Wishing Flame

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."