Now and Again

The rain of the night beat heavily against the palace windows as the dark-brown colt sat in his throne, located in the city of Canterlot. His dark eyes loomed as the messenger approached his throne and bowed, the colt stared intimidatingly as if the messenger’s presence itself was an act of annoyance.

"You may speak," he said, waving his hoof unworriedly. The messenger began to speak quickly, knowing his presence was greatly annoying the prince.

"Your sire, we have traced the record back five-hundred years to the day Celestia left for the sky city as you asked. We've spent valuable amounts of the pony's taxes searching through every record from every year up until your ascendance to the throne. It seems, through the family tree we have pinpointed, your long descendant was the second child of Celestia, although, the first seems to vanish from records just days after birth." He spoke, rolling over his words; his voice seemed as articulate as it was quiet. The prince stood up and walked to the window behind the throne and looked out onto the rain as it hit the glass. He closed his eyes and thought before he spoke, his voice ringing throughout the throne room.
"

You mean to tell me my suspicions were true then? Somepony out there is a descendant of Celestia and a long relative of mine? You see how this can be unbelievable due to the fact no one came forth about anypony being born before my father?" He turned and faced the messenger; his dark gray eyes were calm and deep as if looking through the messenger.

"S-sire ever since the rumors of corruption throughout the royal family-" The messenger’s sentence was cut short as he was sent flying into the wall as if held there by a magical force that could only be described as overwhelming. The Prince boomed, "There has been no corruption or weakening of the family line! How dare you spill such filth in this throne room! I should waste your weak existence for even thinking such trash!" He glared harder and tightened his grip on the messenger’s throat.
The messenger felt the tightening and squirmed violently before being dropped on his knees, his hooves grasping his throat as he gasped for air.

"Get out of here before I decide to end you" The Prince said to the messenger who got up on all fours and sprinted towards the door.
The castle, which had lost its former purity over the ages, was now a former shadows of its once true beauty and purity. Over the time that Celestias descendants ruled the cities, Canterlot and Ponyville had expanded very well and technology had expanded over time. Until about 300 years ago, everypony was content and happy. The royal family began to fight for the throne and in some cases only bred from inside the royal family, over time each ascendant to the throne had to prove he was the strongest and noblest to lead.

The most recent Prince is a colt by the name of Duskmane. Even at an early age, his lust for power and paranoia had made him, by far, the best pony to rule. Anyone who stood in his way was cut down quickly and with no hesitation. Even in his young age he was feared by the common pony and respected in high regard by the royalty. His recent fear came from an old legend he had heard about. The "Lost Child of the Sun." In the story, a child of Celestia met another and battled for the throne. The unknowing foal had braved many challenges and slayed his long lost relative, restoring peace to all of Equestria.

Our story begins on a bright day in Ponyville, as a colt is leaving his home for the day to begin his work in the town square selling fruits. He walked down the street, humming carelessly until he reached the square and saw his friend’s fruit stall. The bright red mare bounded up to him and tackled him happily, yelping in excitement.

"I can't believe you made it today!" She squealed happily as she released him from her lung crushing squeeze. He smiled; his dark brown eyes met her auburn eyes as he scratched his black mane

"It's the least I can do for you, after all, you gave me all those spiced apples for my family," he said, grinning happily

"It means a lot that you came today Dom," Salia said, grinning as she trotted over to the cart and gestured for him to come. He trotted over and opened the stall for business; the first pony that came up was a usual customer to buy his weekly spiced apples. He was a light-tan colt with an hourglass cutie mark, he winked as he gestured towards his usual two cans of fruit and handed Salia 30 bits. He took them and trotted away in content. For some reason Dom felt odd, a sensation coming over him as though he was in danger, but he didn’t know what kind. Across the market on a bench was a hooded pony. He blended so well that Dom might not have noticed him, except for the fact that he was looking directly at him. The odd feeling magnified and seemed to span a long time before he heard Salia.

"Come on quit day dreaming you silly colt!" Salia teased knocking her hoof against Dom's arm, he smiled, shrugging off the feeling and continued handing out spiced peaches. Suddenly, he heard shouting from a nearby stall. Startled ponies froze in confusion but Dom saw a mare shouting as she pointed towards a fleeing pony with some gold trinkets. Suddenly, an instinct washed over him and a voice echoed,

"Get them, you don’t have much time." The voice rang as everything seemed to slow down again; he began sprinting through the crowd, dodging the ponies with ease and even vaulting over several stalls. The pony was fast, almost incredible as he as elegant in moving through the confused ponies. Dom sprinted faster and faster as they weaved through the crowded streets! The pony would have gotten away, but suddenly Dom leapt from behind with full force, tackling the pony and knocking him down to the ground, spilling the stolen trinkets from his hooves.
Dom stared at the white-hooded thief as he picked up the items. The guards rushed over.

"How did you catch him? He was moving as though he had wings of wind and his feet were gliding over the ground!" The guards huffed and puffed from under their cumbersome armor.

"I- It was a snap decision! I don’t know how I .." his voice trailed off as he noticed the hooded figure studying him from inside the crowd with some interest, the white hooded figure began to run away after some time and Dom was rewarded as people barraged him, asking how he did it. Honestly, he was as surprised as everypony else, it seemed natural, the running through crowds, the jumping through stalls, the tackling the thief.
A few hours after the pony had been taken away, the normal hustle and bustle returned to the main square. Ponies passed by Dom, giving him admiring looks for what he had done, but none more than the glance he received from Salia. Dom continued selling spiced peaches from dawn until late evening when the shop was closing. It seemed after several hours his story of heroism had come full circle in the town's rumor mill and it had died down as it moved onto other things. Dom strolled through the city streets to his house, taking in the beautiful orange and red hues that blended well in the sky.

Dom was trotting home slowly as he let what happened that day sink in. How did he do those things? Not everypony can just lead a chase over several blocks against what was obviously a quick moving pony, but all of it felt as natural as it was alien to him. He felt an odd feeling causing the hairs to stand up on the back of his neck. He put his hoof down slowly and looked around. Then he saw it, from across the street in between two alleyways, was the hooded pony from before! He was observing him like a griffon observes its prey. Cold, calculating, and silent. The pony then turned and walked down the alley, the shadows blanketing him in a dark embrace.

Scared, Dom fled home as fast as his hooves would carry him, he got inside, locked the doors, and sat inside, allowing himself to calm down. After a few hours he sighed and laid down in his bed, a sudden surge of exhaustion washed over him as he fell into a deep sleep