Forgotten Legacy

My hooves cracked against the chin of the Pegasus in front of me, the flare of fire familiar now. The body was engulfed quickly, collapsing, but there was another to take its place. I heard a grunt behind me as AJ bucked back, not just lighting the thing on fire but sending it flying back into another.

I was breathing heavily by the time we were clear, and I saw AJ sit, her posture showing something more than just fatigue weighing on her.

“Ya wanna talk about it?” I asked.

“Ya wouldn't understand,” she said, glancing away.

“Ah reckon’ Ah won’t unless ya tell what’s eatin’ at you,” I said. “But Ah ain’t seen ya smile once since we got here.”

“What’s ta smile about?” she said, whirling around. “Ponies gettin’ ripped from the ground ’n made to fight? Some mare determined t’break ancient rules just t’get back at someone for doing what needed bein’ done when she did it? Forcing friends t’destroy loved ones…” her breath choked up at those words.

“AJ," I said. “What happened?”

She sat silent for a few moments, her eyes not on the area around us before standing and starting to walk away.

“We should get movin’,” she said. “We’re wastin’ time.”

I frowned but followed her back to the Castle.

Twilight or Sunset would know what was up.

“She doesn’t want to talk about it?” Sunset said, frowning. “I think you’d likely be the best to talk to over it.”

I shook my head. “She wouldn’t say a word after goin’ on about the unfairness of the whole thing,” I said. “Ah could tell there was something else bothering her, but dang if Ah could get it out of her.”

Sunset glanced at Twilight, or Sunshine as she was called on this side of the portal. She nodded.

“Ya know Ah hate it when y’all do that,” I said.

They blushed. “We’ll tell you if you really want to know,” Sunset said. “But you should know that it’s not a pretty tale.”

I sat, quirking an eyebrow.

“Ya see me goin’ anywhere?”

I was in the room Cadence had given me for our stay. I couldn’t hold it in any longer, and tears slipped free.

Seeing Mom and Dad again had been heart-wrenching. I had felt like a filly again, felt the loss all over again. Sunset didn’t know, but I had seen the entirety of their deaths again, that same sense of guilt and sharp pain again.

Then, when they had wrapped me in their embrace, everything had faded away. All the pain, all the worries, just gone, replaced by numbness and an unnatural desire to just be held.

I hated that I had fell for it, and I hated Sorla and that witch of hers for conjuring them up. I didn’t know if they were actually my parent’s spirits or a mind trick, but I was going to get her back if I had to buck my way through every soul that sorcerer raised.

The door to my room opened as a sob escaped me. “Ah’d rather be alone right now,” I said to the darkness.

“Ah know,” came the voice.

Horseapples, just what Ah needed.

“Sunset told me what happened to ya,” she said. “Ah don’t know what that would feel like. But you know they weren’t Mom and Dad, right?”

“Maybe not yer folks, but Ah know what mine look like, what they smell like,” I couldn’t help but fight tears again. “Ah know,” I whispered.

“You think Ah don’t know that?” she asked. “Ever since coming through, Ah got to know just how much more sensitive mah sense of smell is.” She walked over to stand next to me. “Ah don’t doubt that they looked, smelt, felt, even sounded like yer folks.”

“But they weren’t,” I said. “It was just a cheap trick. And Ah fell for it.”

“There's no way you couldn’t have,” she said. “Sunset said that the spell draws from your memories to create the specters. They were designed to fool you.”

“But Ah knew it couldn’t be them,” I said. “Ah knew and Ah still fell for it.”

“Look, sugar cube,” she said. “We may be considered the strongest out of our friends, but we can’t be strong all the time.” She put a foreleg over my shoulders.

“That’s just it,” I said. “I don’t feel strong.”

“Maybe not now, but yer tryin’ to bear it alone,” she said. “Even Ah can see it’s weighin’ you down. Ya got to stop blaming yerself.”

I grimaced. “It kinda is,” I whispered.

“How?”

“Ah’m responsible for their deaths,” I whispered, finally letting the truth out.

Jackie just sat there, a confused look on her face.

“Are yer folks still alive, Jackie?” I asked.

She shook her head. “They died in a car wreck shortly after Apple Bloom was born.”

I nodded. “Not long after they brought the foal home, Ah was playing on one of the wagons on the farm,” I said. “The brake broke and it started rolling down the hill it had been parked on. Ah wasn’t scared until Ah saw the ravine.”

“The one just outside the east forty?” she asked.

I nodded, swallowing. “Dad saw it going, and he raced down, Mom just behind,” I squeezed my eyes shut. “Mom hopped into the wagon while Dad tried to slow it down and helped me up and out, but Dad couldn’t get out of the way before it pushed him over the edge.”

She rubbed my back.

“Mom died not long after from a broken heart,” I said. “Or so Granny said. I was too young to understand at the time. But it felt like it was my fault.”

“You couldn’t be held responsible, AJ,” I said.

“Ah know that now,” I said. “But back then? Ah felt horrible. And when they showed up again, all them feelings came rushing back.”

I pawed at the floor. “Ah mean to get em back, Jackie,” I said, feeling the fire of anger burning in my stomach. “Ya don’t mess with family.”

“Yer wrong,” she said.

I looked at her, seeing a familiar look on her face. Determination.

“We’ll get'em back,” she said, offering her hoof out. “We Apples got to stick together.”

I bumped it, smiling.

“Together.”