Fractured Spirits

Fractal Renegade kicked a stone across the road. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been this bored. There was simply nothing to do. It was raining, and everyone was inside. He didn’t understand why everypony would cower inside in weather like this. It was only rain after all. Rain never hurt anyone. In fact it was quite refreshing after the long hot days they had just had.

The sky was dark a gloomy, a very rare thing around Ponyville. He kicked the rock again and let out a sigh. What was there to do when everypony was inside instead of enjoying the fresh air. Suddenly the rock slid back to him.
He looked at it for a moment and then looked up to see some one else over there, who must have kicked it back. “Well it’s about time somepony else came outside to enjoy the rain.” He said in his usual humorous voice. The other pony smiled faintly. He was an earth pony with yellow coloured hair and a brown mane. Suddenly Fractal noticed something off about him. He seemed to have a faint scar that went down the left side of his face. “You’re not from around here, are you? I’ve never seen you here before.” Fractal said to the newcomer.

The newcomer paused for a moment, then looked down the road, without saying anything. Naturally, Fractal followed his gaze. There were now several more ponies coming up the road towards them slowly. Suddenly he noticed in the midst of them was her. That navy blue mare with the black hair. She had always seemed to follow him around for no apparent reason. Fractal turned towards the yellow pony. “Hey, what’s going on, are you-“ he was cut off when he noticed the earth pony had disappeared.

Now things were getting really strange. Fractal turned to look up the other road. He saw there was a group of people there too. Only instead, in the midst of them was that one mare’s brother. He couldn’t think of any names at the time. Fractal suddenly realized he was trapped. He looked towards the navy blue mare again. Looking into her eyes, he saw pure anger, almost burning like a fire.

Now Fractal was getting nervous. With nowhere to go, he had to figure a way out of this. The way these ponies looked they didn’t seem willing to talk. They all looked angry, some more then others. Some, he could have sworn he had seen before, either at high school or around town. He began to look around franticly. Something was wrong. What reason would these people have to hate him? Then it dawned at him. Those years ago. She was there, and so was her brother. That must be it. But why would these other ponies be after him? Suddenly there was no time to think about details.

Fractal noticed a smooth wall and immediately ran towards it, and also towards the mob approaching. He jumped off the ground and went to push off the wall and leap around to the other side of the small group of ponies, but the wall suddenly disappeared and he began falling into a deep hole. He let out a cry for help just before everything went black.

Fractal woke up to a bright orange light in his face. “Fractal, you alright?” Some one was saying. A few moments later his eyes finally focused. There was a candle floating in front of him, and he recognized his friend Fire Surge standing by his bed. Fractal pulled himself up and looked around. He then remembered he was on a camping trip with his friends. He could hear rain around the tent and heard thunder occasionally. Fractal let out a sigh of relief. “I’m fine.” He said to the orange-coloured unicorn. “Just a dream. Quite the weather we’re having though eh?” He said, trying to change the subject. Suddenly a voice came from outside the tent. “Nature does everything itself out here Fractal. We pegusi can’t control this place.” Thunder Specter poked his head into the tent. He was a gray-blue colour with a bright blonde mane. “You guys coming out to enjoy the weather or not? Honestly we never get weather like this in Ponyville!” He said before he pulled his head back out the tent.

Fractal sighed and pulled himself up out of bed and stood up. Fire Surge put the candle down into the middle of the tent with his magic. Fractal yawned and walked out of the tent into the pouring rain. The trees around provided some cover, but not nearly enough to keep them dry. It was windy too. The trees swayed in the wind, some even looked like they would fall down if hit by a strong enough gust. He stretched his wings and went over to the sad little fire Thunder Specter had made. “Is that all you can get?” Fractal asked feeling a little disappointed. Thunder shrugged. “Not in this weather Fractal. We’re lucky enough to have this tiny flame with how hard it’s raining.” Thunder explained. He was right of course. How were you supposed to get a decent fire in this weather? Surge answered his question a moment later.

“Really? You can’t even make a decent fire? Even in this weather it isn’t that difficult.” He said as he came out of the tent. He walked over to the two pegasi and focused on the fire for a moment. He then walked over to a tree and grabbed some sticks from the bottom of the trunk. They appeared to still be dry. Obviously shielded by the rest of the tree. He took some moss and other random materials that were dry and threw them onto the little flame. He adjusted them slightly, and the flame rose into a full fire. “And that’s how you make a fire. Honestly, how long would you guys last on your own out here?” Surge said with a little laugh.

Surge was known around high school for his survival skills. He was very nature savvy and had a good knowledge of what to do out when you were out fending for yourself. Fractal Renegade couldn’t help but admit that they wouldn’t have done as well as they had out in the wilderness without Fire Surge. Then again maybe his talent with making fires came from his name and cutie mark, which was a burning flame. It was rather difficult to not see that his cutie mark obviously had to do with his talent in making fires.

“Well I think we all know what else fires are good for other then keeping us warm.” Thunder said walking back towards the tent. “And what might that be?” Fractal called after him over a loud thunderclap. Thunder came back out with a bag of marshmallows. “What else? Marshmallows! Everyone loves them roasted!” He said as he began trying to open the bag. “One issue, Thunder. I don’t think anyone likes soggy marshmallows.” Surge said in response. Thunder paused for a moment to take it in, then looked at the bag of marshmallows. “Ah… Right. I guess we won’t be eating marshmallows until the storm stops.” Thunder said. Fractal and Surge laughed at Thunder.

Life was pretty good for the three companions. They had become friends in school due to their similar personalities. One trait they all shared. A hunger for adventure. They got along well too, because they had similar senses of humor. Plus they each had their own area’s of skill. Fire Surge was the survivalist, Thunder Specter was the long term planner, and Fractal Renegade was the risk taker. He was the one that did the things the others wouldn’t do, and he liked it that way. It meant he got to do the fun stuff that sent a thrill through his bones. He loved to do dangerous things and often had the skills to do them, since he had gained his cutie mark from doing these things. His cutie mark was three long ice-blue gemstones which pointed in different directions. Still though, his cutie mark was always a mystery for him and his friends. It’s image didn’t seem to make much sense for his talent, nor how he got it.

Of course that wasn’t the only mystery on Fractal’s mind. He knew that dream would haunt him until he tried to figure it out. It was so confusing and fast though, and there were so many questions he had about it. But who could he possibly ask? Who was that yellow earth pony? Why was everyone trying to get at him, and what did it mean? These were the kind of things he couldn’t find an answer for on his own. He would have to push it off until he could get some real answers. But how could he? The dream was so real and confusing. It simply had to mean something, but what?

He was snapped back to reality when Thunder Specter called him. “Hey Fractal, let’s see if we can find some more dry wood for the pyromaniac over here.” He said, obviously talking about Surge. “Well if he doesn’t always have something to burn he might resort to burning down the forest! That wouldn’t be very good now would it?” Fractal said in response. Thunder laughed. “No probably not. Come on, he said to look underneath larger trees. Says that they are more likely to be dry then.” He then explained. Well, that was fairly easy to figure out without survival knowledge. Especially since he had just shown them that. “He sure does like pointing out the obvious.” Fractal said. Thunder Specter shrugged. “Keep in mind it isn’t obvious to some ponies we know.” He then said. At school, there have always been these big tough ponies that walked around bragging and making fun of people. Fractal Renegade was a common target because of his gold coloured eyes. “That’s true. Well, what are we waiting for? Better hurry before he starts burning down the forest!” Fractal said as he turned to start walking. “If you guys don’t get going I’ll burn the tent first!” Fire Surge called after them. Thunder and Fractal laughed and walked away.

Invictus never liked the rain. Even before that awful night, it always seemed to make her feel much more vulnerable. It generated a sense of gloom and sadness. Well, of course it also got her mane very wet, which she didn’t appreciate any more either. But she was glad she wasn’t out in the forest at a time like this. Normally the pegasi weather crew try to make the weather match a little with the wilderness beyond Ponyville, but nothing as intense as that wicked storm. Invictus could even feel the wind in town coming all the way from the Everfree Forest. Her brother always told her to stay away from there, of course she had occasions where she ignored him. Especially when he was going on about some of his ridiculous chess strategies. Those things were so boring some times. Of course, it was what he enjoyed and she could tolerate that. Everyone had their tastes. Some worse then others.

As the sky remained dark there wasn’t much else Invictus could do but walk home in the rain. Better then being locked up in a library of all places. They were pretty boring too, but she needed books to study and make it through school, and since she and her brother were the only ponies left in their family, they had to work as hard as they could to make a living. However Invictus was interested in something very different from her brothers job. Her main focus at school was history. She had a very good memory, but she hated reading, so she normally preferred to be taught or shown something then learning it from a text or history book. Of course that wasn’t the only thing on her mind.

She wanted revenge. About five years ago, something terrible had happened to her. Before that time five years ago, Invictus had been a fairly happy pony. Her cutie mark represented her quite well, as it was a star shinning in the dark, which went well with black coat of hair. She was known for looking at the bright side of things when many others wouldn’t. She lived a very happy and peaceful life with her brother and mother, who was still around at the time.

Her mother had gone to get something from the zebra lady who lived in Everfree Forest, apparently some kind of herb or medicine. Her mother was a nurse, so she relied on the zebra girl a lot for resources and remedies. After several hours she still hadn’t returned, and it had started to rain. So Invictus and her brother, Intredus, went out to see if they could find her. As they were walking out towards the forest, they saw their mother. There was some one else there. A maroon coloured Pegasus. She recognized him, those golden eyes were unmistakable. However when she looked at her mother again, she realized something that shocked her strait down to the core.

Her mother was lying on the ground dead, limp and lifeless. The maroon pony was standing beside her. When he looked up and saw them, he ran away, back into the forest. It took a few moments for Invictus to register what she had just seen, but once her senses returned she very quickly came to a conclusion. That pony must have killed her, she though.
Invictus and her brother ran towards their mother. When they got to her, they couldn’t find any signs of an obvious injury. There was a faint glimmer of hope then. Using the small amount of knowledge in medical attention she had, she quickly checked her mothers heart. It was silent. Not a single beat escaped it, no breath escaped her mouth. Invictus’ eyes began tearing up, and she screamed for her mother to wake up, but to no avail. Intredus’ eyes were wide and his face looked distraught, almost panicked. He was beginning to cry as well. Her brother, who had always been so strong when it came to difficult times, was crying. He couldn’t control himself anymore. They both lay beside their mother, silently begging her to come back to them.

What seemed like an eternity passed before her brother got up and said, “There’s nothing we can do now.” In a shaky voice. “She’s gone. The least we can do, if anything, is try to live on.” He was still fighting back tears, but Invictus was starting to see her old brother again. “Let’s take her somewhere to bury her. We can’t just leave her out here.” He then said. So, with heavy hearts the two lone siblings dragged their mother to the edge of the Everfree Forest. They never had many friends. The only true friends her mother had were her patients, which fortunately were very few. Even then the family never went out in public too much, so they didn’t have many true friends. Intredus, being a unicorn, used his magic to dig a hole with a shovel, and together they pushed their mother into the quick makeshift grave.

Invictus had never felt so lonely, and so negative in her life. Even her brother couldn’t comfort her at this moment. Both of them figured since they didn’t have any real friends what was the use of a whole funeral. They filled in the whole, said their last good byes, and went home. As she was walking home, something in her snapped, changed, transformed her. She thought to herself, it was that blasted Pegasus… He’s the reason she’s dead. He was the only one who could have possibly done it. She became cold hearted, and completely blinded by her hatred. She wanted revenge on that Pegasus, and to avenge the death of her mother. Ever since she could never look at the bright side of things. Always saw the bad in what happened instead of the good. Her attitude, personality and behavior had been altered, and even five years later that pain and memory still haunted her heart, and she told herself it would never leave until that maroon pony had seen justice for what he did, and she planned to make sure that happened.

Intredus stared hard at the chess board on the table before him. He had been challenged to a chess match by a fellow student in his class, who apparently considered himself the best chess player in the school. However Intredus had a personal motto that never seemed to fail him. Arrogance never wins a battle.

The conflicting voices in his head were becoming a nuisance. One said to move his queen in for the kill, while the other said to think things through more. After all, he was in a bit of a hurry. The chess game had already lasted more than an hour and a half, and he had to meet up with his sister, Invictus soon.
Intredus had to admit, this pony was a little more difficult to beat then most of his previous opponents. Most he could beat before one hour had passed. However Intredus had never lost a chess game, so he was fairly experienced. When this pony said he was the best chess player in the school, he wasn’t exaggerating. Intredus liked challenges, but not when he was in a rush to get away.

Intredus yawned and moved his queen to take out a pawn with his magic. “Check.” He then said. Murmurs rippled through the crowed of ponies that had gathered around to watch this intense match against, quite possibly the two most skilled strategists in the school. Suddenly his opponent chuckled faintly. “Wow, I’m so scared. You took out my pawn. If you hadn't done that my game would be over!” He was obviously being sarcastic. “Unfortunately you made the simplest mistake. You moved your queen right beside my king. Say good bye to your precious all star unit.” A glow surrounded the opponents king, but Intredus interrupted. “Ah ah ah, I think you missed something. You see, my rook is protecting my queen, and since you can’t move into check with your king, you can’t touch my queen.”

The sky-blue unicorn’s grin disappeared from his face. “Er, I knew that. I was just seeing if you were paying attention.” He said in response. “Just move your king.” Intredus responded, beginning to get bored of this little brat’s arrogance. The unicorn moved his king to the right. Intredus made a little wincing movement, as if he was disgusted by the lousy move. The other unicorn, seeing Intredus’s reaction moved his king back to where it was, and had it move forward instead.

Intredus smiled as he moved his queen once again in front of the king. “Checkmate.” He said. “What? No that can’t be right!” The unicorn responded at that. He began frantically moving his king back and forth to different possible places, but found nowhere to go. With the queen still protected, and rooks and bishops on all sides there was simply no safe place for the king. “You… You cheated!” He yelled at Intredus in rage. “Correction, I bluffed. That wince was fake. If you had moved your king to the first spot, you would have lasted longer. But you didn’t see that.” The sky-blue unicorn grimaced at the revelation. “You thought I was wincing because I have a habit of doing so whenever someone makes a bad move, so you tried to use that against me. A clever strategy, but I turned that against you and got you killed with it.” The white king, belonging to the sky-blue pony went flying towards Intredus, but he easily ducked his head and avoided it.

“Now now, no need to get violent. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go meet with my sister for something important. I look forward to another chess match another time.” And with that, Intredus left the enraged pony in his anger. Intredus yawned again as he walked towards the edge of Ponyville. He hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. He kept waking up due to nightmares.

For the past week, every night he would have the same dream. He would find his mother dead on the edge of Ponyville again, and his sister would be there. She would yell at him, and scream at him for not being able to stop it from happening. For not going to look for her sooner before she died. It was true. If Intredus had decided to go searching for his mother sooner, he may have found her before she had died. But he was too caught up in his reading to worry too much. It wasn’t until Invictus had finally told him what time it was that he left to search. By the time they arrived it was too late.

At first, he wondered about the strange dark red Pegasus standing there when they found her. Invictus believes he did it, but Intredus is the kind of person who looks at the possibilities. There were so many things they didn’t know about that pony and their mothers’ death that he couldn’t just jump to the conclusion right away. In fact even 5 years later, he was still unsure. His sister however will not look at any other possibility. He tries to convince her that there’s a chance he didn’t, but she won’t listen of course.

Well, there was one way to stop the nightmares and that was to discover just what happened that fateful night. This obviously wasn’t going to happen too soon at the rate things were going. It was hard to brush all these thoughts aside when he and his sister were going to visit their mothers’ grave today. Who knows how many thoughts and memories could be brought back by the sight of that stone and flower.