From the eye of the Storm

Feeling rather confused by the door being as broken as it was, I trotted inside, gently pushing it aside with a squeak as the hinges groaned under the strain. Trotting past the oddity, I just shrug, deeming that the door just decided to break on its own. Being home now, filled with a mixture of confusion at the current situation, and the pride of having escaped my cell, I decide to gather my voice and call out.

"Mummy! Daddy! I'm hooooooooooooome!"

My announcement is met with an odd silence. What should follow, in the listed order, is a mixture of Sky Blaze (daddy) being proud of me, and Dusk Dawn (mummy) dissuading him from encouraging such behaviour. However, the bickering would soon subside, both would sigh, and then trot into the room and proceed to hug me in love and warmth and parent stuff! But...This time...It's different. The declaration of my freedom is met only by a heavy silence. I frown, repeating the call, slightly louder and with a higher pitch this time.

"MUUUUUUUUM! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! I'M HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME!"

Once more, the call is met with silence. I frown deeper; this is very unlike them. Perhaps...Perhaps they aren't in currently! Yes, that's it! I smirk in my deduction of the situation, and trot into the living room with my held high and my eyes shut. Upon doing this, however, I bump my nose into something...Warm. Fleshy. A leg. Sent reeling by the unexpected impact, I open my eyes, landing on my plot and rubbing my nose. Looking up at the fleshy offender, I then make sense of it. I trail my eyes up the leg, spotting another leg. Then a body. Then a head. Yes, this is indeed a pony. A...A dark grey pony with a black mane and tail. I tilt my head in confusion, before her tail brushes me aside like dust. Hitting the wall with a grunt, I get back up, tears welling in my eyes. Being knocked aside, though, gave me a fresh perspective. I really wish it hadn't. My eyes constrict upon seeing the view in the middle of the room, and my bottom lip quivers. There, the captain of the Ponyville branch of guards and the Ponyville weather team captain, tied to chairs with their wings, smashed and crumpled, bones protruding through the delicate skin. Their faces, bloody, bruised and bleeding, and their eyes, filled with a mixture of tears and blood focus on me. I cannot find the words to describe the feelings I'm currently feeling. My eyes trace Sky's body. It's covered in bruisers, cuts, and there's a bloody knife on the floor. They're both now shaking their heads violently, as the grey pony turns to me and lifts me. I squirm in her grasp, her hooves holding me firmly in place. I cry out now, tears starting to flow freely from a mixture of fear and pain as my small, colt body is crushed. I'm then thrusted infront of my parents, and they're now shaking, staring down at me with pinprick pupils. Their heads are both shaking, and they're tugging against their restraints despite the obvious pain, their cries for me to run and hide muffled by the gags in their mouths. I try to back away, but I once again back into that same grey mare. I look up at her, and she's grinning down sadistically at me.

"Pegasi...Hmph. Nothing more than glorified chickens. Your parents here...They're rather tasty."

Wiping blood from her maw, she forcibly turns my head to view their wings once more, and upon closer inspection I can also see bite marks, fang piercings and chunks of flesh and bone missing. I shake more violently now, trying desperately to avert my eyes to the horror infront of me. I cry out once again, and the mare just laughs.

"You honestly think that you're gonna get out of here?" A thought then crosses her mind, and she gently pats my mane, making my skin crawl from a mixture of fear and a newborn hatred for her. I let out a small, yet determined growl, and begin my assault on her legs - to no avail. She instead just throws me away, and I once again hit the wall, cackling as she does. Upon hitting the wall, it concusses me, and my surroundings begin to swirl and fade to black. As I do, though, an even larger hooded earth pony hands her a...Cylindrical tool with some kind of...Handle. The end facing away from her is pressed to Sky Blaze's head, and he begins shaking even more wildly, desperately trying to escape his bonds. His wings flap in futility, the broken bones and missing chunks becoming more pronounced now, as he causes more and more damage to himself. As I slowly drift into an unconscious state, I only hear one thing: a thunderous roar, and then a faint laughing. Darkness comes to greet me as the sounds fade to nothing, and I'm rendered immobile...

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I awake several hours later, my eyes failing to adjust to the light properly, causing me to squint them shut as soon as they open. My entire body hurts, and it's hard to remember why. Gently rubbing my head as my eyes begin to adjust to the evening light, I take in my surroundings as my pupils refocus. My house...Yes, it's mine. However, something's...Off. I then stand up, and grunt, my right hindleg hurting immensely. Taking the pressure off of it, it eases some of the pain circulating in my veins. However, the pervasive of offness still persists. I finally manage to allow the room to fully process in my mind, and the realisation of what it is strikes me like a train: lying there limp, in the centre of the room, is a pair of ponies. My...My ponies. My parents. I immediately tear up and run towards them, gently shaking their bodies.

"M-Mummy? D-Daddy? C-Come on...Wake...Wake up...This isn't f-funny anymore..."

In my haste, I didn't notice one minor detail: the pool of blood I ran through. The blood now caking my hooves, I begin shaking, as I recall the events that took place. My eyes tracing every section of their bruised, sliced, eaten bodies, my mind can only draw one conclusion that no colt should EVER have to...They are...They're dead. Refusing to accept this fact, I begin shaking them harder, to the point where Dusk's wing falls off from the damage. I gasp, recoiling, not knowing quite what to do. My mind is numbed by the mixture of smell, emotion and sight, and only one thought prevails: run. Turning and galloping as fast as my 3 available legs will allow, I run straight from my house, through the centre of Ponyville and straight into the Everfree. Everypony was a little surprised to see a colt running through town, covered in blood, but they just assumed it wasn't actually blood; Ponyville wasn't THAT kind of town. In the Everfree, the light of day doesn't shine through, and the weather patterns are both unpredictable and controllable. It puts even the strongest ponies on edge, let alone a scared orphan colt. Making my way through the mass of trees, bushes, and animals, I arrive at a clearing. This brings a moment of confusion for me, as surely the Everfree is completely covered in trees and other green leafed things. However, my query is soon answered by a loud roar, causing me to wince back from the direction it came from. I slowly turn to face it, my ears flat against my head. The origin of the roar is a beast I've never seen in person before, but daddy used to tell me stories of fighting nests of them from the royal guard! He...D-Daddy...I derail that train of thought, focusing on my current surroundings. The Manticore infront of me is circling me, intent on securing its new snack: me. Realising this, my eyes constrict and I turn to run. As I do, the Manticore gives chase. As I let out my last scream, a mixture of the pain, trauma and fear of the recent events, the end doesn't quite come. I hear grunting, snarling and tussling behind me. Terrified, I turn VERY slowly, to see something I never would've expected. A green Pegasus pony with a silvery mane, slamming his hooves right into the face of a now angry Manticore. I start back-pedalling as the two engage in a proper fight, hooves and claws flying left, right and centre. The Pegasus himself takes very few hits, and the only ones he does take are a few large gashes upon his forelegs and one of his wings receiving a battering. However, after a very tense few minutes of trading blows, the unnamed pony produces a make-shift shiv, ramming it right into the Manticore's neck. It recoils, before crying out in pain and flying away, knowing that the fight isn't worth its life. The pony then grunts, landing in the clearing, a few meters away from me. I'm immediately paralysed by his gaze, the light magneta reminding me of...A pony very dear to me...He then smiles lightly at me, speaking with a silk smooth voice.

"Hey, kid...The Everfree isn't the best place to be alone, I...Thought a Pegasus like you would know that by now."

"...I...I-I don't have a h-home anymore..."

"...Huh. Tell ya what, kid. My place is open right now, and I've got a spare bed...How's that sound?"

I tentatively nod my head, the stallion somehow recognising the look in my eyes and knowing not to press the matter further. He slowly trots over, and I wince as he picks me up. He then looks at my hindleg in confusion.

"Uh, kid...? Why're you carrying...That?"

His hoof gently pokes my leg- no, wait...It doesn't. This intrigues me, in-spite of today, and I turn my head to look. There, strapped to my hindleg, is a rather oversized leather holster carrying a .44 revolver, a stainless steel Smith and Pegasus model 29. He lets out a low whistle, and I look at it in confusion.

"...I really don't know, mister..."

"Hey, kid. The name's LightFinder."

"I'm...I'm Desert...Storm..."

"A Storm, huh? You guys are quite well known in Cloudsdayle! Yeah, don't worry, I got a place just for ya."

And once the conversation ceases, he begins flying low among the trees, dodging and weaving to a point that makes my untrained body feel sick. After several minutes of the nauseating flying, I end up deeper inside of the Everfree, minimal light piercing the heavy foliage. My eyes adjust rather quickly, and focus upon a small cottage perched upon a mound. The Pegasus, LightFinder, who's carrying me trots inside, and sets me down. I sniff a little, the motion sickness fading as I look around at the room. It's rather bland, but it's warm, illuminated by a fireplace in the centre, obviously lit. I instinctively trot towards the flames, sitting down infront of them. I only just realised how cold I am, and I immediately begin shivering as the warmth radiates throughout me. LightFinder sits down next to me, wrapping a wing gently around me. I clutch onto him, needing the comfort. I then silently begin crying into his side, now in a calm environment, allowing me to start to try and process what's happened. The wing tightens around me, and I hug his side tighter.

"Hey, little Stormy...It's alright. Just relax...You're...You're safe now."

After a few long, long minutes of crying and releasing the pent up emotion, I sigh shakily, shutting my eyes and drifting off into tormented sleep in spite of the warmth around me. I...I don't know how to move forward from this, without Mummy or Daddy, but...But I'll find a way. I have to.