Author's Note

I've changed this one a lot over the days. It started extremely dark, and I felt this was still MLP, so I tinkered with it to lighten it up some. I think I have a good balance now.

Oh, and if you're one for mood music. The Hanging Tree by Jennifer Lawrence would fit.

Thanks to Velvet Fresh for your valuable input

Hanging Tree

As the thunderbolt hit I began to change. I could feel the power of six Egyptian gods flow through me. I watched my wounds heal and my body enlarge. My vision cleared and my thoughts sped up. I watched as the world around me slowed down.

My head had cleared and I took in my surroundings. The bolt had burned the noble. Her fall seemed to slow as time seemed to dilate. I look behind and watch the guardsmare slowly take to flight. All this to a backdrop of a house bathed in flames. My home had become a funeral pyre for my two children. ‘These bastards killed my children. These bastards killed … MY … FAMILY!’

I was a mix of grief and rage. I grit my teeth and snatch the noble out of free fall, and crushed her in my hooves. I discard her body and turn my attention to the Pegasi. I crouched and fly toward the group of guards. I pivot in rout and buck one into the ground. I feel armor crumple like tin. That guard will never move again.

Stopping in midair I spin into the mare who is almost upon me. She is skillful with her gladius and I am impressed. She is both speed and precision. To me, the world is slow motion. I deflect blow after blow and slash after slash. My hooves are a blur, and I can see the moment she realizes that this is a pointless dance. I watched her face. Now she is all anger and fury.

I scowl. ‘She has the gall to be furious.’ I grit my teeth. ‘She is mad at me. At Me! AT ME!’

I slap the flat of the blade, breaking it with my left hoof, then swing forward and through her head. She is finished.
I turn to the final two Pegasi who are fleeing to the woods and aim with my hoof. I cast lightning, it flashes out and covers them. To my surprise, it does nothing. They continue flying for the woods.

“No, you bastards…don't!”

I quickly raise to my rear legs and clap my front hooves together with all my might. The claps concussive wave tares across the field and rips the Pegasi from the sky. I grab them and drag them to the funeral pyre.

“Not nice to sneak out of a funeral. I know you're fathers taught you better.”

My brows raise, I spot a coil of rope on one of their saddlebags.

“Well, that's an idea.”

My eye is drawn to my left and I have my plan for these two. I drag them both to the foot of the apple tree that stands silent in front of my burning life.

I calmly speak, “You don't know this, but I had two fillies. Good foals. Best a father could ask for.”

I casually work the rope into two knotted lengths and work them snugly onto a sturdy branch.

“The young un was quiet. She was a very quiet girl. Loved to sing. She had this quiet little way of singing.”

I step back to look at the ropes. My eyes unfocus. I'm hit by memories of the past. I grit my teeth and clear my head.

“Beautiful voice. Her name was Silver.” I looked down at my hooves. A rueful smile crosses my face. “Silver Holly. Holly loved this tree.”

I finish the nooses and move toward the mares, lifting them one at a time.

“Her mothers always scolded her for climbing. The very next day, you would look, and there she was, back in the branches.”

I carefully fit the noose around the neck of the mare and looked in those terrified eyes.

“You,”

I worked the noose. I worked it casually, like a necktie for a shirt collar.

“You took her from me. Took both my fillies. Watched you, right there.”

I pointed. “Putting that torch to my home.”

I let her go and watched as her weight hitched the noose. Her eyes bulged in terror as she tried not to shift. Her pegasi body was just light enough not to strangle her.

“My foals were in there you know. Of course, you know. You heard them.” I looked her right in the eye. “Heard them and you … smiled.”

I grabbed the second guard and carefully worked the noose into place. I straightened her collar. During the scuffle, it had gotten twisted.

“Hold still, you got all twisted up…that's better.”

I stepped back to look at this mare. Her eyes bulged as her own weight hitched her noose. I gave her the critical eye that all fussy house stallions are born with.

I step toward her, pulled out a kerchief, and licked a corner. “Sit still, you have dirt on your face.”

I use the damp kerchief to clean her up. I smooth down her mane, as her own father had done, and step back with a sad smile.

“My other daughter's name is Milk Thistle. They are only about fifteen minutes or so ahead of you. Do me a favor. When you catch up to em, tell em I love em.”

I step back and wipe away a rogue tear.

I glance at the pyre that was once the center of my life.

I grip both guards by a hind leg.

I say goodby to my daughters.

I pull with all my weight.

I heard a sharp crack.

Then only silence.

Nothing stirs.

They’re dead.

I had no energy left. Everyone was dead. The bad guys were dead. My family was dead, and in a real way, I was dead. I just sat there next to the hanging tree and watched my home burn. I didn't have a single thought.

I just numbly sat there till dawn. Staring at that fire.

Daylight came and I saw the rays of the sun streaming through the bough of the forest. The sky was a beautiful mix of crimson and blue.

The angle of the sun made the white clouds glow almost silver. I loved to watch the sunrise. Not anymore. I glance over to the remains of my home. It's funny to think that the ‘once,’ I had just thought of, was only yesterday.

I stood and moved slowly over to my wives. I wish I could have said that they looked peaceful. They didn't. I carefully picked them up and, one at a time, I set them in our little wagon by the shed. I straightened what little I could, and cleaned them up one last time. I swept the dirt out of their manes and wiped them down with my kerchief. I cleaned up their faces and looked at them. Even in death, they were beautiful.

I turned to the homestead. There wasn't much of it left. It was a pile of ash and cinders. I waded into the mess and I dug through the charred wood and thatch. I threw timber out of my way and I dug my hooves into the ash. Then I found them. I cleared away the ash and I looked at them. I broke. I just broke.

I don't know how long I cried. I just lay there in the ashes of my life until I had no tears left to give. It was the first time I cried in this new world. In a way, my wives would have been proud of me. I had cried like an actual stallion. They had always teased me for being too marely, and I always blamed it on being raised by timberwolves. My ears drooped when I realized. They never knew, I never told them the truth of my origins. It was just another mistake among many.
Next came the hardest thing I ever did in my life. I buried my family. I picked a quiet spot. It was out in the pastures and upon a hill. We used to come there on quiet Sundays. It was the perfect spot to go as a family to picnic. I went to that hill out in the pasture and laid them all next to one another. I placed my daughters in the middle, My wives beside them. I carved one stone. It was going to be the last thing I would ever make for them so I took my time on it. I looked at the finished stone and carefully carved their epitaph. I won't tell you what it said.

The thieves I threw in the pig troughs. Pigs are efficient at getting rid of dead animals. They will even eat the bones. In a few days, their wont be enough left to identify. A few days after that, and you would never know they were even there. You might ask why I didn't bury them. My answer is, ‘They didn't deserve it.’ They deserve nothing better than to be boar food.

I looked through the wreckage of the homestead, but we were farmers living in the middle ages. There wasn't much, to begin with. In the end, the only thing I found was Summer Wines tobacco pipe. That's all I had left of any of them.

I walked over to the coach. It was a gilded thing, all white with gold trim and bolted on candelabras. On the back of the coach was a steel-banded chest. If I were mortal right now, I would have stood no chance against its lock. Right now, as Black Adam, I casually tear it off. What I see inside doesn't surprise me. If this were a business district, I would see Gold and Platinum. But this is a farming township, so what I see is mostly copper and silver. But even this amount is a fortune to a farmer.

I stand there looking at the small fortune while the events of the last two days fill my mind. I have nothing left here anymore. I need a purpose. A reason to move forward. I take in the sight and let my mind work. Luckily, I have gods. Seven of them. With the help of the wisdom and knowledge of the god Zehuti, a plan begins to form. I see a small coin purse and test its weight.

With a smile, I pocket the small pouch and head for the coach doors. I take in the gaudy decorations and shake my head, it's a perfect example of someone who has more money than common sense. I gripped the door and swing it open. The interior was exactly what I expected. All posh elegance, as my eyes sweep the interior, I freeze in surprise. They're in front of me is a pair of pink eyes staring back.

I took a step back to get a better look at what was sitting in the gloom. It was a colt, A teen, I think. He was chained to a ring in the floor by his throat and hooves. His fur was a tan and his pink mane was short. He looked terrified.

I moved forward to talk to him and was almost bowled over by the strong smell of urine coming from the coach. I had killed the royal thief yesterday afternoon and had spent most of today closing the book on my former life. The poor colt had spent an entire day chained in that spot.
Sighing, I reach in and snap the ring. Holding him at strides length, I fly over to our pond and toss him in.

“You need to wash up, you smell.”

I could have been nicer, but I didn't know why he was chained and I decided to be cautious. I watched as he splashed around to get his hoofing and smiled at the way he was throwing a fit.

"You, You, You. What kind of a stallion are you! I've never been so marehandled in my life!”

I sit down at the shore and grin while he drags his wet mane out of his face. “You stunk. You needed a bath.”

“You don't just chuck a stallion into a lake! What do you think I am, laundry?”

Then I began to feel a little bad as his attitude shifted from pouting to sniffling, and then tears. “I’m soaked. My mane is ruined.”

I sigh. I can't let a grown stallion cry. I'm supposed to be dainty and feminine. I ask myself, what would Gina Carano do?

“Fine, come here, I'll pull you out. Seriously, come on over. Please don't cry.” Sigh, he is still crying.

I reach out a hoof and lean out and grab him. Next thing I know I'm being yanked face-first into the pond. I stand up, wipe my mane out of my eyes and spit out water.

“Ok, ok, I guess I deserve that.”

I turn around expecting to see a smug expression and get surprised when he is gone. I fly up several yards and spot him running for all he is worth down the road.

“That fucker!”

I power up my flight magic and flash right in front of him. He slams into me like I'm a brick wall and lands on his rump.

“You can't go already dear, we haven't even had our tea,” I say with my best stallionly smile. I casually grab the chains he is wearing and take him to a spot we can sit.

“So why are you chained up like a prisoner.” I watch his face as I ask and I'm surprised when he just wilts. He mumbles an answer.

“I didn't hear you, dear.”

“M My family. They um. They gave me as payment."

My eyebrows rose.

He continued. "Payment for taxes. you see, we couldn't pay and they signed me into impressment to the crown until it's paid in full.”

My lips formed a thin line. ‘There will be blood.’

"I, i asked what the court would do with me. They, they said the guard. I would help with stallionly things in the enlisted mares barracks. I ask if I was to clean them. They all just laughed." His voice which had been getting smaller and smaller was almost a whisper. “They laughed.”

I moved forward and hugged him.

“Well, you're not going there now.” He looked up at me with hope in his eyes and slowly joined me in a timid smile.

I wiped the tears off his cheek and asked.

“So, You kind of a unicorn, but I've never seen a unicorn with a curved horn before.”

I stepped back and looked at him properly in the light. My original impression was wrong. I thought he was an older foal but now can see that he’s a full stallion. The mistake came from how petite and thin-framed he is. His curved horn and almond-shaped eyes gave him an
exotic look.

For the first time, he gave me a genuine smile.

“I'm Nayponese. My family moved from Naypon to Ponyland years ago because of better opportunities. Then after the Windegos, my family moved back to Naypon and I stayed. I moved with my herd during the migration.” He wilted, “Now I’m alone.”

I tilted his chin up. “It's a mares world, us stallions have to stick together. So, what's your name? Mine is Adam.”

He smiles, “I'm, Hearts, Hearts Obsession.”

Cool name. I glance at his cutie mark and my eyebrows raise. It was a green outline of a heart behind a green butcher's knife. “Wow, I guess the knife is pointing down because you love to cook?”

I missed the eye twitch. “Yeah, to cook.”

We begin walking down the road. “Well, let's burry that chest and then head to the capital.”

"Cool, can I come along? You know, now that you saved me, we can be brothers. I can be your little brother and we can look out for each other.”

I think that would be perfect.

My face gains a deadly grin. “Since Platinum wants her coin, I shall give it to her."

As we walked away I never saw the wind gently carry several papers out of that coach. One in particular, I really wish I had seen.

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