Chapters The night was dark and ominous, as was the castle in the dead of night, save for the royal chambers where, for nearly a thousand years, the Princess of the Sun had ruled alone. This room was brightly lit by crackling energies that, if one were outside, gave the impression of a flashy strobe light show. Inside, the room was chaos. Lights swirled everywhere, winds with no source rushed in circles around the room, gale force winds that rattled the age-old windows and threatened to shatter them.
In the center of this maelstrom stood a single pony, yet she was not just a pony. She was the princess of this castle, and of this land of Equestria. Her body shone like the very sun she commanded every day, her mane and tail shining with the very light of the cosmos. Every color imaginable swirled around her horn, her hooves, danced through and caressed her hair.
These energies wound faster and faster around her, the intensity it was creating vibrating the very floor of the room. It was so strong, so violent that the whole castle felt it. The guards were poised outside the room, ready for anything, yet they had been instructed not to enter, not under any circumstances. That went for medics, as well, though this command had been a very strange one and made the entire staff very nervous.
Celestia grunted and strained, her eyes held tightly shut to keep out the light. Sweat from effort and concentration dropped from her body, only to be carried off or evaporated within the swirling energies around her. Not a single drop had made it to the floor in the entire three hours she'd been at this. Suddenly her eyes snapped open, her irises full of light and color. "It's ready..." she murmured.
The light and wind around her intensified again, this time moving inwards towards the alicorn. The energies and light began to condense, rising in density. She groaned as the weight of the energies gathering at her horn began to weigh on her head. It was a painful experience, and her body was already tired from straining every muscle in her body this entire time. A bead of sweat fell from her chin and managed to drop on the floor, where it sizzled and evaporated from the heat.
Celestia let out a scream of pain and very nearly dropped to the floor, but she managed to catch herself. She raised her head again and stared at the tip of her horn. Almost finished...just a little more... she thought. The energies and light that had taken up the entire audience chamber was now crammed into a little ball the size of a large marble. Little crackles of light swirled around it, leaving traces of lightning marks that soon faded into the mass of energy that was quickly becoming like a small sun.
That's it, that's it...do it...please! And with a final scream of pain and effort, the ball of light disappeared, leaving Celestia alone in silent darkness. At first, the Princess thought she had failed. Three hours of the most intense pain and concentration she'd ever felt. She almost cried. But wait, there it was! In front of her, no bigger than the dot at the end of a sentence, it was there. A small dark blue sphere. It carried something sacred, something that the world would need. When wars and death and rage and vengeance waged it's plans across the globe, where loyalty, honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity and magic failed, forgiveness would give them the final push needed to heal. There was just one step left.
Celestia tried taking a step towards the window to the terrace, but she fell, this time failing to catch herself. The impact left every muscle in her body screaming in pain. She let out a horrible wail, her breathing halting, leaving her panting and trembling. She tried to return to her hooves, but the pain was too horrible. She started crawling then, ignoring the growing need to give up, and rest. There would be time to rest when she was dead.
She crawled slowly, painfully, towards the terrace, ever keeping an eye on the small ball of life in her magical grasp. Inch by inch, terrible ripping pain by terrible ripping pain. Finally, she reached the window, letting in the cool March air. It was a relief, she'd been so hot. Even now her body emitted thick trails of heat that blew about her in the fresh air. Finally, she lifted her head to look out at her land. So quiet, so peaceful. So ignorant of the things yet to come. Well, they had twenty one more years of this peace. Twenty one years of blissful ignorance. She prayed she would still be there to guide them, the seven. She wanted to see his face, at least once.
She held the little ball in front of her, a sad, tired smile on her face as she lowered it to her lips, and blew. "Go...go!" she whispered encouragingly as the ball flitted through the air faster than the most practiced Wonderbolt. It disappeared into the night air, far from her view. Finally spent, the alicorn Princess finally rested her head and closed her eyes.
Aurora Flash hummed to herself as she stood in the shower. It was such a relief to have the hot water on her shoulders, relieving the ache of walking while eight and a half months pregnant. It wasn't easy, nevermind flying. Roving Gale usually flew her on his back if they were going anywhere, but she was a Rainbow. Rainbows were always very stubborn. Her sister, Rainbow Falls, had just learned she was pregnant a month ago. It'd be another eight months, but the idea of raising two foals between the sisters excited the mother to no end!
Aurora turned the water off and let out a relieved sigh as she started to dry off. She was so distracted by the idea of a niece or nephew that she didn't notice the little pinprick of light phase through the window. She didn't notice when it circled her while she fussed with her mane. She did notice, however, the sharp pain in her stomach. She let out a shriek and tried to find the brief source of pain, but being pregnant and trying to be agile enough to look at one's stomach at the same time was a near impossible task, so she also didn't see the blue light pulsing just inside her belly, pulsing with the beating of a heart.
The mother frowned. She could tell that something was different. Maybe even wrong. For one, her belly burned, and she could feel the foal moving about, as if in distress. She started to panic. She rushed out of the bathroom, as fast as she possibly could, her pastel rainbow mane and tail swishing as she zipped into her bedroom and started shaking the big black stallion lying asleep in their bed. "Roving, Roving get up! Something's wrong with the baby!"
Roving Gale immediately shot up, his thick dark blue mane, his golden eyes wide in panic. "What?! What happened? D-did you bump something? Can you-"
"I don't know!" she screamed. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, panic making her tremble. She tried to look down at her belly again, and let out a fierce growl of frustration at again being denied a look.
"All right, calm down, just let me look," he said, starting to calm a bit. He always had been the more level-headed of the two. He reached out and gently ran his hooves along her swollen belly. By now, the unborn infant had stopped moving, which really began to make Aurora panic further. Roving gave her a gentle glare. She got the silent message. She took deep breaths and closed her eyes as her husband continued to feel along her belly. After a moment, he reached up to kiss her gently on the mouth. "I don't see any problems, babe. What happened?"
Aurura sighed and melted into her husband's kiss. She crawled up into bed with him into a fetal position, letting him hold and support her like he always did whenever she freaked out about nothing. "I don't know, it was weird. I was just getting out of the shower, and I felt this intense pain in my belly button. Kinda felt like something was...forcing it's way in, or something." She shivered at the thought. It had felt round and smooth, but she had instead imagined some kind of bug crawling into her belly to feast on her unborn child. Her imagination always did play awful tricks on her.
"I didn't see any marks or forcible entry, so I think you're safe there," her husband joked, earning him a wing to the side. He chuckled and held his beloved tightly. "You're fine, sweetheart. Mothers get scares all the time, especially when they're close. Things happen, but it'll be all right, you'll see."
"Promise?" she asked, lifting her head up to look at her husband's lovely eyes. He nodded and ran a hoof through her beautiful hair.
"I promise, sweetheart. We'll have the perfect child. And then your sister will have another perfect child. We'll all raise them together, and have the most amazing family Cloudsdale has ever seen."
Aurora Flash smiled happily, and began drifting off to sleep in Roving's warm grasp. Together, the two of them fell asleep on their cloud bed. As they slept, the light in her belly lit up once more, pulsing with the beating of a heart, the silhouette of her foal visible. As they slept throughout the night, the baby was restless.
-Two and a half weeks later-
"Push! Come on, Mrs Gale, push!"
Aurora Flash cried as she laid on the table, in the proper position for giving birth. Since her scare, Aurora had been afraid, very afraid that something might be wrong. There had been no more scares since then, but that night had lingered on her mind. For now, though, she just wanted to get the baby out. She had been in the hospital for two days now.
"Almost there, Mrs Gale, that's it! Just one more..." the nurse said, smiling excitedly.
"You've said that...arrrgh! Th-three times now!" Aurora screamed, and pushed once more.
"And that's...that's it! Yes!" the nurse exclaimed, finally bringing a screaming baby foal out into the open air. Her eyes, the only part of her face visible under her mask, quickly changed from awed and excited to horrified. The only sound in the room was the screaming foal as she looked from the baby to the doctor. He shared the same look, the same silence.
"W...well? Is he...? I wanna see-" Aurora said no more as she suddenly passed out from the strain. The nurse and doctor again exchanged looks, this time of relief. Now they'd have time to prepare the mother.
Roving Gale paced back and forth in the waiting room of the Cloudsdale hospital. As much as he wanted to be there for the birth, he had been told to wait. He'd been there for forty five minutes already, and the clock was just telling him nearly fifty minutes when his wife's doctor stepped into the waiting room full of other mothers and fathers. Roving watched as the doctor stepped towards him very cautiously, as if what he was about to say was something very, very unfortunate. Roving felt his heart nearly stop.
"Wh...doctor? Doctor, what is it? I swear if you don't tell me I'll-" he growled, advancing on the doctor. The tan pegasus in his white coat stood stock still as Roving approached him.
"S-sir, I...I really need you to calm down. First things first, sir, your new foal is fine." Roving Gale tried to smile, but something about the presentation the doctor was delivering scared him. "P-perfectly healthy. He's a...beautiful blue pegasus. He's got your coloring. Healthy new lad." The doctor nodded in affirmation of his own words, but he was nearly white as a sheet as he thought about how to tell him..."Although, I really regret to tell you, but...your son's wings have deformed in the womb. H-his wing bones are too long, and...they're curved."
"Curved?" Roving Gale asked. He could tell that the doctor wasn't done telling him things. There was more to this that the doctor hadn't told him.
"You see," the doctor began, making a line in the air with his hooves, a line that arched upwards and then down, "This is what a pegasi's wings should look like. They arch up and down, perfectly suited to catch the air and hold them aloft when they fly. Y-your son..." the doctor swallowed hard as he made another line, this time arching in the opposite direction, curving upward and then down. "Your son's wings, with the way they've grown...h-he'll never fly, sir."
Roving Gale stared into empty space, past the doctor, past the hospital, into the open air of the sky. The doctor's words were confusing, and yet he knew. He thought of his wife complaining about the pain she'd felt, but that was just two weeks ago. The deforming of his son's wings would have had to have happened months ago...right?
Not that it mattered. Roving's son, a beautiful blue pegasus, would never fly. Tears welled up in the new father's eyes. He squeezed them shut, pushing out a pair of tears that fell onto the cloud floor. When they opened again, Roving looked into the doctor's eyes, a tired determination present in the black stallions face. "I need to see my wife."
Aurora Flash opened her eyes, immediately closing them again as the feeling of white everything flooded her sight. After a moment she tried again, this time the blinding white of the hospital walls not nearly so intense. Her ears perked, the soft beeping of machines filling them and filling her with a sense of comfortable repetition. Once she felt she was awake enough to speak, she called out, "Hello? Is anypony here? Roving Gale?" A silent moment or two passed before a male Pegasus entered her line of vision. Roving Gale looked down at her with an indecipherable look upon his face.
Roving paused several times time before speaking up. He looked his wife straight in the eye, a tell-tale hitch taking in his breath as he spoke. "Aurora, um...the baby...h-he's fine, he's safe." Roving closed his eyes to figure out how to tell her the next part. This was much more difficult than he thought it would be, and not once did he think it would be easy. "Sweetheart, the baby's wings...they grew weird, um...they're not bent - er, curved the way they should be. He-"
"Just spit it out!" she shouted, panic and fear written all over her face.
"He won't fly." he said stated simply. She shook her head slowly, a look of 'I don't understand what you just said' in her eyes. "H-he'll never fly, Aurora. His wings won't grow the right way. He'll never fly." Aurora took this all in quietly, nodding once. There was silence between them both as Roving moved in closer and sat beside his wife in bed, and wrapped his forelegs around her tightly. Aurora didn't really notice how tightly he was holding on to her until she had to wiggle a bit just to take a breath. As soon as the stale hospital air got inside her lungs, she began to bawl.
-Four days later-
Roving Gale looked down at the beautiful little pegasus sleeping in the basket. The baby bore his colors: His body was a dark blue, his mane started in black, then gained a lighter blue hue. The area around his mouth was black, and he had the beginnings of a black mark along his forehead. His eyes, when opened, were the most intense golden eyes Roving had ever seen. He was truly beautiful. And because of this, it was difficult to feel comfortable with doing this. He flew through the air, along with his wife, down towards the little burg of Ponyville.
He had argued long and hard with his wife for four long days about this decision, but she was adamant. No matter how attached she had grown to her foal over the months, no matter how much she said she loved him, nothing could change her mind to give him away. Here had been arguments, and there had been fights. Roving Gale had fought long and hard about whether to keep the baby, but Aurora, in fevered anger and furious indignation at being dealt this insult, finally won the battle. Roving Gale no longer knew how he felt about his wife.
The two adult pegasi and their foal in a basket flew low towards the big building on the far side of town on the south side. It was a large school building, with a smaller wing attached to it, and a third smaller portion built into it on the far side, away from the other wings. This was a townhouse built into the building, made especially for it's current owner, a miss Cherry Joy who co-owned the building, along with it's other owners Angelica Lovage and Pea Soup.
Cherry Joy was a renowned earth pony mare, twenty four years old. She was a little young yet to be running two different businesses, but she was sharp and intelligent, and her heart was many sizes larger than most mares her age. She'd gotten herself into an unstable relationship with a stallion four years ago, and had come out of it with a foal that she named Cheerilee, now six years old as of three months ago. Being a mother and running an orphanage and being a high school teacher was an immense strain, yet she somehow did it all. She was an amazing mare.
The two pegasi entered the business entrance of the orphanage to silence, yet they were hardly alone. At least a dozen faces looked down at the adults from the the second floor. They had been told earlier that there would be no adoptions today; they were getting a new brother. Cherry Joy sat at the desk in front of the the soon-to-be childless couple, a controlled neutral look on her face.
"Hello, Mr and Mrs Gale. Would you like to get right down to business?" Roving Gale wanted more time, but his wife cut in on his reflective silence, granting her an unseen glare from her husband.
"Yes, please. I'd like to get this over as soon as possible," Aurora said, her words cutting the silence like a knife. She reached down and set the basket on the floor beside the desk with a resounding, barely gentle thump. Roving Gale tried to keep himself together as his son left his view.
"I see. I won't waste your time, then." Cherry Joy reached down into her desk and pulled out some papers and laid them out before the parents. A pair of quills and a bottle of ink was set before them. "Please sign here...and here..." she said, indicating empty lines at the bottom of the pages. She glanced down at her curious six year old filly, approaching the basket. Cheerilee glanced inside at the dark blue pegasus, with his now wide-awake eyes staring at her. They were the most beautiful shade of gold she'd ever seen. She immediately fell in love.
She turned to tell her mother something, but Cherry Joy's stern gaze told her to keep silent. She did obediently.
"Done. I'm done." Aurora said. She threw down her quill and turned around, exiting the building in a rush. Cherry Joy's mouth tried to fall open, but she managed to keep it shut and retain her dignity. She threw a worried gaze at Roving Gale, who still hadn't signed his consent forms. He just stared at them angrily, the quill in his hoof lightly trembling.
The room was deathly quiet as the quill finally started scratching on the parchment. Then on the next paper, then the next. Finally, he set the quill down and stepped back from Cherry's desk, his eyes filled with pain, anger and sadness. He kept his eyes on the basket, his son just out of sight. He turned around, and walked out of the orphanage without another word.
Cherry Joy had never seen such horrible pain in a stallion's eyes before, and certainly not from anypony dropping off a foal. She finally let a tear fall from her eyes as she heard the stairs creak as the young fillies and colts under her care came to see the new arrival. The oldest, her own daughter, held up the new foal in her arms, a bright smile on her face.
"Can we keep him, mommy?"
Author's Note
Came back to change the month. I've finally found a date for Spark's birthday: March 20th.
2 - The Naming Of The New
Two weeks later...
Two weeks had passed since the dark pegasus had been given up for adoption, and two weeks had passed without the little one getting a proper name. As with all ponies, the timing had to be just right. Sometimes a name would come to the parent or caregiver instantly, and sometimes it could take weeks. A newborn's name always came to life in the exact same way: in a dream. Sometimes a sibling had the dream, and sometimes it came to the parent. Once in a great while, it would come to a neighbor, and it was always accepted. If it came in a dream, it was meant to be. There was never any worry about somepony actually lying about the dream. Nopony ever lied about that, why would they?
As Cheerilee got ready for bed one night, she got to thinking of the little blue pegasus that her mother had received. For two weeks now, every night, she'd had the same dream. The same storm, the same electric storm, flashing, static, electric. And yet the same questions went through her head, despite the explanation her mother had given her. "Don't get any ideas, Cheerilee. He may be our first pegasus, but there's a reason we haven't had any before down here in Ponyville: Most pegasi fly, sweetie. The reason his parents gave him up is because his wings grew in a bad way."
So why, then, did she keep having the dream of a storm, and the sparks of electricity? If the dream had made any sense to her at all, she would have told her mother first thing. It just didn't make sense to her, and so for two weeks, the little pegasus had gone unnamed. The earth pony sighed to herself as she got ready for bed, and she took one more look at the picture on her nightstand.
It was a group picture of her friends here in the orphanage that she helped to take care of. Her nine closest friends began with with a musically talented five year old colt, light blue of fur and white of mane and tail. He was a rare case in that nopony ever had the dream for him. So, Cherry Joy took it upon herself to name him Wolfy. Something about a famous musician in ancient Equestrian past. Wolfy was a strange pony, endowed with enormous talent and a very strange sense of humor.
Next was Banana Bolts, a hefty four year old colt who seemed to have a talent for fixing and inventing things. He had a constant craving for bananas, his favorite food. He was a funny colt, always getting himself into trouble for trying to make some wacky invention that usually involved somepony getting hit in the eye with a projectile, or sending some unlucky pony flung across the room with a spring-loaded trap. Banana Bolts alone made life in the orphanage a lively place.
Next came the cousins, Summer Breeze and Summer Blossom. Summer Breeze was a yellow unicorn, and very pretty at six years old. Of course, she loved the warm months, and whenever she came back inside from playing, she had flowers in her mane. Her cousin, Summer Blossom, was an earth pony, and was a pleasant shade of cream. Her mane was a spring-ish shade of two-toned green and cream. The cousins both loved and lived for the summer months, and they loved to play outdoors, even though they were great with coming up with games to play inside.
Winter Green. Cheerilee loved that name, as well as Glow Frost. These two mares weren't related by blood, but they both loved winter, and it showed simply by looking at them. Winter Green was a five year old earth pony that reminded Cheerilee of a tree, a pine tree to be exact. Her fur was a rich brown, her mane was long, green, and resembled pine needles. To top of all off, there was a white patch on her rump that made one think of snow. Her tail was short and fluffy, and resembled a tree sticking out of the snow.
Glow Frost was a beautiful blue-green unicorn with a bright yellow and white mane and tail. At four years old, she already had the boys' attention, both of whom often got into fights over who got to play with her at any one time. Although the other girls were much too young to understand how affection worked among ponies, it still made them quite jealous, Cheerilee included.
Stardust was next after the winter mares. Stardust was a pretty seven year old white earth pony with a dark mane and tail. Her mane was styled with one thick lock over her right eye, the way she preferred it. She was a bit of a geek, though in a different way from Banana Bolts. She loved to stargaze, and had her own telescope set up in her room to practice her favorite hobby. As the oldest in the group, it was her responsibility to keep the others in line, though sometimes she could get in trouble herself for slacking off in these duties.
Pitfall was an interesting unicorn. At age six, she was rambunctious, rowdy, adventurous. She had a bright cream-yellow coat, a rich orange mane and tail, and bright aqua eyes. She was close friends with Banana Bolts, and often teamed up with the inventive colt when it came to thinking up adventures and playful antics. The two were so alike in looks and personality, they were sometimes mistaken for brother and sister.
Coffee Blaze was the last pony in the picture. She was a beautiful seven year old earth pony with a rich chocolate brown coat, with a light brown mane that included wisps of creamy white. As her name suggested, she was crazy about coffee and drank it so much that she was probably destined to be an expert on it. She'd been drinking it so long that caffeine barely affected her anymore. Sharing the same age as Stardust meant that she shared responsibilities looking after the younger ponies, something she refused to do unless she'd had a cup of coffee first.
Cheerilee smiled to herself as she looked at the photo of her closest friends. She really was a lucky filly, being the only pony among the ten with an actual, blood-related mother. There were times when she felt sad that her friends didn't have any real family, but she always reminded herself that she was their family now. She, her mother, and the two other teachers who looked after them, Pea Soup and Angelica Lovage. They were all a tight-knit family, and now they had one more to add to this wonderful place.
Cheerilee climbed into bed, then reached over and clicked off her table light. Thinking one last time on the new arrival, she quickly fell into a deep sleep.
It was happening again. The dream. It began in darkness, and as usual Cheerilee found herself frightened and alone. The darkness was all encompassing, seeming even to blanket the air, making it difficult to breathe. She always hated this part, the beginning. Soon enough, the familiar light coming from above began to appear, making itself known as cracks in the darkness that spread like slow-moving lightning patterns through the suffocating darkness.
As usual, the light began to pulse, as if the light were a heartbeat. The light spread out, casting the peaceful lightning arcs in every direction, the light comforting, like it was protecting Cheerliee from the darkness. Just like always. It made her feel warm and at peace. However, something was different this time, something was out of place. It was the wind. There had been no wind in the dreams before, why now?
Cheerilee looked around herself in panic as the wind began to pick up, blowing through her mane and tail so hard that it nearly moved her. She could feel herself blown against harder and harder, her little body nearly picked up in the violent winds. As the little filly curled up into a ball to try and protect herself, the lightning-shaped light that usually felt comforting to her began to disappear, becoming smaller and smaller until the light was gone.
Just as Cheerilee began to panic, another light began to appear, this time behind her, a soft golden light. Again, this was new. She got to her hooves and turned to face the light. Staring down at her from high in the sky were a pair of great golden eyes. What are you waiting for? the eyes seemed to say. Cheerilee felt a smile start to tug at her mouth, and the eyes smiled back. Spark's eyes. Spark Storm.
Cheerilee sat up in bed, panting quietly. A smile spread across her face, a warm, happy smile. She had known this name ever since the first dream, but this was the first time the name had actually been said during the dream. Little Spark Storm wanted his name, and he wanted it now. Cheerilee climbed out of bed and ran down the hall full speed to her mother's room, where the new pegasus slept in a crib.
Cherry Joy sat up with a groan as she heard her door open. She was a light sleeper; she had to be with fourteen foals under the same roof. She looked around, hoping to find the source of whatever it was that woke her up. When she saw the open door, she started to panic. Could somepony have broken in? She looked around again in panic, but when she noticed her daughter standing up on her hind legs to look down at the new pegasus, she nearly collapsed with relief.
"Oh for Celestia's sake, Cheerilee, what are you doing up?" she whispered as she pulled out of bed and sidled up beside the filly in question to look down at the baby.
"Spark Storm," Cheerilee said as she looked up at her mother, a bright, confident smile on her face.
It took Cherry Joy a moment to process just what her daughter had told her. When it hit, her eyes lit up with excitement. It took all her willpower not to dance up and down on her hoof-tips. "Oh my goodness, Cheerilee, are you sure?!" she asked, her voice barely contained.
Cheerilee nodded happily, but then an uncertain look came over her face as she lowered her gaze to the still sleeping baby pegasus. Noting her daughter's suddenly sullen gaze, she rested a hoof on her daughter's shoulder. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"
Cheerilee seemed to withdraw into herself. She looked back up into her mother's eyes, her face both apologetic and scared. "Please don't be angry, mommy, but...I had the dream on the first night he was here. I knew his name this whole time. I just got confused...why would a pegasus that'll never fly have a name that has to do with the clouds? Wouldn't it make more sense if he had an earth name?"
Cherry Joy crouched down to be level with her daughter. Of course it made sense that Cheerilee would be confused about such a thing. It confused her a bit as well, she had to admit. It was an unusual name for a grounded pony. It was not an unusual name for a pegasus, however. Whatever powers that be that had decided the pegasus would never fly obviously didn't think he needed a more earth pony-based name. Maybe it meant that he was destined for bigger things. Of course, this was a little difficult to explain to a four year old.
"Well...maybe it just means that he's special, Cheerilee," the mother said, planting a warm kiss on her daughter's head. Cheerilee immediately perked up, then latched onto her mother in a happy hug. The two stayed like this beside Spark Storm's crib until the little filly fell asleep in her mother's arms. Starting to fall back asleep herself, Cherry Joy carefully made her way back to her bed with her daughter in tow. Finally under the covers, she cast a final glance at the crib where the newly named Spark Storm lay fast asleep. She smiled happily, and followed him into the realm of rest.
3 - A Blazing Introduction
Cheerilee bounced with excitement as her mother approached holding a small black box. This would be a new milestone. The orphanage didn't have any March birthdays before Spark Storm was signed in, and Cherry Joy was one of those ponies who enjoyed astrology. Cheerilee, being the clever six year old that she was, didn't hold any belief in such things, though she enjoyed indulging her mother in her eccentricities.
"So what is it?" the filly asked her mother, her eyes bright and curious.
Cherry Joy grinned and nearly dropped the box. She laid it on her bed before opening it. She retrieved a small pendant and let it dangle from it's chain to show her daughter, who smiled brightly before making a confused face. It was a beautiful gem, bright and jade. A fish. Seeing the look in her daughter's eyes, Cherry Joy rolled her own and stepped closer to Spark's crib and attached the gem to his growing set of hanging toys.
"He's a Pisces, sweety. His birthday was March 20th. He was almost an Aries..." The mare made a face as she tilted head to look at the fish jewel. "I'm glad he wasn't an Aries."
Cheerilee made another face as she stared up at the fish jewel. Sure it was pretty, but..."A fish? I don't get it. He's never even going to use a fish."
Cherry Joy let out a soft little snort/laugh at this statement. She made to answer, but went quiet as the little pegasus began to awake. He opened his big golden eyes and stared at Cherry Joy and Cheerilee before he tried to sit up and ended up rolling over onto his face. Cheerilee coo'd as Cherry Joy reached down to help the pegasus rightside up, gasping quietly when she touched him and received a small shock of static electricity. This made her giggle and redouble her efforts. "Every time, little one!" she told him, finally sitting him upright so he was looking at the two.
Cheerilee and Cherry Joy both 'ooh'd and 'aah'd for a moment, to the tiny foal's confusion. It was a short moment, though. The sounds of tiny hooves running around and causing chaos in the orphanage gave the unmistakable signal that the others were up, and from the loud, rhythmic thumping sounds it was either Banana Bolts, Pitfall or both. Mother and daughter exchanged glances for a second, then Cherry Joy sighed and slipped across her room, took a deep breath, and stepped out into filly and colt chaos.
As Cherry Joy stepped out of her room, her senses immediately went on alert. She heard mad giggling from downstairs, as well as that thumping sound. There were two pairs of it, as if two different fillies or colts were making the sound. She quickly ran to the stairs, but before she could head down them, she heard a panicked shout and quite suddenly the wood of the second floor in the middle of the area split, like a blunt object forcing it's way up. Cherry Joy let out a startled cry as she stared at the intruding object, which happened to be Banana Bolt's head.
"Wha...what? What? " she exclaimed as she stepped down the stairs slowly. The first thing she noticed was Pitfall. She wore blue boots with lightning bolt patterns on them. The second thing she noticed was that the young unicorn was bouncing. A closer look told her that Pitfall's boots had springs on them. That only made sense, considering the fact that the second pony she saw was half a pony. Banana Bolt's legs stuck out of the ceiling, while his top half sputtered and wiggled, trying to get himself out of the mess he'd gotten himself into.
"Oh, Banana Bolts...again?" Cherry Joy said with a sigh as she came down the stairs to stand under the young unicorn. "Sweetie, you've got to stop with the crazy contraptions. You're going to give yourself a terrible headache if you keep this up."
"I've...ow! Already got a headache, miss Joy!" the young colt said as he attempted to pull himself free. Finally, he freed himself with an audible pop and fell into Cherry Joy's waiting forelegs. Banana Bolts was set very carefully down upon his hooves. He smiled and started bouncing until Cherry Joy brought his bouncing to a stop with a hoof on his back. The young colt smiled sheepishly up at Cherry Joy.
"Young colt, you can go resume your playing after you take off those spring boots." Cherry Joy turned around to give Pitfall a gentle glare. "You too, missy. There's nothing wrong with having fun adventures, but this is too much. Go on, now." The two dejectedly pulled off their boots, then left all four pairs on the floor in front of their caretaker before running off together.
Cherry Joy sighed and made to pick up after the two when Stardust approached her and began to gather the boots together. "Let me, miss Joy," the pretty white earth pony filly offered. Cherry Joy smiled appreciatively, a small glint of amusement in her eye as the filly struggled with all four boots. She wordlessly stepped forward and grabbed two of the springy hoof-wear. Stardust sighed in resignation, and allowed her caretaker to help her take the boots back to their respective rooms.
"I swear, miss Joy," Stardust began, until Cherry Joy told her not to swear. "...I say , miss Joy," she corrected herself, giggling as she emphasized this with a British twang. "it's really quite a task to keep up with those two. And now..." she paused, a small cautious smile on her face. "...and now, we have a new foal in the house. It's been so long since we've gotten a new one."
"Mm," Cherry Joy mumbled in agreement. She turned as she came to Banana Bolt's room, lifting a hoof to open the door.
"Wait!" came a dismayed cry from the colt down the hall.
Too late to stop, Cherry Joy opened the door and held a boot to her chest. An arrow with a red sucker at the top shot out from a mechanism that Banana Bolts had set up in his room, planting itself firmly on the side of his own boot. Cherry Joy grinned at the unicorn's ingenuity and turned to face the colt. He blushed with embarrassment and timidly took the boot from the caretaker.
Miss Joy may have found this amusing, but Stardust did not. "Banana Bolts! How could you let miss Joy nearly take that in the face?! I keep telling you, turn that thing off...or whatever you do with it so that it doesn't shoot ponies when they open your door!"
Banana Bolts merely rolled his eyes at the older filly. He put on an air of indignity as he gathered his boots rather clumsily, opting to surround one boot with a magical aura. Still not completely practiced, the boot slid on the floor after him as he slipped beyond the door into his room. "I'd be glad to...but somepony keeps coming into my room, even after I close the door, and gets into my stuff! I had to take precautions."
Stardust, hardly looking impressed, gestured to Cherry Joy's chest, and then stood under the adult's legs, coming up short from the targeted area by about three inches. "Your calculations are off, Banana Bolts, it's too high for the other kids. The only pony in here that'd get hit was going to be miss Joy!"
Banana Bolts popped out of his room, hoof raised and mouth open to retort, but he reneged on what he was going to say and smiled sheepishly up at Cherry Joy. "Uh...I'll make adjustments?"
"Or you could just leave your door cracked, like everypony else," Stardust countered. "Right, miss Joy?" When the caretaker didn't respond, both unicorn and earth pony glanced at Cherry Joy, who seemed to have spaced out. She looked tired - sunken eyes, slack expression. "Um...miss Joy?"
Cherry took a moment to respond. She gasped and looked down at the children and smiled. Almost instantly the tired look was gone from her face. "Stardust is right, Bolts. You should take better care of your things. If you kept your things off the floor, like I told you to, you wouldn't have this problem with others taking your things much, and I wouldn't get suckered in the face whenever I open your door." She chuckled and ruffled Banana Bolts' head, then made her way down the hall, leaving the two children to frown as they watched her go. Something was wrong.
Cherry Joy sighed as she stepped into her room. She was so very tired. Taking care of so many fillies and colts all day, every day was taxing, and it was starting to show. She'd just blanked out right there in front of the kids! The young mother stepped over to the new baby's crib. When she saw her own daughter lying asleep next to little Spark Storm, her heart melted. She hadn't seen her daughter all day, and now she knew why. Just seeing the two of them together like this made the long, rough days so worth it.
The adult reached down into the crib and gently scooped her daughter up into her hooves. Cheerilee made a soft whining protest as her mother set her on the bed nearby. She rubbed her eyes and stared blearily up at her mother. "Cheerilee, you know you're not supposed to nap so late in the afternoon, now you'll be up all night," her mother scolded gently, though she tried hard not to fall prey to her daughter's natural cuteness.
Cheerilee smiled up at her mother before moving to the edge of the bed and wrapping her forelegs around her mother's neck. Cherry Joy, with a happy sigh, returned the hug, pulling her daughter against her to support her as the little one's legs dangled over the floor. "Can we keep him?" Cheerilee asked the second time since Spark Storm had come under their care. Cherry Joy just laughed and nuzzled her daughter.
"We're already keeping him, sweetheart-"
"No. I mean I want to keep him...with us," Cheerilee whispered.
Cherry Joy stared down at her daughter in surprise. Keep him? She didn't mean...? Before she could ask Cheerilee if she meant what she thought she said, the little filly dropped to the floor and ran to the door. "I'll go help out with dinner, momma," she said, and slipped out the door, leaving her mother and Spark Storm alone in the room.
Cherry Joy sighed after a moment of watching the spot where her daughter had just been. She couldn't just take Spark Storm in, he needed to stay in the orphanage, to just suddenly join their family was out of the question. And what of the other children? Cherry Joy sighed and shook her head as she turned to see that Spark Storm was just waking. Upon seeing the earth pony, Spark began to fuss, on the verge of crying. It would be an early dinner for this pegasus.
That night, after Cherry Joy had called for lights out, Cheerilee lay in her bed, completely incapable of getting to sleep. As her mother had told her, taking a nap in the afternoon meant she would get little to no sleep that night. Her thoughts of little foal Spark Storm swam in her thoughts, and the possibility of bringing him into her family. She named him after all, it was only natural.
By two in the morning, Cheerilee had given up on trying to sleep and was deep in an informative book on the Everfree Forest when it happened: there was a knock at the door downstairs. It was loud and firm - no mistaking that for a branch hitting a window. When her mother hadn't gotten up to answer the door, Cheerilee crept slowly downstairs and stopped at the door to stare at it, wondering if perhaps another knock would come. After a moment it became obvious that this wouldn't happen, so the little filly crept closer, and finally opened the door, expecting an adult.
Instead, Cheerilee saw that the doorway was empty. Nopony here. She looked left, then right. With a small shrug, Cheerilee began to close the door when she happened to glance down. Somepony had left a bundle with a scroll on top of it. She gingerly picked up the scroll, which held a simple title etched in the wood of the handle: To the owner of the orphanage.
Her heart suddenly racing, Cheerilee set down the scroll and picked up the bundle in her forelegs as she sat down. She pulled the flaps back in a rush, and revealed a brightly colored yellow pegasus foal. Cheerilee's eyes widened as she examined the little baby. There were some early tell-tail markings of orange stripes. This wasn't a full-blooded pony - it was a hybrid child, the product of a pegasus and some other species, one that Cheerilee couldn't quite place at the moment. Regardless, this was something that had to be taken to her mother. She rebundled the little colt, who stared at her with big blue eyes, grabbed the scroll in her mouth, closed the door, and headed upstairs to her mother's room.
Cheerilee crept inside, and carefully pulled herself up onto her mother's bed. Cherry Joy had passed out from exhaustion earlier, and hadn't even bothered to get under the covers. Spark Storm lay asleep in his crib, peacefully sound asleep, which Cheerilee found she would have to be careful to maintain. She set the bundle gently at the foot of the bed, and unbundled the colt so that his face could be seen, then spat out the scroll and reached over to gently tap at her mother's shoulder. "Mom. Momma. Mom. Mommy. Mom. Mom."
Cherry Joy groaned softly and opened her eyes, a gentle grumpy look on her face as she laid eyes on her daughter. "Cheerilee? What are you doing up so late?" She turned her head to look at the little red digits on the clock by the bedside and frowned. "Honey, it's two-thirty, what are you-?" She stopped when she finally noticed the little colt at the foot of the bed. "...Oh my." The caretaker eased herself up into bed and carefully pulled the little colt into her forelegs, a tired smile on her face.
"There's a scroll here, mom," Cheerilee added, picking up the scroll for her mother to see.
"Read it to me, sweety," Cherry told her gently as she looked the colt over.
Cheerilee crawled around behind her mother and switched on the lamp, then crawled back and obediently pulled the scroll open, her eyes rolling over the words for a moment before she began to read what it said.
To the owner of the Ponyville orphanage.
We talked it over and have agreed, we can not raise this foal in the conditions we live in. Therefore, we place him in the care of your most capable hooves in the hopes that he will find a loving family and live a peaceful life. His name is Blazing Feathers.
We thank you for your kind heart and leave you this foal from the bottom of our own.
Cheerilee frowned as she finished. She turned the scroll over, held it upside down, turned it all around, and finally shrugged as she rolled it back up. "They didn't leave any names."
"Mm, they wouldn't," Cherry said. She made a face suddenly, and stared down at little Blazing. "Oh, my. You haven't been here five minutes and you're already making yourself at home," she said with a chuckle while making a face at the smell rising from inside the colt's covers. A moment later, the foal awoke and began crying at the discomfort he'd discovered. Cherry Joy's face turned into a mask of dismay at the crying woke Spark Storm. "Oh, no..."
Cheerilee, sensing her mother's stress levels skyrocketing, smiled for her mother and hopped off the bed and maneuvered Spark out of his crib carefully. "I've got this momma. You take care of Blazing, and I'll get Sparky back to sleep."
A tired, but grateful look spread over her mother's face. "Thank you, Cheerilee. What would I do without you?" The tired caretaker of this growing orphanage slipped out of bed with Blazing and carried him to a separate room. The children would undoubtedly awaken, but they would find out eventually, anyway. In the previously empty room, Cherry Joy unbundled the colt and began to clean him. While she had him finally exposed to the elements, she looked over the markings on his body, a surprised look in her eye. "Zebra...you're part zebra. That's definitely a first for my orphanage...I think it's a first for Ponyville!"
As she cleaned Blazing Feathers and got him a fresh diaper, a collection of young faces crowded around the door, rumors spreading back and forth among them and somehow mixing up the original message, even though they all stood directly next to each other, some even standing on top of the others. A new face had arrived.
Author's Note
Aaaaand surprise! SCSD is back in circulation. With the help of some friends, I've decided to make some additions to Spark's world. How this will work and/or fit into the future of the Spark Storm universe, I guess we'll have to see. For now, say hello to Blazing Feathers, an oc creation of my pal musicbrush.
It's not always as simple as it seems, taking care of children. The strain, the stress. It can really bring you down, you know? Sometimes, if you're not careful, if you don't take care of yourself and give yourself a rest now and then, something is bound to break. Two years ago, I let that happen, and it was almost the end of me. I was so careless...I don't think little Cheerilee would've forgiven me if I hadn't taken that vacation.
I guess it was the right thing to do, because when I came back, I found a surprise waiting for me. Two weeks...that's all it took. Those little children cared so much for me, that they went out into the town and put together a talent show. It wasn't just a talent show, though. It was to advertise themselves to the village. 'Come and adopt me,' is the message they were sending. 'I'm amazing and I'll make you happy, if you'll take me home and love me'.
I can't even begin to imagine...how much those kinds loved me. They were so worried about me, they put on a show that the town would never forget. Something I'll never forget, either, because when I came home, and when they crowded around me to tell me what they did, the first thing I noticed was...oh, gosh...they had all found their cutie marks. Every last one of them!
But, the thing is, none of them spoke a word about it. You could see it in their eyes, they knew. But that wasn't the important thing. What they all had to say had nothing to do with finding their special talents or their cool new cutie marks. All they had to say was that they had all been noticed. They had all been adopted. My children...right under my nose. While I was recovering from a minor breakdown, they all grew up and moved out of my home.
They weren't all adopted by the same family, of course, so the kids didn't disappear all at once. I don't think I could've handled that. Wolfy was the first to go, and it made the kids a little nervous. This whole thing had been his genius idea, so seeing him go left the children without the brains of the group. It was a scary time for them, and for me.
Wolfy was taken in by a wealthy family. His talents on the piano weren't the only ones showcased at the talent show, but they were the best. The night wasn't even over before a wealthy couple approached Angelica Lovage, who was sponsoring the kids' show that night. They were aristocrats from Canterlot, but Angelica could tell right from the start that they genuinely wanted to give Wolfy a good, caring home. They were a unicorn couple, and were amazed at the young earth colt's abilities to play.
They checked out, of course. Angelica told me there was nothing to worry about. They came from a family that was well-known for sponsoring charities, making sure they spread their wealth to the poor, and we even found out that they had given generously to Ponyville, as well. They assured Angelica that Wolfy would be taught to make profits through his talents, and then to give back to the community. I was so happy to hear that Wolfy would be in a good place.
The Summer cousins were next. Apparently the girls' act was a dramatic tale about ancient lore and myths. They told a story that involved heroes of old, and how many would-be heroes fell prey to the beautiful nymphs, creatures who served as a foil to the weary hero. They would lie in wait, deep in the woods, and seduce their prey into letting their guard down...and devouring them. Angelica told me that the girls held the audience captive with their costumes and with the nymphs' handmade scenery.
Of course, Banana Bolts, my little engineer, had created the background and the moving pieces to capture the lifelike dramatic and adventurous scene. His nymphs, taken from old myth books, had looked so beautiful. He brought them home, of course. Two of them. While they certainly didn't look real, their moving parts made them very convincing.
The girls were picked up the next day. A travelling troupe had been in the area, and in the final days of their Ponyville visit, they caught the talent show. I'm still not sure how they ok'd the papers for adoption, but when I checked out their signatures and the papers from town hall, everything worked out. The girls had found a place for dramatic reenactment, and it would be on the road. I'll miss them so much...
Banana Bolts was picked on the same day. Oh, my heart. When I heard who it was, I nearly burst into tears. Our lonely Ponyville construction manager, Gear Gilder, came to claim him. Gear Gilder is a bit of a larger mare, with more masculine features and build. She'd been so lonely, so dedicated to her job that she'd never had anypony else in her life. I was so happy to hear that she'd have somepony to keep her company, somepony to pass on her skills to. Banana Bolts was elated to hear that he'd be living with another pony who loved to build.
I'm told Winter Green's act was wonderful. Her lecture on the woods and the kinds of trees were very informative, surprisingly interesting and full of life and wonder. Just hearing about it made me curious about the different kinds of trees surrounding Ponyville, and I felt more than ready to go and explore and see the kinds of life in the valley.
Of course, nopony expected the wilds of the valley to be present for this talent show. A doe, Verena, a native from the far northern corners of White Tails Woods, came forward to express interest in Winter Green almost immediately after the show. Oh, she's a beautiful doe, and her knowledge of the woods and so many of the kinds of life and trees in Equestria was surprising. I still see Winter Green now and then. I hear she's learning to be an apothecary...I'm so proud.
Three days after the talent show, Glow Frost was taken. She was approached by a most peculiar pegasus. His wings were unlike anything I'd ever seen before, though he assured Angelica that it was merely a birth defect. He was perfectly capable of flight, which he demonstrated, much to Glow Frost's delight. His name was Dragonmint, a foreigner from the land of Breen who was most interested in helping Glow Frost begin a career in the modeling department, something that she was very interested in, and I'm told that it showed in her act, which was a magical display of light and mirrors. To this day she's still abroad, though the dear sends me pictures every month. Breen is a wonderfully beautiful place of mountains and valleys...I want to go someday.
Coffee Blaze's show was all about farming. Of course, it was about coffee. Before now, I didn't realize that coffee beans came from a tree, or the fact that coffee beans came from berries! You learn something new every day. Blaze's charts and graphs were so informative that a young couple, recently moved to the are and interested in starting a coffee bean farm, were immediately interested.
Chocolate Marmalade, a hefty young mare, and her new husband, Vanilla Shortbread, approached Coffee Blaze a few days later and explained that she seemed to know more about coffee than they did, and having such an intelligent and organized girl who loved coffee would be a great boon. Of course, they offered her a great home, a new coffee tree farm where she would learn business and have strong bonds with a farmer and a baker.
Pitfall was next, my little stunt-mare. With Banana Bolts' help, she set up an obstacle course on stage (regulation-safety approved, of course) that apparently consisted of a realistic obstacle course, complete with built-in spring-loaded traps, foam-covered swords, and "falling trees". It all looked so real, though, and Pitfall was so efficient in her acrobatics and stunt work that a well-known pegasus stunt-mare named Sunset Veyron was impressed enough to offer to take Pitfall in.
It made me so happy to learn that Sunset was willing to relocate to Ponyville, just for Pitfall. I had worried that there might be some trouble, like Spark Storm had, but no. Sunset Veyron, who has been known to be a wild, reckless stunt-mare, was so struck with Pitfall's abilities that she moved to accommodate my daring unicorn. I was so happy for her.
And so...Stardust was the last. She was Cheerilee's best friend, and...I suppose she still is. She writes now and then from her place in Canterlot. It was a whole month before anypony came to inquire about my star-gazer. The star charts and informative lecture that she gave the audience wasn't quite as attractive to the rest of the audience, and she didn't have Coffee Blaze's enthusiasm, I'm afraid.
What she lacked in exciting features, though, she made up for in information. She'd read so many books on the subject that eventually Canterlot's scholars got wind of how much my Stardust knew of the stars, the constellations, their positions, their meanings. It was actually closer to evening a month later when Night Charter came. She was a beautiful young mare with the colors of the night sky - dark violet, with a darker violet mane and a lighter streak at the tips of her clean-cut bangs. A map of the night sky was easily visible on her flank.
Night Charter worked at the royal science academy, where young colts and fillies went to school to learn and grow into future careers. My heart nearly jumped in my throat when I opened the door and heard the news myself. Of course, by then, Stardust was the last filly in the orphanage, and I still hadn't gotten over the shock of what my children had done. When Night Charter announced that she wanted to take Stardust away to Canterlot, I...I almost said no. Our last child, Cheerilee's last friend. She'd have to start all over with Spark Storm and Blazing Feathers alone.
But my little Cheerilee, who had been so angry and moody at her friends, finally gave in. She took Stardust aside and told her to follow her dreams, no matter where they might take her, even if it was away from us. The girls cried - well, we all did. Even Night Charter, who was so overcome by the strength of the girls' friendship, couldn't help it. She seems like such a nice mare - I don't think she has a lot of confidence, or much faith in herself. I'm sure my Stardust will help her with that, though. They're both very brave to be following their dreams - to study the stars.
Cherry Joy looked up from her diary. A bit of wetness dripped onto the pages, the earth mare's emotions getting the best of her. It didn't help reading the diary pages over and over again; she cried every time. The lamination actually did help, though. Cheerilee finally suggested getting the pages laminated to prevent the book from getting too damaged. It had saved the caretaker's diary many, many times over.
The house was so quiet now; even with Spark Storm and Blazing Feathers getting worked up and running around now, it just wasn't the same without all of her wonderful children making constant noise during the day. Of course, they still visited. With Wolfy and Stardust in Canterlot, Glow Frost, Winter Green and the Summer twins travelling abroad, that left Banana Bolts, Coffee Blaze and Pitfall to stay in Ponyville. Those three never missed a chance to come and say hello sometime during the week.
The caretaker sighed as she crossed the room and carefully replaced the book back into it's place on the book shelf on the far side of the room, next to the crib. It had been almost a full two years since Spark Storm had arrived. Almost a full two years since her children had grown up and taken care of her for a change. Now, with Spark and Blazing old enough to run around, Cheerilee was beginning her third year of school, and a new orphan had arrived for Cherry Joy to take care of.
It had been a bright day when Lucid Whisper had arrived, but it wouldn't have made a difference had it been night, not for the young pegasus - she was blind. The father, who hadn't given his name, had lost his wife in childbirth. Lucid Whisper had in birth taken her mother's life, and she would never know. The little filly was a beautiful soft aquamarine color, her mane a two-toned pastel violet and blue. Her eyes were her most stunning feature, though: the outter rings of her eyes were a dark green and a light blue, while the center was a large, pure white.
She often put-off strangers with her blank stare. She was born without sight, so she didn't know to move her eyes to look at things. Her ears constantly moved, though, and they seemed to catch the smallest sound, the quiet sounds that an adult would barely be aware of. She was often a fussy filly, as being unable to see she had no sense of being surrounded or when somepony was approaching her. Cherry Joy found her to be a constant source of stress, but without having to look out for so many children anymore, the burden was lessened.
Lucid Whisper was asleep now, and it was time for Cherry Joy to sleep as well. Cheerilee had her hooves full getting the terrible two to get in bed. Tomorrow was another day, full of possibilities, new beginnings, and new friendships - tomorrow Spark Storm and Blazing Feathers would begin preschool.
