//-------------------------------------------------------// A Fire Paw Tale -by Fire Paw- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1: The Home //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1: The Home I wake to the sound of my mother calling me down for morning chores. O how I hated my existence. I drag my 10-year-old bruised and broken body walking to the only mirror I own looking at the damage. I mutter darkly as I place a hoof to the new marks that adorn my already purple coat brushing my curly mane out of my eyes with my weak magic. Being born a unicorn in a family of earth ponies has made my life almost unbearable. “Father really let me have it last night…,” I clean myself off and walk down from the attic where my room was placed. As I make my way downstairs I see my brother Raven Claw just leaving his room. The oldest of my 6 siblings at 16 his coat is black as the starless sky with a grey mane and tail his hooves had white claw markings and his cutie mark a raven wings spread out and a dagger in its claws. He was always a ruthless fighter. I try to avoid his looks of lust and insanity but I can hear him call out as I rush down the stairs. “So little sister, did you enjoy fathers special attention” He licks his lips as he speaks and I run faster. I find mother in the kitchen and father sits at the table reading his paper. Father never looks up as he speaks to me. “I expect you to do better today Fire Paw we wouldn’t want another punishment would we?” I reply quietly, “no sir, what are my chores for the day?” Mother replies quickly. “You are going to clean the dishes today, do the laundry and I expect this house spotless when we get home from the fields only then will I let you outside.” I bow to her and start on the list. My father Onyx Coat will be taking my three brothers into the fields to harvest the food we and the town eat. Oak Heart is the 5th sibling at the age of 12. He has a tan coat with a deep brown mane and tail his cutie mark an oak tree with hearts in the leaves. Steel Hooves is the 3rd sibling at the age of 14. He has a grey coat with silver mane and tail with black highlights his cutie mark a single silver horseshoe. My father Onyx Coat, a strong solid black coat with deep red mane and tail his cutie mark an onyx jewel over two crossed picks. My mother Cinnamon Swirl, a tan earth pony with cream markings her cutie mark being three cinnamon cakes will be taking my three sisters into town to help the older ones find stallions and to let them buy material to make new outfits. Lily Grace is the 4th sibling at the age of 13. She has a pale yellow coat with a light purple mane and tale her cutie mark a ball of pink yarn stitching a lily flower. Willow Tears is the 2nd sibling at the age of 15. She has a light blue coat with teal mane and tail with blue highlights her cutie mark a willow tree with a water being poured on it. Finally, there is Meadow Breeze the 6th sibling at the age of 11 with a deep green coat with a light pink mane and tail her cutie mark two flowers with three song notes. I have yet to earn my cutie mark and I am reminded of that failure every day. It was sunset by the time I finished and the family returned. Seeing that everything was done at instructed I got to go outside and play with my pet orthros. Mother and Father hated him so but he did good protecting the family farm from pest and thieves so I was allowed to keep him. I named the head that looked like a German Shepard Fang and the other head looking like a pit bull was called Razor. We went out the edge of the forest to play with the other animals. I could understand what the animals were saying and they could understand me. It was the only time I felt happy enough to smile. The wind would sing to me to make my trouble go away and it is how I learned to sing. As I played as laughed I noticed some ponies walking to our barn. When I went to look they were trying to steal our animals. Fang and Razor tried to get involved but they were unicorns like me but with better magic. I felt rage and heat boil inside me as I heard the animals crying out. My horn started to spark and smoke as I chased the thieves threw our fields. My family finally noticed the noise and had grabbed the family guns. We owned them for protection in this time of war. Finally, purple flames erupted from my horn burning the thieves only slightly enough for them to let the animals go. In a burst of bright light my cutie mark appeared a bright flame of red, yellow and orange with a single paw print in the center. I thought maybe now I could have my families love but I soon realized how very wrong I was. The flame I created I couldn’t control with how weak my magic was and they spread consuming the farm land. By the rays of Celestia’s sun half the field was gone. I chose at that moment to try and flee knowing I would not see the following morning. Sadly, for me Raven knew I would run and took joy in chasing me and forcing me into a little cage. I was locked there for 3 days with little water and no food. Finally, I was let out and with a small bag of the few belonging I had was sent out of the home and out of the town. For risking the food of the other town ponies my family used it as the excuse to banish and disown me. With Fang and Razor by my side we went out of town and into the neighboring woods. It was expected that we walk to Canterlot to stay at an orphanage there. I knew it wasn’t going to be an orphanage but a place of pain. I stayed in the cover of the woods and found a nice clearing and a tree burrow to sleep in. As I grew older in those woods a lovely voice would call to me and teach me. She called herself Nature and soon she became my new mother. As I grew and hunted I knew I was entering the next time of my life. Little did I know the horrors that would be waiting for me. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2: Bounty Hunter //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2: Bounty Hunter My ears are met with the sounds of the woods I call home. The birds sing a lovely song as Celestia’s sun shines through the trees. I climb out of the burrow and get my weapons ready for the breakfast hunt. It has been 5 long years since I was forced to leave my home. The first winter was the hardest and I thought death was surely going to carry me off. Mother Nature however, kept me safe and warm teaching me to call and control my purple flame. She said I would learn why it was colored purple later in my life. She almost sounded sad when she spoke to me about my future. Is there something I have yet to face? Either way I needed to be ready for it. I walk to a clearing and wait. After a hour a small herd of deer rome into the meadow. I wait for the perfect time and let loose an arrow. It hits its mark and the large doe falls to the ground her sudden movement spooking the others as the flee into the woods. I take out the knife I took off a dead pony and start cleaning my kill. I have gotten used to seeing the red flame marking on my hooves being covered in the blood of my kills. I started killing other ponies soon after I entered the woods. It wasn’t a thing I was proud of but it gave me money to buy small items and improve my weapons. It also gave me a reputation that kept lonely stallions away. I don’t know how many times I almost became the prey of another. After cleaning the doe, I used my magic which has greatly improved and carried it back to camp. Fang and Razor were waiting for their piece of the kill. After breakfast I placed the remainder in a safe place so we could have it for lunch and got ready to head into town. I had been summoned for another job, a big one from the rumors. When I walked in all the ponies in the Bar became quiet. I had grown taller than a normal mare. I walked over to a special room where a stallion was waiting for me. I don’t remember his name but it was nothing I really cared for. His voice was low and gruff as he told me the job and asked it I would take it. It seems ELF, Equestrian Liberation Front was up to their old tricks. With the start of the war they started doing dirty work for either side. Celestia was very eager to let them do as they wished with changelings. Poor creatures, I sometimes find their mutilated bodies at the edge of the forest. The job was to kill one of the high ranking members on the ELF organization. From the stories the stallion was insane, using a machine to take the magic from unicorn and use it for himself. It made a shiver run down my spine though I didn’t let it show. I took the job cause the reward was outrages. I walked home and packed my things. Fang and Razor were upset because they knew they couldn’t come with me. I gave each of them a kiss on the head and set off on my walk. It took three days to make it to the ELF base. It was strange because I noticed a few different branch symbols mainly a raven, a single horseshoe and a pick axe. I killed the two guards out front and hide the bodies moving to hid in the shadows. I walked to the parlor where around this time the target should be sitting drinking a cup of cider. As expected I was right but the chair had its back to the door. As I made my approach I felt a strange feeling. Something wasn’t right about this job the entrance was lightly guarded and easy to get in. My instincts told me to run and I did, but it was too late as I felt a dart hit my leg and dropped mid run to the floor. I heard a blood chilling laugh and I knew I had heard it before. I didn’t stay awake long enough to figure that out as my world went black. When I woke I was tied to the bed. “Great,” I thought, “another sick and lonely stallion.” I could hear his hooves as he walked closer to the door. I had planned out what I was going to say but that’s the think I planned it but it never came out. When the stallion walked in he had a fake horn attached to his face but those eyes, that cutie mark, the white claw like marking on his hooves, I already knew who this was and I regretted everything. As he spoke my fur crawled, “Baby sister so nice to see you awake again I really had expected more from you your reputation told me you would have been more of a challenge” “Let go of me Raven,” I spat at him venom coating me words. He just smiles at me and I feel my blood chilling in my body. “Now why would I let go of a toy I just got?” He speaks in suck a tone I could barely speak. When my words could actually fine their way out I question him. “What do you mean toy? I’m your sister Raven you can’t keep me here like this.” “O, can’t I now?” He spoke a tone I knew my live was in danger when I tried to use my magic I soon realized it wasn’t working. He just laughed at me and pointed to a new collar I had on. “You are going to make a great pet my little flame especially when you can’t use your magic. I tried to take it from you to add to my collection…” He trails off showing me a closet filled to the top with magic. “Your magic seems to be strongly bound to you so I decided just to block it.” By this time I can feel the tears flowing down my face. How can my own brother do this? I felt the bed shift and Raven added his weight to it. “Father always wanted this honor,” He comes closer to be his hoof touching my left hind leg. “But this honor is now mine.” Everything slowed, had my own flesh and blood plan to rape me? What happened next was a blur as my mind tried to close itself off to the outside world. When I decided to come back to reality I was disgusted. My marehood was abused and bleeding, I was covered in fluid and tears still stained my muzzle. I soon found a small mare was tending my wounds and I had been released from my bindings. I would have run however, the 3 guards at the door made that difficult. Soon the years faded by as the abuse became routine. I stayed in this tartarus for 2 years before I finally found my light at the end of a long dark hallway. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3: The Spirit of the Moon //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3: The Spirit of the Moon Pain, it has become a constant thing in my life. I still wear the collar now more detailed like that of a true pet collar. My ears have heavy jewels and I always look like some harem mare. It made me feel disgusted with myself. Over the two years of my stay I almost became numb. I was forced to partake in the executions of members and prisoners. The prisoners were usually changelings walking to meet their doom. I would sometimes need to play executioner when my brother, If he even deserved to be called that, is bored and wants to see me suffer. I soon stop resisting and went about it almost like another job. That was until I saw her in the cages. A new find with her family she was a changeling filly with blue and white in her mane and tail. Her eyes were a deep blue that pulled me in. She was only 8 years old and it caused my heart great pain to see her so young and suffering. I could hear the cries of parents as they were separated. I had a choice to make under that night of the new moon. In the shadows I walks silently as I headed to the prison wing of the base. When I walked in I could feel my stomach churning. Blood painted the walls and body parts where everywhere, the wings of the changeling hung on the wall like some sick trophy along with heads ranging from mares, stallions and even colts. I walked over to the cage where the young foals where kept. My heart broke to hear their cries of pain and lost. It took many tried but I soon opened the cage then took one of the torcher weapons and escorted the children out. As we made it to the door I heard a voice I know I will never hear again. “You’re not going to make it you know sister,” The voice was soft and gently but hidden within it where secrets. “Willow how nice of you to see me out,” I spat at her. She stood there staring at me the foals trying to hide behind my legs. No more words where shared between us as we clashed blades. I didn’t want to live this life anymore, what point did have to stay as a harem mare to not only the stallions of the base but to stallions of your own flesh and blood. In a flash of red I landed my knife deep in my sister’s heart. As she laid there dying I wept and her final action was to take off the binding collar giving me back my magic. I stayed for a few moments morning her death at my hoofs.  I soon wiped my tears and continued killing all who stood in my path. I made it out with only 10 small changeling foals including young Brooke Song. I walked them to a nice home I remembered a changeling living at and they would find homes to the foals. Brooke refused saying she wished me to be her mama. I was touched but I looked at her sadness in my eyes, “Brooke I do not have a home to take you too but I make you a promise this night that when I find that home I will send for you is that understood?” Brooke smiles tears in her eyes as hope filled her for the first time in a very long while. I made my leave walking to the woods I once called home. Fang and Razor were happy to see my safe return and we packed up our things and went on our journey to find a home. We traveled far across Equestria to a forbidden forest. The Woods of the Spirits was a place not even the princesses understood. For some reason I felt drawn here. After getting chased and attacked by solar guards I made my way into the woods. As I walked I noticed things moving in the trees speaking to me. I was a strange feeling as I made my way to the center where I was met with a clearing. “Welcome home my child how I have missed you,” An ethereal voice spoke to me. I smiled brightly knowing the owner of the voice. “Mother Nature how I have missed you too.” “It is time my child you learned of the great magic here are you ready?” Nature asked me even though she knew my answer. I nodded yes ready to learn and it would take 3 years in those woods to learn this new magic. Spirit magic was sacred and dangerous because spirits are not always good. Even the princesses feared the tampering on the spirit realm and had forbidden its practice. That didn’t stop me and I learned many great things. I learned about auras and the meanings behind certain colors. My color is purple. Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic. I wasn’t completely sure what this color meant for me but it gave me a sense of pride knowing its meaning. I also became connected to the 3 spirit animals that would guide me on my path in life and learned how to help other ponies find theirs. The wolf was the first animal I bonded with. The wolf offers some of the most striking animal meanings in the realm of spirit animals. The power of the wolf brings forth instinct, intelligence, appetite for freedom, and awareness of the importance of social connections. This animal can also symbolize fear of being threatened and lack of trust. This animal being my first has the strongest bond and will sometimes appear beside me. We can also fuse causing me to become almost like a were pony but right now this form is unstable and rarely used. I can also fully become a large purple spirit wolf safe from physical attacks but it takes a lot of magic to change form and can leave me weak for a couple hours after use. The next animal is the butterfly and I use this animal when I need to follow some pony or travel without detection. The butterfly represents powerful transformation and personal changes to your life, moving through different life cycles, renewal and rebirth, lightness of being, elevation from earthly matters, tuning into emotional or spiritual The world of the soul, the psyche. Lastly I bonded with an air dragon spirit. The air dragon stands for great flashes of illumination in intellect and psyche, insight and clarity, trust your inner voice. If it wasn’t for the gifts my spirit guides have given me I might not have left that forest. I left those woods but had been given an offer by Mother Nature. Maybe one day when I am ready I can accept her offer but right now it is too soon. After my 22nd birthday I soon found myself walking into the territory controlled by the New Lunar Republic. I felt a strange feeling of belonging standing at those doors. I stood in a waiting room waiting for my screening. A strange but strong Pegasus went over my papers giving me the approval I needed. After I was approved I went into the woods being the base and made a small cottage to live in with my animals. When I walked the grounds I noticed a young pack of Timberwolves one had a collar that read Twig. I decided to let the pack say with me in my cottage till hopefully their owner would come home. After the Pegasus I soon met many other strange ponies calling the NLR base home. There was a Night wing mare, a dark and mysterious stallion magic wisps in his eyes, A black mare with piercing red eyes, and a pair of twins seeming lost. I looked at them a great light growing in my heart. I was finally home. I sent word back for Brooke and she would soon make her way here. Soon I would have my daughter here and I couldn’t be happier. I knew that the time of war would bring us hard times but that didn’t seem too damper my spirits. I was now and forever a child of moonlight. //-------------------------------------------------------// Preface //-------------------------------------------------------// Preface Once upon a time there was once a great nation with two rulers. Together they kept balance and friendship but now Equestria is broken. No longer the bright symbol of unity it has split from war. It is here where our story begins placed between the two great princesses. Celestia, The Sun Princess tries to maintain her rule while Luna, The Moon Princess fights to take it over as the one true princess. The ponies of Equestria have split choosing their respective princess or working under the peace corp. in the hopes of bring the two princesses back together. The war has spread all over Equestria and there is no pony unaffected by its reach. Changelings are hunted and imprisoned. The animals are now also being hunted some even being used as meat for demonic forces or by ponies who needed to adapt to the new environment. The weather still kept by the pegasi ponies is failing because of infighting among the flock. The spirit of nature is in pain from the devastation of her forest and the imbalance of her elements. She is calling for a guardian, a champion to be her voice where chaos runs rampant. It is in this time line that we fine a young unicorn, clumsy and blunt but with a good heart whose destiny has yet to unfold.