The Mystery of the Iron Bird Festival

Sunlight slowly penetrated into a gray house standing in the middle of a yellow field. Through the cracks, a light breeze carried warmth and the smell of life to where the foot of any pony would be afraid to step on the creaking boards of the old floor. From the outside, it might seem that this house has been empty for a long time, and there is nothing in its walls except old and crumbling furniture.

In one of the rooms of a lonely house, an equally lonely white pegasus with golden mane curls was sitting on the floor. A puddle of dried blood, and a couple of metal flasks left over from an unusual artifact and the same guest, reminded of the events of last night. The beautiful mare's eyes were filled with bitter tears, and her lips kept repeating and repeating:

"Why?.. Why?.."

The answer to her was the long-spoken words of the old unicorn: ... Cursed are you, child, for your heavenly beauty, and that's why the monster of the Night Darkness is now your second face. No spell can remove it, but a warrior. Forgive me, my child, but as long as you are dangerous, you will have to live far away from everyone and everything...

Having built a house far from the city, the ponies locked the pegasus in the valley with strong charms. In the first nights, the Darkness tried to break the magic, but it was all in vain. Cursed once, she was doomed to the terrible torments of an immortal existence. And there was no escape from this horror.

Getting to her feet, she began to wipe off the crimson stain that had already eaten into the floor of her "prison".

After so many years of loneliness, the name and speech began to be forgotten. Only talking to myself, keeping a diary and work did not allow me to slip into an animal state. From day one, she trained to take control of her dark side. And decades of perseverance have not been in vain. Pegasus was able to crush the Darkness inside her. But I still couldn't get out of the boundaries of my little world.

The wait dragged on for years of terrible loneliness until she found him. A strange creature, exhausted from the heat of the Celestian Sun, lay in a field. It was difficult not to help him. After giving him water and taking him under the roof from the scorching sun, Pegasus no longer wanted to let him go from her. The years of loneliness have affected.

After feeding the guest and letting him rest, the white pony drowned in dreams, completely forgetting about the power of Darkness in her dead heart. The mare did not think that the evil that had fallen asleep would wake up again. When it happened, it was too late. The dead disguise with renewed vigor repulsed the will of the beautiful pegasus, preparing to tear to pieces the only one alive in this house. But before that happened, the alien was already standing on the threshold of the room.

This look… A look full of horror and disgust she will never forget now. Let the foreigner be able to defeat the evil form, but the Darkness will take its rights back again the next night. He did not turn out to be the warrior who would remove this curse, and the hope fading in years burst into a bright flame only to burn out in unfulfilled expectations.

"No!" the cry escaped by itself, no longer obeying reason. Pony jumped to her feet, forgetting about weakness and malaise.

She was hardened by such an existence, and she could not call it life. And so she decided that it was better to meet her fate in the cleansing fire than the way she did—slowly and painfully going crazy.

Resolutely, wanting to end all this, she began to break furniture and tear fabrics, throwing it all into one pile. And soon a mountain of combustible junk stood alone in an empty room.

The time, approaching noon, seemed to stand still in anticipation. The trembling hooves held a candle with a small but proud flame. The fear, previously drowned out by rage, returned. Suddenly there was a faint whisper in my head from the depths of consciousness:

"Not necessary… Stop it…"

The summoned words made the pegasus tremble, and now another fear began to take hold of the poor pony. The darkness was even stronger than she remembered. So someday the white pony will lose control completely, and the Darkness will be the rightful mistress in this body. This was the last feather that outweighed the scales, and the hooves unclenched the burden. Tears sprang from her eyes and a heavy sigh came out of the little pony.

A fallen candle thudded. Immediately, a small and weak light began to devour the scraps of a blue dress hanging nearby, quickly moving on to other things. The power of this element joyfully accepted the sacrifice, surrounding the lost hope with a wall of flame. Pegasus's cry of pain was drowned in the roar of the fire, taking her into her last embrace…

***

A blue column of smoke was rising from somewhere on the horizon. Kramarenko stopped and leaned his free hand against his forehead, trying to see something through the bright rays of the received Sun. But no matter how much the pilot squinted, he could not see more.