The Wick of the Collapse

It was only in the span of a week that Stellar Apsis had unsheathed his foal fangs, them being sharp and somewhat painful for his teething. Stellar Apsis was born to a batpony mother and unicorn stallion, his blue fur matching the coat of his father and his black mane matching the mane of his father’s father. His features more closely matched his mother, such as his fangs, ears, and wings, but also his purple eyes and fluffy fur. Everything about him marked an adorable, unique foal, but he had no warning when, as soon as his fangs began coming in, his father stopped picking him up or cuddling him. His mother was gone and after the recent events in Equestria, batponies had lost acceptance in much of Equestrian society, so he had not a single pony showing love or affection for him.

A Year After His Fangs

The small colt sat in his bed, not making any noise. He did not know what to really do anymore. None of his attempts for attention from his father had really worked, and his momma was gone for some time now. He was a three-and-a-half-year-old, very cute to most ponies until they perceived a glimpse of his sharp fangs. The little colt approached the edge of his bed, slowly crawling down it. The hallway outside his room was silent, no sounds being made on the hardwood floor. He could see by the light through his curtained bedroom window that it was early morning. Reaching up to knob, his hooves turned it and he trotted into the hallway, taking a look down at the end toward the kitchen, where he saw nopony or any activity in view. He took small steps to his father’s room, opening the door a little and peering in. He could just see the lump of his father under the sheets, next to another mare who, in the past few months, had gained a relationship with his father and fell in love with him. The foal, knowing nothing of romantic love, only saw the mare as another harbinger of trouble in his young life. She only brought him jealousy and yearning. The little colt did not even attempt to get his father’s attention, trotting past the room with the door closing as he left. Stellar went into the living room and sat on the couch, turning on the television and changing it to his favorite channel: the science channel. He sunk into a pillow and simply watched as the time went by, not knowing much of what he was seeing but knowing that it had something to do space, a topic that his real mother made him love.

After a couple hours had passed, there was the recognizable hoofstep of Apsis’ stepmother. She always had walked in such a way that her hoofsteps were truly distinguishable by sound. These hoofsteps made their way down the hall and only encouraged the young foal to bury himself deeper into the couch, even though he knew that the mare would see him anyway.

Sapphire Sound made her way into the Kitchen, seeing the colt in the living room but paying him no mind. She was no longer uncomfortable around the fanged foal, but she still did not like the thing. Instead, right now, she focused on making breakfast for her family. She could comfortably make breakfast for the foal because she was aware of a critical piece of information that she and her coltfriend were hiding from the little one. She would not need to deal with the little one much longer, and she could instead tend solely on her stallion and future foal, the latter of whom was already on the way.

Little Apsis relaxed when he saw that his stepmother was out of view, now focusing on the TV again and dozing off.

“So we will feed him and then we will leave?” Sapphire asked Tidal as she prepared the breakfast of hay bacon and eggs.

“That is the plan. We will take I-45 and drop him after about three hours. From there, it is nature's responsibility.” The stallion gave this information almost melodically, having planned this weeks before. By now, he had completely dismissed his old love for the colt’s mother and simply wanted to start anew. To him, done were the days of having to care for a foal that he and his community did not want around.

The colt found himself aroused awake by his father, and, after tiredly and instinctively offering his hooves for his daddy to pick him up and then inevitably dismissed, he sleepily ate the food given to him by his stepmother. Unbeknownst to the colt, the food was laced, and he found himself drifting back to sleep shortly after.

The sleeping colt was placed inside the station wagon that Tidal warmed up for five minutes. It was mid-winter, and the family was living in Mosscow, which was about two hundred miles southeast of Vanhoover. Snow was on the side trots and yards. Ice was on the streets, and it only got worse as they went north. The magical interstate highway systems were helpful, keeping the ice melted, but, after those three hours of driving, they drove off of the interstate for about ten minutes into blank country. The colt, still out cold, really had no idea how poor his day was going to end up as his father picked him up, wrapped him in a blanket (he was not that cruel), and placed him on the side of the road.

A couple hours had passed before the colt woke up wrapped in the blanket. He was quite cold and immediately looked around for either of his two neglectful parents, neither of whom were in sight. With a whimper, he said, this being the first noise he had made today, “D-daddy?” to no response. He said this a couple more times before tearing up a little bit and beginning to sob, not wanting to leave the blanket while also, in his innocent, young age, unable to come to terms with the fact that he had been abandoned. He did not even know what abandonment was, but instead believed that daddy would come back, but, due to the events of the past year, the colt began to break in his poor shell, the shell that told him that daddy still loved him like he did all that time ago.

Getting out of the blanket wrap while shivering, the colt quickly found a way to wrap it around himself while still being able to trot. And trot he did. For about an hour, he trotted along the road in one direction, not knowing whether or not he was trotting toward or away from where his two parents went. By now, it was getting colder, and night was falling. He, having stopped crying when he noticed that his tears were freezing and that it was uncomfortable, found a cabin. He stepped up the stairs of said cabin and was climbing up to touch the knob when the door just opened from contact. The little colt trotted into the open cabin and closed the door behind him. Even as it was less cold in here, he still felt the chilly air and looked around. “H-hello?” His voice was very much like his age and his L’s sounded like W’s. The cabin was small, having a kitchen in the front room. There was a wooden table and some chairs, as well as a couch.

Trotting into the other room, he found a bed and a lantern on the side table. Even though he was a young foal, he remembered when his daddy would talk about his camping trips, and even showed his stepmother how to use a lantern for a trip they ended up taking without the colt. He reached for the lantern and found it to be quite similar, and after a few tries, ignited the magical wick. The warmth was quick and sudden, and he stayed close to this lantern as it helped him keep warm. He climbed up onto the bed with the lantern and placed it on the bedside, staying close to it while laying on the mattress. He did not sleep for a few hours, but instead watched the magical flame flicker.

It was only when he heard shuffling outside that he was dozing off, and it quickly brought him to consciousness. He did not know whether to cry or be quiet, as he could tell that those pat pat pat sounds were hoofsteps in the snow. By now, also, the light from the lantern had flickered off, but the warmth was still present due to the magical properties of the lantern. He now chose to hide, not wanting to be caught by a stranger, because he knew about stranger danger due to a stallion almost having kidnapped another foal recently. He slowly crept off of the bed and slid under it as he heard the front door open. He peeked into the darkness at the bedroom door, and heard the door close, but it was more than one pony in that room. A light became visible under the door and he heard soft talking. Both female and male voices.

The colt hid under the bed for ten minutes, feeling warmth from under the door but also the cold that remained in the room. Suddenly, he backed deeper under the bed as he heard a voice approach the door. The male voice stated, “Hey guys, there is a room back here,” before opening the door. Light entered the room and two sets of hooves entered the rooms, seeming to be doing something to the windows. The colt was now shivering in fear.

“Hey, I smell something. Someone check under the bed,” a different voice stated, now female. The colt was looking out of the bed right as a male face came into view, with the eyes of a batpony, staring straight at him. Stellar took this queue to begin crying, hoping that, if this pony were to try to hurt him, the mare he heard would take pity on him. Instead of being attacked, the colt found himself pulled out from the other end of the bed by his tail. Still crying, he found himself being hugged close to a warm, fluffy chest. This calmed him down somewhat and he found himself in the hooves of the other stallion. He was being shushed gently, but the feeling of being held and protected really brought him calmness. He was carried out into the room with the fire, his face pressed into the stallion’s warm chest as he felt his world being turned upside down, but, unlike when that phrase is used to mean something negative, this upside down was a positive.

It was only now that he came out of his daze and looked up again, seeing, around him, his carrier and three other ponies, consisting of two mares and two stallions. All four were batponies. All four were smiling at him, but he immediately looked at one of them and teared up, his hooves immediately outstretched to her as he cried out, “M-momma!”