Apogee Plays With Fire

The curious filly, Apogee, followed the colt who had saved her from impending death; very curious about who he was as they trotted along the path she took from her house. After being saved, she was not too sure what to say; part of her wanted to thank him, but part of her wanted to go home quickly and be in the safety of her own house. She then decided in her mind to say something, but what could she say? A simple thanks wouldn’t be enough, he just saved her life and she can’t just repay him with a simple one-letter word. She tried to think of many things to say before she finally just spoke without thinking.

“What is home like for you?” she asked before widening her eyes and instantly feeling ridiculous.

Thomas did not answer and kept trotting, leaving Apogee wondering whether or not he heard her but didn’t bother to ask again. They would get to halfway on their path before she would hear him reply.

“It is not a happy story, but do you insist on hearing it?” he asked with a rather noticeable sad tone.

Apogee’s ears lowered as she was definitely nervous to answer now; she did not want to upset someone who had just saved her. She didn’t respond and left a face of uncertainty for a minute before she heard him respond.

“What about you?” Thomas responded, still facing away from her.

Apogee looked up at him, eyes wide and ears low. She was not comfortable telling her story and she kept on trotting behind him.

“Why do you want to know?” she finally asked after 10 minutes of trotting back home.

“You don’t have to answer if you do not want to,” he responded and kept on trotting.

Apogee’s question was left unanswered, leaving her ears lowered as she trotted behind him before she started to let the words loose from her mouth.

“When I was born, my parents seemed very happy,” Apogee explained with her head down to the ground a bit. “They were always smiling whenever I was around and hugged and kissed. Both of them had dreams of reaching the stars, which I think may have been the reason that they split away from each other.”

Thomas had stopped and turned around to her, now very intrigued with her story. Apogee had instinctively stopped along with him as she continued her story.

“When I was five years old,” she continued, “I began hearing my mom and dad argue back and forth constantly and I think that’s when my mom began drinking. As I got older, I found out that my dad intentionally got my mom pregnant so he can stay with her. Instead of going to the stars, she is stuck building machines and drinking. As for my dad, he is busy with his intern at work but they still take care of me. I would also end up going back and forth between my parents so I can spend time with each of them, either that or they can just get away from me for a bit.”

Thomas’ ears lowered before he asked: “Well, do they do fun stuff with you?”

Apogee’s eyes looked back up to his face and her ears raise a bit.

“Yeah, we do all sorts of fun stuff!” she exclaimed with her innocent and optimistic smile.

Thomas smiled back at her, but his ears were still lowered; he was wearing a smile that contained sadness and relief.

“That’s good to hear,” he responded, “at least you have fun times with your parents.”

“What about you?” Apogee asked sweetly. “What is it like with your parents? Did you sneak out too?”

Thomas’ smile quickly faded and he took a second before responding: “I don’t have any.”

Apogee’s ears quickly folded downwards and her wings folded inwards. Her eyes widened with a sudden feeling of regret and sorrow. She began to feel bad for asking, but that’s when Thomas continued.

“My parents did not intend for me to be born, it was just a one-night stand after meeting at a local bar. When my mother found out she was pregnant, they considered aborting me. My mother decided to keep me, but my father hated the thought of having to deal with me. You wanna know something funny?”

Apogee did not answer, she was frozen stiff as she did not like where this story was going.

“Fun little fact for you: if you put headphones on your belly while you’re pregnant and you play a song, the song will keep the filly calm during its early years and calm the filly. I heard nothing but arguing while I was in the womb, and nothing but arguing after I was born. Since I heard arguing while I was still in the womb, I remained calm as they argued loudly. It was like that for the first seven years of my life, but then it happened.”

Apogee shook in her hooves, she wanted it to stop but didn’t want to speak up about it. She was afraid that he could break down at any moment and she did not want to see that happen, but she also did not want to be rude to him since he saved her and is helping her back to her home; therefore, she simply let Thomas carry on with the story of his past.

“Right on my fifth birthday,” he continued, “my father had enough of the arguing. He came in and punched my mother to the ground. He then got on top and began beating her down with his bare hooves. She screamed for help and reached out for me, but I couldn’t do anything… I was too weak and too scared. She died right in front of me, then he turned to me and began to kick me around. I was like a soccer ball as I got kicked around and slammed against a wall, once again I was too weak to do anything and I was even weaker as he kicked me around. For some reason, he did not kill me by beating me in; instead, he lit a fire in the house and left me there to die. Miraculously, I survived thanks to the local fire department and my father was arrested for murder, attempted murder, and arson. I was placed into a foster care but it was a hellhole like my home. With nopony adopting me, I left and hid in the forest since then.”

Apogee was shaken up from the story; a word could hardly escape her as she stared with tears in her eyes that began to fall down her eyes and down her cheek before falling onto the ground. She struggled to even find a word that she could form; however, a minute would pass before she finally spoke once more.

“Did you have any good memories?” she asked in hopes that he could cheer up the mood.

Thomas let out a smile before responding: “Yeah, I did. I met a dragon who had ancient fire magic and he trained me and passed his magic down to me.”

Apogee tilted her head and looked at him in confusion.

“Magic?” she repeated with an eyebrow raised. “You’re not a unicorn though.”

Thomas chuckled to himself before the area began to grow hot, and an aura of flames arose from his body; soon, his body was surrounded in flames and he was unharmed by it. Apogee stared at him with wide eyes and her ears pointed upwards; she was fascinated by the scene as she had never seen anypony do anything quite like it before, especially since it was an earth pony. Thomas then reverted back to his normal state, unsure whether she liked it or not until she smiled brightly.

“That’s AWESOME!” she exclaimed with a cheer. “You’re like an anime character!”

Thomas tilted his head and raised his right eyebrow; now he was confused.

“What is an anime character?” he asked with a confused expression.

Apogee giggled and trotted with Thomas back to the house, telling him about all sorts of things before they eventually reached the house. It was almost morning, and Thomas was at the front door with her.

“I guess this is it huh?” he asked with slight disappointment.

“Yeah, I guess it is.” she answered with a bit more disappointment. “Maybe we will see each other again.”

Thomas smiled a slight bit, doubtful of it ever happening and left her on that note. He disappeared into the trees before she trotted inside the house.

The next morning, she woke up and went over to her father who was making coffee and preparing for work. She wanted to tell him all about what had happened as they kept replaying in her mind, but she was not sure and thought about it. Eventually, she went up and poked her dad on his right side, causing him to turn to her.

“What’s up Apogee?” he asked whilst in a grumpy mood.

“Dad,” Apogee spoke with a serious and determined tone, “I want you to meet someone who helped save my life.”