Chapters I was born on a Wednesday, Wednesday, July 4th 19 years ago. My mother had been rushed to the hospital by my father with a record time, since he had been in the wonderbolts at the time. My mother was scared though, she had told me so when I was a young child. "Your father has never been a very safe stallion," she told me, "But you should always trust him, for although he isn't always safe, he's an amazing stallion, and he'll always be your father."
But back to my birth. My mom was worried sick, since I was so early, she thought I was gonna be sick,or that I wouldn't live. My dad, however, believed in me. He said I had moxie before I was even born. I think he was hoping i'd be exactly like him; a fast flying, courage filled, blue furred, strong stallion. This made my mom smile, and she told me that this was one of the things that pulled her together, and reminded her that we were a family. Then I was born. I was an easy delivery, I have been told, and the cutest foal in the nursery.
I was forced to stay at the hospital for 4 days, my mother staying for 5. When I got home, which was a small house on the northern part of ponyville, I was welcomed with open hooves, and there weren't many of them. Not saying that's tragic, but both my parents were single children, and my mom's parents' had died two years before I was born. So, only my dad and my dad's parents' were at our house when we arrived. They all held me and talked sweet words to me, you know, the usual things that parents and grand parents do with the newborn. The only problem is, I was called just 'baby' for a few days after my birth, because my parents couldn't come up with a name for me. They pondered over a few: Red Rocket, Shining Streak, Breaking Blitz, but when my parents heard the name Burning Flame, they fell in love with it. My dad thought it was bold, and my mom thought it was gentle. That just show how my parents weight each other out with their differences.
As I started to grow up a little, I grew close to my family. As some would say, I made the bonds necessary for this stage of life. My dad was a big hero to me, and my mother was 'my love'. She called me that, so instead of calling her mom when I was little, I called her 'my love'. She thought this was 'just the most adorable thing!' But one day, I was playing in the park near my house with some blocks, when a light blue furred and dark blue maned pegasus approached me. He stepped toward me, and tried to grab one of my blocks. Key word tried. I held onto the blocks with strength. He kept pulling, I kept holding. After about a minuet, he let go, and we both fell over. I smiled and thought, 'That's what you get for stealing my toys!' But my enjoyment wasn't lived long, as I noticed it was him who had the blocks. I hadn't learned yet that you shouldn't call for your 'love' when being bullied, but I learned that day. As soon as I called for my mom, the kid laughed and said,
"My love? That's hilarious. Hey, Hoops, did you hear that?" Then he walked away to go talk to his friend. By the time my mother had arrived, I was about to cry. But, I couldn't, because I had to be tough, like dad.
Then, once I was old enough, I was sent off to school. My mother got me a saddle bag, and my dad gave me advice,
"Be tough, don't let other kids hurt you. You're too cool and amazing of a kid for that."
On the first day, I was lost. Completely and utterly lost. I had no idea where my classroom was, and I knew nopony. As I was looking around through the crowd, an excited voice hit my ears.
"Hey, are you lost or something?" The voice asked. I turned around to look at who was asking. As I searched, I saw many faces, but one stood out to me. A unicorn with a pastel yellow fur, and a light blue and dark blue mane. She looked to be about my age.
"Ehrm, yes, I am lost."
"Well, what grade are you in?"
"I'm in grade 1."
"I thought so! This is great, you're in my grade! Just follow me!"
The unicorn led me out of the crowd of school ponies, and toward a door that had a one on it. I hoofpalmed my forehead. How could I miss a door with a huge one on it! Before we walked inside, this unicorn stopped me.
"So, what's you name?"
"My name's Burning Flame," I replied, with a smile. I liked this pony, although I didn't know why.
"That's a cool name! Mine's Whimsical Breezybluffs!"
"Oh, well that's a cool name too!"
"Wanna be friends?"
"Yeah, sure!"
We did almost everything together after that. We sat next to each other in class, we ate lunch together, we went to each others' houses, we basically grew up together. Now, on one of the occasions that she came over to my house, when we were in about fifth grade, pretty much everything had been normal. We watched an old movie that mom and dad owned on their projector, had pizza, and played pretend, as we always did. But late in the night, after we both were asleep, I heard a noise, a bang almost.
I jumped up, and looked around, but I didn't see anything. I walked out of my room, and took another look. I heard more faint noises coming from the living room, so I traveled to the stairs. I looked down before I walked down, and what I saw, was terrible. I saw my father fighting off a creature of which after a few minuets I identified as bats. I was going to scream, but instead, I heard a scram coming from my parents' room, so I sprinted there. But when I arrived there, I saw something I will never forget. My mother lay with little life left in her. I ran up to her, and said, "Don't leave me, mom, please, my love!"
"Darling, I must physically die, but I will always live in your heart, my love." And these were her last words.
But there was no time to react. I knew so, because I felt as though I had to go check on my father, who was probably fighting for his life as well. I ran back to the stairs, and when I got there, my heart plummeted more than it already had. I saw my dad, a wound open in his chest, and the light gone from his eyes. I started to cry, this was a lot for a kid, as it would be for anybody, I suppose. But before even 30 seconds passed by, I heard another scream, this time coming from my room. I got up quickly and was in a dead sprint toward my room, and when I got there, I knew exactly what to do. I lost my love and my hero, I couldn't lose my best friend. Three bats surrounded Whimsical, and they didn't notice me walk in, so I hit one on the head, one in the back, and I tackled the last one. I was panting, and Whimsical had a shocked expression on her face.
"That was amazing, Burning Flame that was amazing! O. M. goodness I- Burning Flame, your cutie mark!"
"I don't have a-" I looked at my flank. In stead of just red blank fur on my flanks, I saw a shield with fire inside it.
"It was because you saved me! You must be meant to save everypony!"
I smiled, then laughed and jumped up and down.
"I got my cutie mark! I got my cutie mark! I got my-"
But I stopped celebrating, because at that moments I realized; I was an orphan.
Chapter 2: Early Adolescence
After this attack my whole life was different. I had been moved to an orphanage, Ponyville orphanage to be exact. I had a room there, with a bunk bed and a window. Whimsical came to visit me, she kept telling me how amazing I was. That made me feel good, but at night, I felt terrible. I almost always cried myself to sleep, thinking about how my mother used to tuck me in and sing to me every night. And how my dad used to give me advice before school. But after about a month or so of this full-on mourning, I heard a small voice in the back of my head. It was a piece of my father's advice. Once, when I had a D- on one of my quizzes, and I felt really discouraged, my dad told me, 'Son, you gotta keep moving, no matter what happens. Because if you have a positive attitude and a smile on your face, things'll get better.' As I heard this voice saying these words, I was encouraged. I knew that my parents wanted me to be happy, so I thought I would be. And it wasn't fake happiness, either. Knowing that my parents were looking out for me from wherever their spirits were, made me happy.
Then, one day, I heard a commotion. I heard the owners talking and walking in and out of the room across from me, so I went out of my room to see what was. By the time I was out there, I saw one of the owners holding a young filly. She had orange fur and a purple mane. She was asleep, and looked to be only a few months old. I smiled at her, since as soon as I saw her, I felt a flush in my heart, a connection. Nothing romantic, yet something platonic. I walked over to the owner and asked,
"Who's this?"
"Well, on the note that she was left with-"
"Wait, she was just left here?"
"Yes, that's how many of our foals in this house ended up here." She frowned, then continued, "On the card that her parents left in the basket she showed up in said her name is Scootaloo. We're moving her into this room, though I don't know how we're going to take care of her. We have enough fillies and foals in this house already, and we have to take care of the other younger fillies already-"
"I'll do it!"
"What?"
"I'll take care of her!"
She smiled at me, then said, "You're a responsible foal, Burning Flame. I think I can allow you to look over Scootaloo here for a little while."
So, the next day, I walked into Scootaloo's room as soon as I woke up. She awoke as soon as I opened the door, and she cooed. I walked over to her and looked at her.
"Hello, Scootaloo, I'm Burning Flame"
"Bwuub wub."
"No, Burning Flame."
"bwaning fwame?"
"Yeah, close enough. So, you're a pegasus, huh? Well that's pretty cool, I can teach you how to fly when you get older."
"fwububub?"
"Yeah, I'll teach you to fwububub. Y'know, you're a cute little kid."
"daddy?"
"Me? Well, I..." I smiled, "Yeah, sure kid."
I then heard the bell that signaled breakfast, so I turned towards the door, about to leave. But I looked over my shoulder before I left, and said, "Bye, kiddo!" than ran off, shutting the door behind me.
Later that day, I walked back into her room, deciding this kid was lonely. I walked over and sat next to her crib.
"How ya doin' kiddo?"
She cooed.
I laughed, and then heard her making more noises. Not crying, exactly, more whining. My brow furrowed, then I looked into her crib. Her hooves were extended, and she looked distressed.
"You okay, kid?"
"picky yuppy!"
I smiled, "Ha, alright, I'll pick you up." But just as I was about to do so, I got an idea; my dad used to pick me up, then throw me into the air, then catch me. I smiled than picked up Scootaloo.
"You wanna fly, kiddo?"
"Fwububub! Fwububub!"
I laughed than threw her up into the air, her laughing wildly, and then caught her on my back.
"Wanna do that again?"
"Fwububub!"
So, we kept doing this, and Scootaloo was loving it! She was laughing, and cooing, the lot, until she started yawning.
"Huh, yeah, I'm tired too, kid. How about we hit the hay?"
She nodded in response, then fell over and started snoring. I laughed, then hugged Scootaloo tight to my chest, and fell asleep as well.
A few days later, I got a note from Whimsical saying she wanted to meet me, like we usually did, just at a different time since she had something to related to school. So, I went to our usual meeting spot, and waited. I waited, and I waited, and I waited, but she didn't show up. After a while of this constant waiting, I heard a voice.
"You look lonely."
I turned around. Standing there was a gray pegasus with a yellow mane. Her eyes were crossed, but as soon as I looked into them (as best as I could, back then) my heart started beating, my face flushed, and my ears flattened.
"Oh, no,I-I'm just waiting for a friend."
"Well, your friend's not here yet, I see, so I'll keep you company."
"Oh, T-thank you."
She smiled, then sat next to me.
"My name's Derpy Hooves."
"I'm Burning Flame." I smiled at her. Although I had been a little nervous at the first meeting of her I was nervous, I started to feel very comfortable talking to her. After a few minuets of looking around, I noticed that Derpy Hooves had a saddlebag, filled with newspapers. I remembered how back at my old house, we used to get newspapers every Sunday. I hadn't realized that a pony had dropped those off, at the time. Or at least I hadn't thought about it.
"So, uh, you carry mail?"
'"Yeah. It's actually really fun, and you start to get to know the people of the town."
"Sounds pretty cool. Are the hours good?"
"Yeah. I'm actually about to get off, surprisingly. Although, I usually have tons of papers left over. Usually because my eyes are so messed up..."
I smiled sympathetically, and replied, "I don't think your eyes are messed up at all!"
"You're just saying that. Of course my eyes are messed up, no matter how much I want them not to be."
"Hey, it's what makes you special!"
She smiled at me, and I blushed a little, then heard a laugh from behind me. I frowned, knowing exactly who had emitted that laugh.
'Whimsical,' I thought, 'I'm gonna kill you!'
After that, Derpy and I hung out a lot. We would take walks together after she was done with her paper route, usually, but occasionally we would do things on weekends, like flying around or talking in the park. We became fast friends, but I always wished we were more, for some reason. When I consulted Scootaloo about this, she said,
"Daddy is in wove!"
"Love? I mean maybe... She is really pretty, and has beautiful eyes, and is really nice to me and- Oh, you're right, I am in love!"
Scotaloo had apparently not been listening to me, and replied with, "Picky yuppy!"
A little while later, there was a commotion around town. As I had been walking around one day, I saw many ponies running around, making sure the town looked... Presentable, I guess. But after hearing a conversation, I understood what was going on.
"When does she arrive?" One pony asked.
"Tomorrow morning," The other replied.
"Do you think we'll be ready?"
"You know how gracious Princess Celestia is! She'll think our town is amazing in no time!"
"Yeah, but..."
I didn't hear the rest, but after hearing her name made me realize; Princess Celestia was coming to visit Ponyville. I didn't really know how to feel; I had never really heard much about the princess. All I knew was that she raised and lowered the sun every dad, and she ruled Equestria. I guess I was excited, but not terribly. The day she arrived, everypony gathered in town to welcome her. She said a few words about how nice the town looked and how gracious everypony was being, but I hadn't really been listening, because I had been focused on her guards. They looked so regal, awesome and cool. I thought they were the best part of the entire scene. And as soon as I saw them, I felt this felling, as though I had a connection with these guards. After much consideration of this feeling, I realized something; I was meant to be a guard. My cutie mark was even a shield! I started research immediately. I asked everypony I knew if they knew anything about the royal guard, but only one pony was able to help me; an old stallion, who claimed that he used to be a guard. He told me that once I was 13 years old, I could join the Royal Guard, and begin training. After training, I would get deported somewhere, and would have the right to be deported as many times as needed, unless the captain of the royal guard says that you are to stay in one area permanently. I was excited to hear the information, and shared it immediately with everypony I knew. Whimsical was overly excited for me.
"Oh my gosh, you're gonna be the best guard there is!"
Scootaloo was... Well, happy, I guess.
"Daddy is woyaw gawd!"
Derpy was excited for me too.
"Burning Flame, that's amazing!"
And of course, when she said that, my heart raced. The night after I had told everybody, before I went to sleep, I thought about my father. I wondered weather he would be proud of me right now. I thought he would, I thought he'd say, 'Son, go knock 'em off their hooves.'
Chapter 2: Late Adolecence
The next day, it turned out that it was Scootaloo's birthday. The owner of the orphanage told me in the morning, and said she didn't have enough time to bake a cake, but that at least I could spend the day with Scootaloo. She also told me that it was her third birthday. As soon as I heard, I ran into her room, and smiled down at her in her crib. I started thinking of ideas of what we could do that day, when she woke up and started laughing at me. I smiled, and said, laughing a little myself,
"What's so funny?"
"You, Daddy!"
"Oh, really?"
She laughed and said, "Yes!"
"Well, do you know what day it is?"
"No," She replied with much anticipation.
"It's your birthday!"
"Weally?"
"Yeah, and we get to spend the whole day together!"
"Weally? Yay!"
She started jumping up and down, smiling and laughing, then she asked,
"Picky yuppy?"
I laughed a little, and replied, "Sure, kid." and I did just that.
The rest of the day was a blast. We went t the park and Scotaloo played, we went to a few shops, in case Scotaloo saw anything she wanted (she was very attracted to a scooter in one store), and then we ate some lunch. But the lunch we ate was, apparently, a very late one, because by the time we were finished, it was sundown. We started trekking back to the orphanage, while Scotaloo talked about how this was the best birthday she had ever had. I smiled, and swelled up with happiness as she talked, knowing how I had made this her best birthday. When we got home, I put her to bed ("But I'm not tiwed, Daddy!") and went back into my room. There, I started drawing blueprints to make a late birthday gift for... Well, I guess my kid.
A few weeks later, I was going to a goodbye party. For myself. I was finally going to be at the training camp for future Royal Guard members! But, instead of having a party, Whimsical (more like her dad) just payed for us all (Scotaloo, Derpy, her and me) to go and see a play. Which I was fine with, because I honestly wasn't even expecting a goodbye party. So, I put on a bow-tie, which was all I had, really, and took Scotaloo to the theatre to meet up with everybody, on that, the last night, for all I knew, I would be in Ponyville. Whimsical came soon after us, and lastly Derpy. We went inside and sat in our designated seats, ready to watch a show. Scotaloo sat on my right and Derpy on my left. Whimsical made sure that it was set up that way (wink!)
The play was called The Pony of the Opera, and was an amazing story about a phantom who lived in an opera house. The music was amazing, and on the way home, everypony was talking about it.
"Did you hear that last note? It was amazing!" Whimsical mused.
"The entire production was amazing!" Derpy added.
"I wiked the part when..." Scotaloo started, but dosed off in the middle of her sentence. We all laughed and I put her on my back.
"That was pretty cool, thanks for buying, Whimsical," I said.
"No problem! It was totally worth it anyways, guys. But I've gotta break off here," Whimsical started, "Burning Flame, I'll see you at the train stop tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah, definitely, Whimsical."
She hugged me, then waved goodbye to Derpy and I. Derpy and I kept walking, idly chatting, until a seemingly drunk pony yelled,
"What's up, cross-eyes?" Then he laughed.
"What did you say about her?" I asked, inching towards the pony.
"Burning Flame, please, he's just drunk, there's no to fight him!"
I looked back towards Derpy. Some how, I looked straight into her eyes, and saw that they were full of fear.
"I'm sorry, Derpy, it's just that..."
"What?"
"It's just that I want the world to know how perfect you are," I said, without really realizing it.
"You think I'm... p-perfect?"
Again, I started talking without any realization of doing so, "I mean yeah, just cause you have mix-matched eyes, doesn't mean you're not perfect! I'm mean you're really pretty, beautiful, to be exact, and you're nice to everypony you meet, and you have beautiful eyes and you're personality is amazing, and, well, you're perfect!"
She stared at me, her jaw dropped, face blushing. My heart was beating 100 miles a minute. She smiled, at one point, looked away, then quickly pecked my cheek. It was my turn to drop my jaw, but before I could say anything, she was flying away, giggling. But there was also giggling coming from my back, too.
"H-how much of that did you hear, Scotaloo?"
The next day was very sad, for the most part, because I had to say goodbye to my friends. Yet, I knew that there was a huge opportunity in front of me, and I had to seize it. Whimsical was crying, and so was Scotaloo. Although she didn't understand much, she understood that I was leaving, and that I may not be able to come back anytime soon. Derpy, unfortunately, could not make it because she had papers to deliver, and couldn't spare time. I sure hoped that was the reason.
"I'll miss you Burning Flame. You'd better come and visit me!"
"I will, I promise, Whimsical. Friends forever?" I extended my hoof.
She smiled, and met my hoof, "Friends forever."
I then nuzzled Scotaloo, and said, "You'll write to me, right kid?"
"Yes, I pwomise, Daddy!"
I smiled, and nuzzled her again.
"All aboard!" The conductor yelled.
I then hugged both Scoots and Whimsical, reminding them to write, then boarded the train towards my destiny.
