A Near Miss

The unicorn stallion had always been shy, it was his nature. At grade school, he was bullied relentlessly for it, and he was either unable, or unwilling, to raise a hoof at his aggressors. This continued for many years until finally, the new boy, an earth pony orphan from another town, stepped into the way. "Leave him alone!" The new pony demanded. The earth pony was up against older unicorns, and didn't stand a chance. Nonetheless, he tried to shield the bullied unicorn as best he could while the bullies beat the new kid instead. Once they had beaten the orphan unconscious they beat up the shy unicorn as well, leaving both of them weak and bloody on the floor.

"Spleens!" Long Shot shouted again to her collapsed friend. Spleens stayed on the ground, franticly twitching as if in a bad dream. "Near! We need to get her to a doctor!"

Long Shot knew nothing about medicine or medical practices, but seeing her friend suffering was plain as day. As Near Miss magicly floated Spleens gently back into the caravan, Long Shot strapped herself into the pulling harness faster than anypony ever had. The moment Near Miss emerged from the caravan, Long Shot started sprinting down the road towards Wren's Anomaly.

After they met, the shy unicorn and the orphan earth pony quickly became inseparable. The bullies still picked on them, but fighting two ponies at once was hard work, so the unicorn bullies quickly moved onto easier prey. While this made the two colt's lives somewhat easier, new rumors started to appear about their relationship, and the teaching staff at their school were not kind. In reality, the two colts were, at the time, merely good friends, and both were confused as to why all the adults were so upset over two boys being so close.

At first, Near Miss was able to use her magic to help Long Shot pull Spleens and the caravan faster, but the further they ran, the weaker Near's magic became, until her horn was unable to even generate a single spark. Long Shot was tiring too- her pegasus strength and speed slowly fading as they approached a long but shallow valley. Using the last of her magic, Near Miss strapped herself into the second pulling harness.

As they grew up, the two colts remained inseparable, but still each became their own pony. The shy unicorn's magic was weak, but he was very clever, and with the small amount of magic he had, he continuously astounded his teachers with his clever magical logic and workarounds.

The orphan earth pony, on the other hand, was a remarkably gifted gardener. To his teachers it seemed that any plant his hooves touched sprung to life and thrived above any others of the species. It was not long before the orphan colt was tutoring other earth ponies, some many decades older than him, in his spare time.

As they changed from colts into stallions, the shy unicorn and the orphan earth pony grew closer still, sharing their dearest hopes and dreams with each other in quiet whispers. Equestria, it seemed, was still out to get them, but together they felt strong, safe... secure.

They came of adult age within a month of each other, but that was the most difficult month either of them had ever known. The orphan earth pony, upon coming of age, was thrown out of his orphanage home and the shy unicorn tried to shelter him. This lasted a couple weeks before the shy unicorn's parents discovered their son's earth pony friend and threw them both out onto the streets.

Long Shot's lungs burned as she ran, but she would not let Spleens down. Near Miss felt it too- their very muscles were weakening as they entered the shallow valley of Wren's Anomaly.

The shy unicorn and the orphan earth pony roamed from city to city, surviving mostly on the earth pony's pay from his gardening lessons. The shy unicorn was not idle though- he self-taught himself more and more about magic every chance he had and, despite his weak horn, he showered his friend with magical baubles the likes of which Equestria had never seen.

It was the earth pony who brought it up first. He did it with a very simple question and a very simple act. "Can we be more than friends?" Followed by a quick kiss on the cheek. That was all, and the shy unicorn was speechless for a week.

The unicorn was, however, not idle for that week. Using the entirety of his small magic reserves and his vast cleverness, he crafted a gift for the earth pony- a living rose made of magical white light. It would never die and never fade in its gentle brilliance. At the end of the week the shy unicorn meekly presented his gift to his dear friend. Instead of being rejected as the unicorn had expected, his gift was met with a hug and a kiss, and after that evening the two stallions were a bit more than friends.

Near Miss could barely breath as they approached the center of the shallow valley. In the entire valley, there was neither flora nor fauna, just grey rocks and grey dirt; a dull lifeless moonscape.

Long Shot was suffering too, but she simply responded by pushing herself ever harder, desperately worried about her changeling friend.

The stallions were happy as they made their way back and forth across Equestria, learning and teaching as they went. Unlike the city they had grown up in, most of the ponies of Equestria didn't care that they were both male, and happily welcomed the clever unicorn and be-rosed earth pony into their cities and homes.

"STOP!" Spleens cried, having crawled her way to the caravan's door and weakly pushed it open. Near Miss and Long Shot dug their hooves in to the grey dirt and skidded to a halt at the center of Wren's Anomaly's valley. Faster than either thought possible, Near and Long shed their harnesses and rushed to Spleens's side. "There!" Spleens pointed at a shallow cave, "They need help," she said before passing out.

The night had started so well, with the traveling stallions meeting and setting up camp with another stallion alongside a valley wall. The new stallion was friendly enough, and seemed only to want to share the warm fire and trade stories. For hours, that's what they did, chatting pleasantly until the shy unicorn eventually politely excused himself to his sleeping bag shortly after midnight.

For a while the be-rosed earth pony and his new friend chatted before the newcomer brought up the rose. "Wherever did you come across that rose you have in your mane?"

"Oh this?" The earth pony answered, idly brushing his mane and briefly warming his hoof alongside the glowing white rose. "My partner," the earth pony gestured at the sleeping unicorn, "Made it for me after I first asked him out."

With alarming fluidity, the newcomer stallion flipped out a knife and simply said, "Hand it over."

"No, he made it for me-" was all the be-rosed earth pony managed to say before the knife was in his chest, piercing a lung. The thief tried to take what he assumed was a priceless rose, but his hoof just passed straight through it.

"I can't pick it up, why can't I pick it up!?" Demanded the thief.

"It was made for me... it was made with love for me." Was all the be-rosed stallion managed to say before losing consciousness.

Near Miss and Long Shot sprinted towards the shallow cave Spleens had pointed at. As they rounded the corner they found a grizzly sight. There were the remains of two ponies inside a shallow crater within the cave. The one on top was just bones now, although it had clearly been a unicorn. This however paled in comparison to the horror of the other pony. It was emaciated, looking like skin tightly stretched across bones, but this was not the frightening part, that was its eyes, which stared desperately at Near Miss and Long Shot, who, as they approached the earth pony with a white rose in his mane, both fainted mid-gallop.

A shout had awoken the shy unicorn, but he was tired and slow to his feet. By the time he was up, the stallion they had met earlier that night was sprinting away from a prone figure lying next to the wall of the canyon. He knew that figure, and sprinted towards it.

It was worse than he could have ever imagined.

On the ground was his be-rosed partner, bleeding out and barely breathing, a knife in his chest, and his pleading, helpless eyes stared into the unicorn's soul.

At his partner's side, the unicorn made a terrible choice. The unicorn was weak: he knew that. The unicorn had little magic: he knew that. But he knew how magic worked; it acted like life itself, and thus surely one could be traded for the other.

With a desperate, pained scream, the unicorn cast an awful spell; it would drain all the life and magic nearby to save his partner, surely for long enough to find a doctor or a more powerful unicorn who could help.

The unicorn had sadly forgot that he, himself, was also alive, and as the be-rosed earth pony watched in horror, his unicorn partner died.

The spell was strong though, and did what it was supposed to, keeping the be-rosed earth pony alive for hours, then days, then months, then years. It was over one hundred years before a unicorn and a bat pony ran up pulling a cart, before rushing towards the earth pony and fainting on the way.

Near Miss was the first to awaken, but only just. She felt weak, weaker than ever in her life. Looking in front of her, she saw the crying earth pony, unable to move, but still with a glowing white flower in his hair. Near tried to crawl towards the ancient earth pony, but she was too weak to move. She tried her magic, but that didn't work either. As Near collapsed again, she briefly glimpsed a glowing green changeling striding stoically past.

Spleens felt sick. Sicker than she had thought possible, but she had to act. Her friends were dying, and a long suffering stranger needed help. Pulling herself off of the caravan floor, she felt her magic drain, but also love. So much love, such deep love that she could force herself up and slowly walk forward. From inside the caravan, she had seen the lives of two ponies, from start to end, or close to it.

Fighting for each step, drinking love only slightly faster than it drained out of her, she made her way to the be-rosed earth pony. He stared at her, almost motionless, occasionally glancing at Near Miss or Long Shot before closing his eyes and nodding.

"Rest now, Green Touch," Spleens said before smashing his skull in with her hoof. The rose grew dull.