Chapters It was a beutiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the flowers were in full bloom. But where was everypony? The answer could be found in our next mental picture, imagining the last scene, but with a fireball being plunged through the area, singeing the flowers, and burning the birds. Why was there fire? Firestrand, a pony who devoted his life to exacting revenge, was running amuk through Ponyville, burning anything, and anypony he saw. But why? To answer that question, we must go back into the days of Firestrand's foalhood, and work our way up from there.
It was a less beutiful day. The sun was hidden beneath raging couds, the birds were hiding in their nests to avoid the cascading snow, and the flowers had died for the winter. Everypony was drearily living their lives in the gloomy town of Ponyville. As the snow came down more, more and more ponies left their wandering of the streets, and hid away in their homes. One family of ponies were at the hospital, awaiting the arrival of their new colt. Mr. Gorge was standing at the side of his wife, Spitfire.
Over a series of disgusting events that neither I or anyone else reading this story really wanted full detail of, the new colt was born. Spitfire and Soarin' named him Firestrand, after his glowing red hair. His coat was also a derivitive of red, but a darker, almost maroon, shade. in a slim chance of almost 200,000,000 to 1, both pegasus gave birth to a unicorn. It was a miracle, and only at age 3, Firestrand started glowing his horn, and fire erupted from it. He burned down their summer home, and Soarin' and Spitfire were forced to give him up to child serivces. They took him to a foster home, where he met three new friends: a Pegasus named Canus, a Unicorn named Maccieveli, and an Earth Pony named Willow. Canus and Willow were Fillies, but Maccieveli was a colt. One day, Firestrand saw a larger colt, named Basalt, bullying Willow.
Firestrand shouted to him in his small, but stern voice, "Get away from her, you big bully!"
Firestrand charged at him, but Basalt grabbed his leg, hung him upside down, and said, "Nice Try, whelp" and he threw him aside. Firestrands rage built up inside him as he regained his footing, watching as Basalt stole Willows possesions and belongings. He let out a fearful cry, even at his stature, and charge Basalt again. He leaped onto the bully's back, and grasped himself around his neck, still screaming as he did so. But Basalt simply bucked him off in one try. He and the other bullys laughed as he and Willow could do nothing to stop them.
Basalt took from Willow her saddlebag, and started rummaging through her stuff. "Hey!" she shouted, with fear in her voice, and threatening to shed tears, "Give it back!"
Basalt only reached the saddlebag high above Willow's head, looked down at her, and said, "Make me."
Firestrand regained his footing again, glared Basalt down with his eyes, and concentrated all of his willpower. His horn started to give off a faint redish-orangeish glow. Basalt's face curled into a smile as he mocked, "Oh, No! The little Unicorns gonna use his magic on me. I'm so scared!" and he erupted into laughter, much to the enjoyment of the goons behind him. But Firestrand still summoned all his willpower, and finally, a few sparks started jumping from his horn. Even Basalt was beginning to have second thoughts, but it was too late now. He only gave a nervous laugh, and said in a fake gloat, "Ha. Is that all you've got?" Firestrand finally brought upon himself all of his energy, and a fireball was launched from his horn, onto Basalt. The bully screamed in pain, as he galloped down the hallway at top speed. The other bullies just looked at Firestrand, awe in their eyes, and then turned to run after their leader.
Willow turned to Firestrand, and said, "That was amazing." Willow had always been Firestrand's crush, but now that she was talking to him, he froze up. He had no trouble defending her from Basalt, because his adrenaline was pumping. But now it had died down, and Firestrand just kept his eyes off of the filly. "Thank you." she said in a fragile voice, then she pecked Firestrand on the cheek! The colt immediately looked up, but realised that that would only give away his feelings to Willow. He hung his head down again, and managed to say through nervousness, "A-any time."
When Firestrand was a teen, he was still in foster care. Basalt had been hurt badly, but not too seriously. From that day on, nopony ever bullied Firestrand or his friends. Now that he and his friends were older, Firestrand had learned to control his anger, and had only burned a pony once or twice until now. He was walking down the hall with Maccieveli, the unicorn like him. He had been who Firestrand told everything to. He was his best friend, and he was the only one who knew about the crush on Willow. But Firestrand knew some things on Mac as well. He knew that if he concentrated hard enough, he could actually move the moon an inch or two in the sky. And Firestrand knew that he wasn't alone on his crushes, as Maccieveli had sort of a thing for Canus.
"Sooo," said Mac, trailing his voice out in a friendly manner, "How goes it with willow?"
Firestrand knew this to be usual conversation between him and Mac, so he replied, still looking straight ahead down the hall, "About as well as it's been going between you and Canus." he smirked.
"ah. Not that good." Said Mac, playing along in the belittling of himself. "Can you still not talk to her?" he asked.
"I've told you before," said Firestrand, explaining his theory, "As long as all four of us are together, I don't need to talk to her, because you can. And you don't need to talk to Canus, because I can." he finished, then got back onto Mac's questioning eyes, "But no, not yet."
This brought upon chuckling from Mac, who said, "Speaking of Canus and other Pegasi, you remember about our guest speaker?"
Firestrand almost forgot, that today at the foster home, there was a guest speaker: Spitfire! Captian of the Wonderbolts, wife of Soarin', and, unbeknownst to Firestrand, his mother. After all, Firestrand was taken from his parents before he could even speak; he would have no memory of even their faces. He was stoked to hear from the captain of the Wonderbolts!
Just as they left the Foster home to go to Sugar Cube Corner, Canus flew oerhead. She wasn't a fast flyer like Rainbow Dash, but she did enjoy flying. She landed next to Maccieveli, who's Indigo coat matcher her dark cyan coat, and white hair. Mac had purple hair, though, so on that ground, they differed grately.
"Hey, Mac!" she said playfully as she walked along side him.
"H-hey..." Said Mac, turning his head away, all of sudden shyer then Fluttershy.
Firestrand couldn't help laughing a bit, much to Canus' curiosity. "What?" she asked, defending Maccieveli a bit.
"Notihng," said Farestrand, swallowing his laughter. He didn't want to ruin his frinds chances with Canus. "N-nothing at all."
Canus just grunted, and continued walking alonside the other two. They walked into Ponyville, passing ponies they knew, and eventually, Willow appeared down the street. She waved to the group, and cantered toward them hapilly. Once she reached them, she saw the nervousness in Firestrand's eyes, so she decided that he was stressed, and instead walked over to Canus. "Hey, Canus. Hey, Mac."
Both Maccieveli and Canus replied with a mellow 'hey'. Canus turned her attemtion from Mac to Willow, and the group became two little subgroups: the colts, and the fillies. Maccieveli walked closer to Firestrand, and said, "Beutiful, isn't she?"
Firestrand smiled and said, "Which one?"
Mac chuckled with his friend and replied, "Canus. You think she'd ever like me?" he asked, worried about his answer.
"Of course!" he said, a little too loudly, which cought the attention of the girls, who continued talking. Firestrand replenished the conversation, "Why wouldn't she? You're smart, you're a stallion, and..." he tried to think of something to add to all of that. He was even making a stretch with the stallion business, "You're smart." he said. "Canus would fall for you like that! You're only problem is getting to talk to her."
Mac sucked on his lips as he thought. "Well," he said, "Might as well give it a shot. When do think I should do it?"
Firestrand became greately confused, "Do what?" he asked.
"Ask her out. You know what you said, she'd fall for me like that, as long as I spoke to her. I think I have it ine, but when should I do it?"
"I dunno," said Firestrand, out of ideas, "I guess up here at Sugar Cube corner would work." changing the subject, he said, "What about Willow? How do you see this thing between me and her working out?"
Maccieveli looked ove the beutiful mare Willow. on her flank, there was the image of a willow tree, which was very fitting. She, aside from Firestrand, was the only one of the group who had a cutie mark. Firestrand's was a picture of a flamethrower, which was also fitting. Willow also had beutiful amber hair, and a golden coat. As far as Maccieveli was concerned, she was perfect. "Hm." he grunted, "She's pretty. I think she likes you. If you could only talk to her, she would be yours."
"Looks like we have the same problem, Mac," Said Firestrand, "Neither of us talk to our crushes."
Meanwhile, Canus ans Willow were discussing the colts. "So," began Canus, "What about Maccieveli?" she glanced at him, while he appeared to be sucking on his lip. He was Canus' dream date: Smart, nice, and handsome. She looked over the colt, who had now begun to explain something to Firestrand. She glanced up at his violet hair, then at his Indego coat, and finally at his black-rimmed spectacles.
Willow replied, "He's cool. The one I'm after is Firestrand. I thought he would see how I felt about him, after that kiss. But apparently not. He doesn't even talk to me. Mac seems more interested in me than he does." Willow frowned.
"Are you kidding?" asked Canus, "Mac totally digs me . not you. He may not speak, but I think that's because Firestand likes you." Canus turned her attention away from Maccieveli, just as he was looking their way.
Willow turned her head to Canus, and said, "Well, that may be true. He might just be too nervous to talk to me. I don't know, but it looks like," Willow glanced at Maccieveli, "Mac's plotting something."
"I guess we just have to wait and see" said Canus, admiring the colt with every step they took.
When the four arrived at Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie Pie wasn't there, and instead Mr. Cake was at the counter. "Welcome, Firestrand." he said. Firestrand was a frequent customer, along with his friends. They came there almost evryday for lunch. "I assume to get the usual."
"You got it" said Firestrand, losing all nervousness now that he was in public with Willow. It was only when they were alone that Firestrand froze up.
The four friends sat at their tables as Mr. Cake went into the kitchen. Firestrand sat with Mac, and the girls sat on the other side of the room. The others started talking, but Maccieveli couldn't keep his eyes off of Canus. Firestrand nudged him on the shoulder and whispered, "Now's your chance." Fire strand sat back as Mac gulped, got up, and walked over to the girls. He said a few things quietly that Firestrand couldn't hear, and Canus gave a violent nod.
He had done it. Firestrand got a smile across his face, as he saw Willow looking his direction. He could almost see her thoughts, and he didn't like them.
It had been 5 years since Firestrand, Canus, Willow, and Maccieveli had moved out of the foster home.
Firestrand was practicing his fire manipulation skills one day in Ponyville park, when Maccieveli came up to him. "Hey, Mac," he said friendishly, "What're you doing here?" he asked without any sort of suspision or malice.
"Oh, I just needed to get away from Canus for a day. You know, she's been taking this really seriously. I don't know what to do."
"ah, that's easy." said Firestrand, "Break up with her."
"What?!" asked Maccieveli in deisgust. He and Canus had been dating for almost eight years, now, and Mac wasn't nearly ready to end it.
"You know. Things like these never end up really lasting, so why not save yourself the heartbreak, and just end it now." Firestrand said, summoning a fireball out of thin air, and hurtling it into the river.
Maccieveli thought over Firestrand's words, and said, "I dunno, 'Strand. We've been dating for years, and I think that we are the only ones for each other. Like you keep saying about you and Willow."
Mac knew he had struck a nerve, when instead of a fireball, the maroon pony in front of him blasted a stream of red hot flames into the air. Firestrand quickly calmed himself, and said, "Me and Willow are the only ones for each other. If we weren't, she would have chosen a more suiting boyfriend by now. What you and Canus have, it's..." Firestrand held back the urge to say something he would regret, and instead said, "It's been going on for a long time. You and I both know that your relationship has lost almost all of its meaning since a few years ago, but me and Willow are just getting started." he shot a machine gun of fireballs into the river, and a familiar voice came from behind them.
"Well, there's only one pony I know who could've done that. Whelp." the voice belonged to Basalt, the old school bully, now only a few years older than him. Firestrand turned, and saw that Basalt had recovered from the second degree burns he had put him through. He pushed Mac aside, and walked his way upto Firestrand. Then, he looked across the park. Firestrand followed his gaze, and for the first time, saw Willow there, watching his demonstration from about forty or so yards away. "She's a pretty one, 'Strand. It sure would be a shame if something were to happen to her."
"Something already did happen to her. And it ended with you down in the burn ward." Firestreak threatened. "Don't try something like that again, or you might not make it there in time." he began to glow his horn, and fire once again erupted from it and into the river in a scorching line. He did this to prove his threatening point to Basalt, who instead just shoved him forward.
"I may have been dumb enough to fall for your torch-juggling, but this time, I'm not making the same mistake" He ce again shoved him, and kept this up until Firestrand was inches from the river. From time to time, the maroon stallion would push back, but for the most part,Basalt had Firestrand under his control.
Willow watched on, and one shove from the river, she shouted, "STOP!" and she galloped to Firestrand's side. But before she could get there, Basalt shoved Firestrand once more, causing him to lose his footing, and plummet into the river.
Firestrand was soaked through, and angry as ever. But what really caused him to snap was when Basalt turned to the newly came Willow, and pushed her in, too. The two secret crushes sat side by side in the water, their manes stuck to their heads. Firestrand's eyes embodied his rage as they started to glow bright red. His horn shot sparks as his anger welled up inside, almost ready to break loose. And finally, he shouted four words: " BY FIRE BE PURGED!!!" his horn erupted with not fire, but magma, which literally melted the skin off Basalt's bones, leaving him a charred skeleton.
Firestrand stood from the river, and found that he had actually killed a pony. Not maimed, or burned, actually murdered. He could almost not even perceive the consequences that would come with this, and so he resolved to throw Basalt's carried skeleton into the river. His friends both stared at him, mouths agape, and he said, "We can't tell anypony about this."
His friends nodded with him, and that was the end of it. Everypony walked down the street back to their shared home: the Ponyville hotel. On their way there, there was no talk, only the awkward walking of three ponies with guilty consciouses. They were all worried somepony might get suspisciouss, but they kept walking.
When they got to Firestrand and Maccieveli's room, Willlow went into the room across the hall, to Canus. Firestrand sat at the table, along with Mac. out of his nervous face, a smile started twitching. Firestrand could hardly stand that he was happy, and spoke up, "Why are you happy ? We - I - just killed a pony, I could get banished, thrown into prison! And you're happy about it?" he asked a little to aggresively.
Mac lost his smile, and replied, "Oh, sorry, 'Strand. I was just thinking about how our lives are finally free from Basalt. It's wonderful. And no witesses, no family to look for him, I think that there's no danger of anypony finding out it was us, much less even finding his skeleton."
Mac raised a good point: there wasn't even any convictive evidence that they did it. But he couldn't let something like homicide slip through him without it taking a bit of guilt with it. "Yeah, I guess," he began, "but... I can't just shrug this off like it's no big deal, because it is a big deal. I killed a pony." Firestrand could hardly bare more words, so he got up, went to the sink, and got himself a drink in an ordinary glass. He filled it to the brim with water, and chugged the entire thing.
"Wow," said Mac, "and here I was thinking you've had your fill of water for today." despite his friend's comment, Firestrand kept drinking. When the glass was empty, his still faintly glowing red eyes returned to their natural state, and his blazing hair lost a majority of its glow. He placed the glass on the counter, walked over to, and opened the window looking into the everfree forest from their 3rd floor room, and fired fireball after fireball into it.
after about five minutes of this, Firestreak closed the window, and told Mac, "It's been quite the day. I'm gonna hit the hay." He walked into his bedroom, closed the door, and as fa as Maccieveli knew, went to sleep. Just after this, there was a knock from the door.
Mac looked through the peephole, and was happy to see Canus and Willow there. Even though he originally wanted a day away from Canus, he really needed to talk with someone who had no chance of incinerating him if he got on his nerves. So he opened the door, and let the other two in. He sat on the sofa this time, as the table only had two chairs. Naturally, Canus sat next to him, and Willow got the armchair. "So," he asked Willow, "quite a day, right?"
Willow smiled as she gave a silent laugh, and said, "Could've been better." she looked to Canus, who was desperately confused.
"What did you all do today?" she asked. After Maccieveli explained the whole situation, much as it appeared up there, she continued, "So, wait. You killed Basalt?"
"well, more specifically, Firestreak did, but we're all the witnesses." willow replied.
"And we've devoted ourselves to a wall of silence. Nopony saysanything, and we'll be alright." Mac added.
Willow was looking out the window when she said, "Oh, no." and ducked behind her chair.
"What is it?" asked Canus.
"The police are here. and they've got Basalt's skeleton. I don't think we're 'alright' now, Mac."
The day the police arrived, was the last day Firestrand would have in Ponyville for a while.
Willow, Canus, and Mac left the room, and went into the other, leaving Firestrand in the old room for when the police showed up. As soon as the door closed into the other room, the elevator down the hall opened, and four police ponies walked down the hall. They stopped at room 343, Firestrand's room, and knocked on the door raurously. After a few minutes, Firestrand appeared, and seeing an officer, shoved him and his comrades aside and galloped down the hall.
meanwhile, at the other side of the hall, the elevator doors were closing. This was Firestrand's last chance to escape, as the stairs were on the opposite side of the hall. He made it into the elevator lobby when the doors were inches apart. He leaped, his right hoof extended, and landed, with his hoof through the door. the two sides opened again, Firestrand got inside, and he pressed the 'Close Door' button repeatedly. The police were n the lobby now, and just before a stallion was about to beat Firestrand over the head with his nightstick, the doors closed, and the elevator began slowly descending down to the lobby. But Firestrand knew he wasn't out of the woods yet.
As soon as the doors opened to the ground floor, the squad of police officers was just arriving. He didn't see any other options, so he fired a ball of flames at the squad. They all dodged, except for one: a mare, with a white coat, and brown hair. she fell to the groud, suffering from burns, and Firestrand took off down the hallway, officers close behind. He tried to shake them by dipping this corner and that, and from time to time knocking a room service cart down behind him. But the police stayed at close range. He was sure to get banished at LEAST. But he kept going. He ran past the secretary, out the door, and into Ponyville. He looked back behind him.
finally he though, That last dash must have lost them. Now I can- OOFF! he thought and spoke as he ran into something solid, yet warm and a bit squishy. He fell to the ground, and looked up to see a large police stallion staring down at him. He kept him on the ground, fitted some handcuffs onto his hooves, and laded him into the car. They drove off to Canterlot, to his hearing trial.
Maccieveli had watched the entire thing out the window, and he was worried for his friend. Willow was crying, and Canus was attempting to comfort her. Mac sat down again and asked, "Why are you upset?"
Willow looked up from her tears to say, "Because now he's gone! We'll never see him again! He'll be banished for life in the Everfree Forest!" she dropped her head in another set of tears. Canus handed her more tissues as she once again blew her nose.
Mac was still confused. "I know," he said, using trail and error to get the truth out of her, "He was my friend,too, you know."
Willow looked up again, and said through tears, "He was more than my friend!" she blew her nose, as her tears began to deteriorate, "We had feelings for each other! At least, I assume he did. I sure did!"
Suddenly it all made sense to Maccieveli and Canus; it had ben so long that they had forgotten in their own romance: Willow and Firestrand were in love, no matter how much they didn't say it. It was obvious. Willow, with her previous comment, burst into a whole new set of tears, and wile Canus was comforting her, she looked to Mac, who was dep in thought.
He was almost sure that given the charges of Murder, Assualt of a police officer, and resisting arrest, he'd be lucky if he wasn't given death row! One way or another, Maccieveli was sure he would never see his best friend again.
* * * * *
After the hearing trial, Firestrand wasb't given death row, but he was banished for life to the Everfree Forest. Before he could say goodbye to his friends, he was blindfolded and put on a cart going miles into the woods. He was dumped ooff in a small clearing surrounded on all sides by dark trees. Unluckily for Firestrand, it was night now, and on all sides of him, he could hear howls into the night. He summoned some fire onto the tip of his horn as to act as a torch, and he began walking. he trudged through the forest, keeping an eye out for any manticores, hydras, or other assorted monsters. But he was distracted by a hut, and didn't account for behind him. A timber wolf leaped out of the darkness and pinned him to the ground.
Before the beast could take a bite out of Firestrand's neck, the stallion stood up, and bucked him off. The timber wolf's head stuck itself in the window of the hut. Firestrand turned around, horn still lit, and saw in horror an entire pack of timber wolves, which all seemed to be following an especially scarred and feroscious wolf. Two smaller woves attacked first. Firestrand grabbed the jaw of one, pulled it open, and shot a fireball down it's throat. The wolf became red and burst into flames. The other had an even more painful death. Firestrand grabbed his paw, and ripped a long claw off of it. then, he stabbed it into the Timer Wolf's eye, leaving it a whmpering cripple. Then, Firestrand put his hoof on the wolf's back, and broke it's spine. It was diabled, and in tremendous pain. Eventually, it would starve to death.
Then, Firestrand took on the alpha male. He fired balls of fire at his foe, but he didn't mind the flames. the pony tried to get on it's back, but it's feroscious claws caught him, and threw him into the hut.
Firestrand was surprised to see that there was another pony n the hut. Well, technically, it wasn't a pony, but it was close enough. It was a zebra.
King of the Timber Wolves
Firestrand and Zecora still stood in her hut, with the alpha male looking through the window. The tree was strang, and the wolf could not get in. "What is that thing?" Firestrand asked, not even caring who the pony or zera was.
Zecora, talking in her usual rhymes, said, "That, my friend, is a timber wolf. Everfree forest, is what they wish to engulf. Once you bring this one down, you will be Timber wolf renown. If you can best, this mighy thing, you will surely become, the timber wolf king!"
Firestrand didn't even notice the riddle, and instead said, "Timer wolf king? Sounds good to me!" He tried to jump, but was caught by the tail by zecora.
She said, "But if you fail, my young po-ny, you will become, his Cro-ny!"
"Yeah, yeah," he said, yanking his tail out of the space between zecora's hoof and the ground. "I think I can take him. And besides, I'm banished for life. If I become a crony, I don't care." He reasoned, launchng once again at the alpha male's head, knocking it out the window. He wasnt able to fit through that, so he simply walked out the door to face him.
Zecora, watching on, threw him something. It was a long stick, but with a sharp rock at the end. He remembered learning about these in school: a spear! "Take this spear, my young friend, and bring that monster, to it's end!" He intended to do just that.Firestrand added one touch, though: he lit the spearhead on fire. Then he stood at the ready to fight the King of the Timber Wolves. "Fight with courage, and fight with honor, and that great beast, is surely a goner!" she added.
The king leaped at him, and Firestreak hit him in the chest with the but of his spear, sending him to the ground. The pony thought this couldn't be easier. He swiped the spear downwards, and put a gash down the wolf's chest. Then, the monster got up, and swung his mighty wooden paw, sending Firestreak to the grond a few yards away. The pony lay there, blood on his face. He reached over, and grabbed his spear up off the ground. Then, as the king was leaping at him again, Firestreak thrust the spear into it's stomach. The monster staggered backwards, and stood on it's hind legs. It grabbed the soear, and quite to the pony's surprise, simply yanked it out of his chest. He held it there, until he thrust it at the pony. The spear embedded itself into the ground right next to Firestrand, who got a devious idea. He grabbed the spear, and swung around and around, until he vaulted himself off of it, sending his right hoof into the lower jaw of the Alpha Male. The wolf staggered to the ground again, and the cocky pony wiped the blood off his face. Then, the king roared with such feroscity that Firestreak was thrown to the ground. He redied his jaw for a bite directly to the jugular vein, but Firestrand, was quicker on his feet, and shot a fireball into the wolf's face, giving the pony time to run off. For a few seconds, Firestrand thought he was safe behind two close trees, until the Timber Wolf King pulled them apart, revealing his roaring face. The pony ran again, the deranged wolf only opaces behind him. Just as the king was nipping at Firestrand's tail, the pony tripped over a root. The timber wolf wasn't ready for a change of direction, and soared over him. The prey scrabbled to his hooves, and ran to a cave they recently jumped over. He was just barely able to squeeze under the slim rocks of the cave, followed by the sideways snout of the Timber Wolf king, snifing out his prey. Firestrand followed it with his eyes as it left, peeking up out of the cave. The wolf sniffed the air, and ran off towards the back of the cave. Firestrand was anticipating an ambush, so he traveled backward, down the open tunnel. Once he reached the end, he narrowly got out of two close rocks.
He stood straight up again, and the Timber wolf's jaws closed arounf the scruff of the pony's neck. He threw him up into the air, and was preparing to swallow him whole, when Firestrand fired a perfectly placed shot, propelling himself out of the monster's mouth. He landed on the ground above the cave, and started galloping again, followed by the Timber wolf. Now, in the dark of the night, Firestrand could barely see where he was even going, but sensed safety ahead. He jumped as they reached the edge of the cave entrance, and just barely cought the branch of a tree. He swung himself up onto another teir, and eventually onto the top of the tree, and to safety. He cought his breath.
He now realised that he hadn't had food all day, and with the added exitement of almost dying on several occasions, he was starving. He had no idea of what berries were poisonouss or not, so that ruled out berry bushes, tempting though they may be. Instead, he settled for a fruit hanging on a bracnh above him. He successfully picked it, and looked over the curious shape. He recognised it immediately as a zap-apple, by it's odd, almost inverted cone shape. He took a massive bite out of it, and immediately felt rejuvenated. He ate the entire apple, and dropped it's core to the bottom of the forest floor, almost 100 feet below him. With his hunger satisfied, Firestrand fell asleep soundly, for the first time in days.
Willow stood at the edge of the Everfree forest with Maccieveli all day, hoping that Firestrand would inexplicably come out. The two just stood there, while Mac read a good book, and Willow just stared, hoping for some sign of her lost love. She was devastated knowing that she had caused all of this. If she hadn't intervened with him and Basalt, the bully wouldn't have pushed her in, forcing him to murder him. She felt tremendous guilt, and when the sun reached it's end, Mac came up to Willow, and said, "It's been an entire day. No one's ever lasted this long in the Everfree forest. We have to go home."
Much to her own protest, Willow agreed to follow Maccieveli to the hotel.
Firestrand woke up the next morning to his tree swaying. He held his head up above the canopy layer, to the bright sunlight, only to see that no wind was blowing. He returned to the artificial night created by overlapping branches and looked down, where he saw the cause of this rucus. The Timber Wolf King was grabbing the tree, and essentially throttling it to get him down.
He decided to grant the beast's wish, and swung from branch t branch until he was once again at ground level. There, he once again faced his foe. The timber wolf lashed out at the pony with its wooden claws, sending him feet away. Firestrand studied his surroundings, and found that, behind him, the tree line ended into a lake clearing. This gave him a devious idea. He catalpaulted himself out of the trees, and onto the shore of the lake, and began wading. By the time he was three quarters of the way there, the king was watching for the comforting darkness of the canopy. Firestrand put phase one into action, and pelted the surface of the lake with fireballs, creating a massive shroud of steam, casting a dark shadow over the clearing.
The timber wolf king inched out of the forest, and into the clearing. Normally, sunlight would burn right through a timber wolf's flesh, but with the created night, he was unharmed. He stopped at the wall of steam still rising from the pond, knowing that on the other side was daylight.
Phase two. thought Firestrand. He looked up, and fired a rouind of blazing hot fireballs through the steam layer, opening many holes. Then, he fired more through the wall, but not at the Timber wolf. Instead, they travelled past him, and lit the forest behind him ablaze. The timber wolf was trapped as sunlight began peering through the steam.
All Firestrand heard was a series of whimpering, but when the steam wall itself broke apart, the pony could see the former king of the Timber Wolves raoring in agony as the sunlight cursed his flesh. Oh, how h wished he could go back into the forest, but the blazing Inferno was too much for him. His wooden skin started coming right off, with ease, and soon Firestrand saw the beast's internal organs, which were begining to come ablaze like the fire behind him. He knew he was dead the moment he saw the monster's heart catch the flame. Firestrand pushed fire up from beneath the lake, extinguishing the forest fire, then continued to observe the crackling body.
One particular piece of wood cought his eye: he believed it went to his torso. On the back it read:
Now that you have killed this monster, so prone,
Now you must find, the benders of the Golden Stone.
Benders of the golden stone? Who where they? and why did Firestrand have to befriend them. He searched every body part for a clue, but it was just that: Find the benders of the golden stone. He thought for some time about the riddle, but nothing made sense.
He resolved to just take a visit to the small town of New Everfree.
Firestrand walked the distance of land from the lake to Zecora’s hut several times before actually knowing what he was going to say. New Everfree was a very touchy subject in Ponyville. It was where all the shady criminals and con-stallions hang out. He figured that the subject was also touchy to the natives of the forest itself, possibly giving them the bad reputation they have today. He chose his words very carefully. He would start out all nonchalant, being a bit gloaty about the killing of the Timber Wolf king, and then explain exactly the situation there. But there was one problem: he didn't even know why he was going to New Everfree.
The words just popped up in his head: maybe I should go to New Everfree. Maybe the locals know about the benders of the golden stone. But he didn't know how to get there, so he decided to ask Zecora for directions. Surely she would know where the Capitol city of her own country would be. But he was still short on why he actually had to go. He tried to think if excuses, like maybe he was just curious, but then what would bring that curiosity to his mind? Maybe he needed some materials, but then Zecora could just lend some to him. He thought and thought over in his head, occasionally trying to think of excuses for his excuses, but nothing made sense. So he decided to just go the easiest, most dangerous, and possibly the most unbelievable way out: tell the truth.
The words had been nagging at him ever since he started thinking of excuses for his excuses, but now he actually had to try it. He held his head up high, chest puffed out, and remembered his protocol. He walked through the door to the hut, a wide grin on his face, and leaned against a shelf of plants and spices. Zecora hadn't even noticed hs existence, so she was a little bewildered when she heard the stalli speak up, " Well," he began, with the best hero articulation he could procure, "It's done. He's dead, and that's the end of that. Now I'm the Timber Wolf King." he purposefully tripped on his words and thought them over, "now what does that mean?" he asked.
Zecora was over the shock of this unexpected visitor. Frankly, she didn't believe she would ever see him again. She, in her usual rhymes and riddles, said, "so you have slain the beast? This means you are their king, at very least. But now, my friend, you've found the clue, and now my thoughts, I'll reveal to you. You may be wondering, who are these benders? But I can answer in simple render."
Firestrand wasn't even sure if that last rhyme made sense, and started wondering if Zecora purposefully spoke in riddles, to keep a mysterious feeling around her. By his biggest question was how she even knew about the clue, or whatever she said.
But regardless, Zecora kept talking in rhymes, saying, " to get the answer to your query, you must face, what makes many wary. Deep in the woods, far south of here, lies a town many have come to fear. This town is called, New Everfree, and it's sight alone, kills most's glee."
Now Firestrand was wondering how she knew he needed to get to Everfree, and he didn't even have to say anything more than 'I killed a Timber Wolf.'. He was pretty happy he did 't have to be lame and take the easy way out. He just kept listening to the zebra's rhythmic speaking.
"Once you get to this once happy town, you must start to ask around. Find a party, to soul-forge mountain. There are many trips there, so don't be lounten. Once you reach the Amber halls, you must face the horrific crauls. Find chief Ambersmith goldenhammer, and bring his creation a whopping bammer. There you will find the third prophetic clue, and you will journey to the third mystical crew. Tis is all the help I can give, I hope it's enough to help you live."
Once the zebra stopped talking, Firestrand just lulled over the words in his head. He tried to defuse them from their riddle tombs, but he was still stumped on the word lounten. He wasn't much of a writer, but he was pretty sure Zecora just made that word up. He couldn't tell. He was also confused with the words 'Crauls, and Bammer' but he got the just if what she was saying: he had to get to the Amber halls in Soul-forge mountain so he could kill an Ambersmith, whatever that was, and find the third clue. Simple enough. And he got directions: just go south. He still had one question, though, so he asked out of the silence, "How did you know all this?"
Zecora's head drooped as she said, "My history is something I try to keep inside, but since you are persistent, I'll certainly abide. You see, long ago, when the sun once reached us, we had an argument, and the princess released cruss. Cruss is never ending night, a scourge to all Everfree, and so we made a pact, to restore the glee. If one is to find the five lost clues, then one can bring an end to our blues. And so, we planted the five rhythmic riddles, in hopes that somepony, would crack their brittle. And now there's you, stout to help, and just in time, as we need to ghelp."
Now Firestrand was sure Zecora was making up words for the sake of her rhymes. There was definitely no way the words Cruss and ghelp existed. Nonetheless, Firestrand was satisfied.
After fond farewells to Zecora, Firestrand was on his way south to New Everfree. He automatically had doubts as he glumly walked through the dark woods. His fears got the best of him at times, and he illuminated the dark areas around him, just to see a rat, or lost rabbit. He was wondering how the Ponyville pets even made it in there. If they could get in, why couldn’t he get out? He sighed, and continued his way drearily to New Everfree.
After what seemed like days, the maroon pony came upon something peculiar: a few pieces of charred wood, and bones here and there. But the bones didn’t belong to Everfree monsters; they belonged to ponies. He was horrified as the picture of Basalt’s skeleton, the whole situation that got him in this celestia-forsaken forest, flashed into his mind. To lull his rage, he pelted the small skeleton with flames. Then he looked up, as the light didn’t illuminate a treeline; it illuminated a clearing. This place was full of fallen ruins, both made of wood and stone, and charred skeletons. Firestrand wondered what pony (Besides him, of course) could do this as he walked past the history in motion. Not many ponies knew this, but Firestrand could easily tell what had happened without even looking. The whole thing flashed into his head at once, as he fell to the ground in surprise and shock.
He was not in this lost city. Instead, he was in Ponyville. and he wasn’t really a he. He was a view, almost a fishee in an invisible cloud. He was in somepony’s house. It wasn’t his crummy hotel room, that much he could tell by looking at it. It was fancier. He believed he was in the bedroom. Hs suspicions we confirmed with the sight of a bed behind him. In this bed, he recognized a pony: a blue stallion, in his prime. As he was sprawled over the bedsheets, the vision caught sight of his flank, and Firestrand recognised the pony he was watching a Blues, by his note cutie mark. He was surprised to see that his cloud of vision moved with his thought, and so he sent it through the door to the bedroom. If Blues was there that meant...
Sure enough, his marefriend Roseluck was cooking breakfast. Firestrand could almost smell the delicious bacon and scrambled eggs sizzling in the skillet on their stove. Rose was always up at an early hour, fixing breakfast, doing chores, and catching up on personal time while Blues slept. She didn't feel like he was taking advantage of her, as she did these things out of her own free will. All Blues' day consisted of was kate waking, eating breakfast, watching some TV with Rose, and finally, heading to work at the radio station. He didn't take anything Rose did for granted, though. He complimented every meal, spent as much time with her as possible, and never asked her to do any extra work. If he needed a job done, he did it himself. This is what kept their relationship strang. Anyway, Rose came out of the kitchen, holding a plate in her mouth filled with scrambled eggs and bacon. But she didn't wear her usual smile. She was frowning, obviously gloomy with something. She sat her plate down on the coffee table, and turned on their television. She watched her favorite show: My little human: Bipedalism is Magic. Many put her down for watching a show designed for fillies, but there was another broman that she knew: Lyra. Although, she was on the verge of obsession with the show. She even went to the conventions. Ugh. But Blues supported her.
Firestrand Still wasn't sure why she was gloomy; even the multi-colored, shaded humans didn't cheer her up. His question was answered when he looked out the window. He saw nothing but snow. But not even the good kind of snow. Not the glistening white powder that falls apart in your hooves, perfect for sculpting and melting. No, this was slushy snow. Dark grey, gloppy, and down right depressing in every manner. Then he heard a single name: "Firestrand...". The voice came from a woman, but it wasn't Rose. It sounded like this woman was exhausted, like she'd just given birth, or something, and it wasn't Willow's voice, either. That ruled out every mare he knew, besides Canus, but the voice didn't fit her either. But he couldn't deny that the voice had a certain ting to it in his brain. Like it was something he should know, but was too stupid to figure out. It angered him that he couldn't place the voice, until there was another, far more recognizable male voice, saying, "I like it... Firestrand...kinda got a fearsome feeling to it, don't ya think?"
This was even more confusing. Why would a couple ponies he didn't even know be talking about him? It didn't make sense. He exited the house through the window, discovering that his vision could go through walls. He went through Ponyville, and saw the same snow. More ponies were exiting the streets to the safety of their homes, and the voices continued, "I'm so happy..." the mare said, bringing up tears in her voice.
Then the stallion said, "I couldn't be more so. He's so perfect in every way that... "
Suddenly the conversation stopped as Firestrand saw in his vision that there were two ponies he knew: two small filly Pegasi, but he recognised them in their adult forms: Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. This must've been from the past. The two fillies hovered through town, hiding under rain gutters frozen shut, and between toe close houses into an alley. Then the conversation began again, with the mare saying, "Let's go home..." and the stallion replying, "no, we can't. You're still in a lot of stress. Here, I'll take him... "
Then the vision caught something new. It teleported to the Ponyville hospital, where the stallion he assumed to be the one from his voices exiting the door to the street. He held something cradled between his hooves and belly, a small blanket with a dark hole. Out of this hole, he could see a faint glow, and two illuminated red eyes. He immediately recognised this newborn as himself, Firestrand. But then that meant that this stallion was...
...his father.
He tried to shout out to the pony, but he couldn't hear. Then he saw something. A small strand of blue and white hair.
And then it was over. The vision blurred out of existence, and Firestrand awoke still in the ruined civilization. He looked up into the sky, where he saw a bright moon overhead. When he came here, it was daytime. How long was he out? An hour? A day? A week? He was unsure. Instead, he stood again, overwhelmed with this overflow of information, and carried on to New Everfree. He needed to get there soon, as that broken down town spooked him.
