" The teacher yelled at the green filly shocking the whole class "This is a vital part in our history and you want to skip it?"
"We all know about the two alicorn sisters and their title. So, why can't we get to the good part about the Eli's" The green filly said as she punched the air with determination. The teacher shook her head as the filly flip onto the desk with a buck towards the sky.
"This is school, not a training session, sit down Cin." A male's voice was heard from the crowd of foals.
Flame couldn't help but smile of the silliness going on around her, it felt so uplifting it made her giggle at the now dancing pony on the desk. This was another new experience in her life, simple enjoyment was something new to her because she never had a chance to enjoy what was around her. Flame let out her voice a little grabbing the attention of a small red colt next to her. The colt leant over towards Flame, tapping her shoulder grabbing her attention. The colt's dark brown mane was short with a small flick at the front like a French crop style while his tail was a short flick that went through the back of his seat. The colt's brown eyes had a lazy feel that made Flame relax while his flank remained blank.
"This is the first time in meeting a unicorn other than Miss. Sprinklet. So what's it like using magic, does it hurt, is it useful?" The colt asked trying to hold in some of his excitement.
"...But you have...The teacher who is a unicorn?"
"She never answers me, maybe because I ask too many questions. O~r, maybe I'm just annoying and she doesn't want me to know. But I'm getting sidetracked, please tell me." The colt clapped his hooves together towards her. She felt awkward with him in a begging position towards her.
"To tell you the truth... I've never used my magic before." Flame answered, "It wasn't my choice because magic was forbidden where I came from, they said it was a curse."
"A curse? So you don't know?" The colt said as he rubbed his head making Flame confused. "Miss. Sprinklet, Flame thinks magic is a curse why is that?" he proceeded to shout across the classroom grabbing every ponies attention.
Everypony stopped to once again stare at the young filly with bewilderment "A curse? I can see why you would think it's a curse, but no it is not a curse dear. In fact, it's the opposite. We have the power to produce spells which can do great things, good and bad. The other is that we can do other things that other ponies can't do. Like, we can help the community a great load or handle a machine that hoofs cannot operate. Why do you think it's a curse?"
"Because-" Flame was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the door slamming wide open. Everypony diverted their attention to the pale, light greyish olive green and light grey fillies standing at the door with an accidental expression on their face. The whole room saw the olive green filly had a red mane that ran down her chest while the top sat above her forehead with a small red bow sitting by her left ear. The light greyish filly unicorn standing beside the filly had a rather long light purple with light rose pink streaks mane and tail. The grey filly had dull green eyes while the other filly had orange. They wore matching dark blue cloth rags that covered their bodies and their cutie marks.
"I don't think the door is supposed to lean like that?" The grey unicorn spoke in an awkward tone to the olive earth pony.
"Nothing I can't-" The filly tapped the door only for it to fall of the hinges "...Fix..."
Miss Sprinklet groaned as she banged her head against her desk from the two at the broken door "Why do you have to arrive today?"
"Because Twi asked us to, something about teaching the youngins about self-defence?" The olive pony answered as she proceeded into the school giving a better view to everypony there.
"Class, starting today these two are your mentors in survival in the wasteland as well as combat. Meet Applebloom and Sweetie Belle..." Sprinklet paused mid sentence realising there's one missing in the group "Where's Scootaloo?"
"She was behind us a second ago?" Sweetie Belle looked over her shoulder at the entrance to see it empty "She's going to get herself hurt again I know it."
Flame starred towards Sweetie Belle in awe from the magic that pulsed inside her. It felt weird to her because it only started yesterday when she could feel magic abilities in others. Like as she was shown around the village she could feel the different levels of magic in other ponies, big or small. Has something awoke inside her she thought like has she changed during the horrific event a couple of days ago as she could only recall small portions of it. But the weirdest part of it was Applebloom, she emitted nearly the same magic ability as Sweetie Belle even though she's an earth pony who can't use magic. Flame lost focus and shook her head in getting her back to reality. Flame flinched a little as she felt a small surge from her horn. A small wisp appeared in front of her with it moving slowly towards her nuzzle. The wisp tickled her nuzzle giving her enjoyment deep down inside. Sweetie Belle noticed the small orange wisp in the corner of her eye-grabbing her attention. Sweetie watched as the wisp gently landed on her muzzle. Out of surprise, the classroom window suddenly smashed into a million pieces with an orange pegasus jumping hoof first on a motorised scooter. Every foal in the room screamed and cowered under their desks. Flame's heart skipped a beat like when the Eli charged towards her after killing her mother. She screamed the loudest with a small magical beam firing from her horn. The orange pegasus's face dropped as the beam hit her body making her fly into the chalkboard splitting it in two. The classroom came from their desks with a surprised look at Flame who's shocked in what she just done. Sweetie Belle didn't take her eyes off her as Scootaloo jumped through the window. The wisp was absorbed with small pockets of magic from the pegasus' and then used to fire a beam of pure magic towards Scootaloo.
"I don't wanna go to schoo~l." Scootaloo blabbed as she sat by the two half's of a chalkboard. The whole class looked back towards the orange pegasus to see her mane and tail were a cerise colour with the style of her mane went over her forehead with a flick of the fringe sticking up while her eyes were a greyish purple.
"In all fairness, she deserves it." Applebloom giggled towards the in a daze pegasus.
"...Window. Fix. Now." Miss. Sprinklet pointed her hoof towards the broken glass window.
Flame couldn't piece it together with the class. They were amazed instead of afraid towards her the result made her blush in embarrassment. Scootaloo jumped up on top of the desk shaking off the sudden blast. Applebloom sighed at the orange pegasus who flapped her wings trying to fly but instead slows her descent.
"I'm sorry!" Flame squealed at the top of her voice.
"Don't sweat it kid it'll take more than a small magic blast to keep me down," Scootaloo said with over confidence.
"You've spent too much time with Rainbow. Am I right Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom chuckled as she turned her head towards the grey unicorn. Applebloom could see Sweetie Belle stare towards the small unicorn, she could see the curiosity in her eyes knowing that she's special in some way.
"So you're going to be okay?" Flame wanted reassurance because it was her first day at a school and she didn't want to start any grief with the school.
"She'll be fine Flame, it's not the first time she tried to scare a class of mine by crashing through the window." Miss. Sprinklet raised her eyebrow towards the now chuckling pegasus "Now, Fix the window if you may Sweetie Belle."
"Er, yeah, sure." Sweetie answered without taking her eyes off Flame. Flame stared back with worry like she was in trouble. Sweetie Belle used her magic to meld together all the glass pieces back into the window panel fixing it back to normal. After Sweetie fixed the window the school day went on without any interruptions. The three mares didn't get to take their class out for a lesson but at least they got to speak with the entire class, cheering them up in the process. Within the time frame Flame felt out of place, She was embarrassed, shy and, not to mention, nervous. She could still feel the glances the others were giving her making her shake a little. But Flame didn't notice Sweetie's curious gaze towards her. In Sweetie's mind it felt strange, the surge of sudden power emitting from Flame was... dark like nothing she's ever seen before. Sweetie knew what she felt inside was curiosity but it felt a little different than that, Everypony in the room just forgets about what just happened to Scootaloo and moves on with the day without any complications. Sweetie figured out it was fear, fear of the unknown. Though it will all change when Sweetie gets to have a little talk tomorrow as Miss Sprinklet said the class has to stay in a study for today. So Sweetie Belle will get her chance to talk, but she'll have to wait and see about that.
