At the edge of a small town sat a unicorn foal and a cloaked unicorn stallion. The stallion’s horn started to glow with a bronze aura and storybook-like illustrations projected themselves between the two. “Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there lived a regal princess of friendship with her two prince sons,” as he spoke the picture of three ponies appeared. In the center was a violet equine with a horn and wings. To the alicorn’s right was a golden unicorn and to the left was a cerulean unicorn. “One son presided over the vibrant day and the waking world, while the other governed over the night the land of dreams. However, above them was the high princess Twilight Sparkle. Twilight embodied friendship itself and heralded the land into a time of interspecies cooperation. Together the three brought almost universal harmony.” Suddenly the picture started to come alive as changelings, hippogryphs, rams, and griffins from across the world joined the three and began to frolic with one another.

“However, not was as it seemed,” he said as the happy faces faded away, leaving only the original three. With an exacerbated sigh he said, “Since the two sons’ birth Twilight had feared that they would share the same fate as the last bearers of the day and night. She feared that the night would fall to their darkness and seek out their kingdom's ruin. Desperately she tried to avoid this outcome, but the hands of fate are beyond even an alicorn's control.”

Again, the image changed to show a large black alicorn, its wings engulfing the golden unicorn. All the while the purple alicorn lay on the ground as tears streamed down her face. Suddenly the stallion’s horn lost its glow and the images evaporated. “I believe that is enough for now,” he spoke in a neutral tone.

The colt groaned, “Oh come on mister! There has to be more to the story than that!” With a whine, he asked, “Will the moon prince turn all mean as the Princess thinks, or did she manage to change his future?”

A slight scoff escaped the stallion’s throat at the colt’s mention of the future. “You mistake fate and the future for the same thing my young friend,” he said, his tone taking on a more annoyed tone. “The future is malleable, ever-changing with each choice we make. Fate on the other hoof is something much more ridged. While fate can also be changed the process is much harder, often is brought about in the attempt of avoiding it.”

The colt’s eyebrow raised in confusion as he tried his best to follow what the stallion was saying. “Is that a no?’ he asked.

“Don’t you have someplace to be?” the stallion asked with a groan. Using his head to gesture to the west.

Curios the colt turned his head to the West to see what the stallion was gesturing towards. His eyes shot open, and his heart sank. The sun was getting close to setting. “Oh crap,” he anxiously exclaimed while springing to his hooves, “I didn’t know it was so late! Man, Mom and Dad are going to kill me!” Prancing in place for a second, he said, “Thanks for the story mister, see you later!” He quickly turned around and started to run towards the town.

“Yes,” the stallion said as he rose to his hooves, “You and I will meet again soon my young friend. Mine and your fates are intertwined after all.” His horn once again shined with is bronze glow that grew brighter and brighter until fully enveloping him. After a second the shine vanished along with its source. The hill where the mysterious stallion once stood was now empty. However, the green grass that he was standing on had turned into barren earth.

The colt ran through the town, bobbing and weaving past the town's citizenry that littered the streets. As he ran, he hoped that by some miracle he would get home before his parents got back from their latest job. After about five minutes of running, it finally came into view, the dinky gray house that lay at the northernmost edge of town. He smiled not seeing any light coming from any of the windows. Maybe luck was on his side for once?

Slowing down as he reached the front stoop he started to huff from exhaustion. Taking a moment to compass himself he gently pushed the door, trying to make as little noise as possible. As the door only just started to open it was suddenly swung wide, causing the colt to jump back in fright. “And where have you been young stallion?” a venomous feminine voice asked.

The colt started to shiver in fright as he was greeted by an angry slender, bleached almond-furred, mare that was a little over twice his height. Her copper eyes glared daggers into the boy as if asking him to lie to her. Her black mane and tail almost seemed to float and writhe like snakes. This mare was Mother Tomb Raider, and she looked seething.

With a gulp the colt stammered, “W-well, you see, I-I was talking with this stallion on the other side of town and…”

“You were what,” Tomb screamed cutting him off, “what have I told you about talking to strangers! You are in so much trouble!” Stomping outside the house she quickly grabbed the colt’s ear with her teeth, using it to drag him inside the house. Once inside she practically threw him. “You know that you're not supposed to go out when me and your dad aren’t around! And what about your quota for the day huh, did you take care of it before you decided to disobey us?”

The colt shrank as his mother berated him. With a squeak he said, “Y-yes ma’am, I took care of everything this morning. They are all the correct age and ready for you.”

“At least you can at least do one thing right.” Tomb said in a sarcastic tone. Turning her back to her son she started walking towards the kitchen that was directly connected to the front room. “Straight to bed, you get no dinner tonight. Oh, and Sand Dial,” she said, stopping dead in her tracks, “don’t ever disobey me again or you will get much worse than simply being sent to bed without dinner.” Her tone was prickly and left no room for argument.

Sand Dial looked at the ground in shame and weakly said, “Yes Mom...I won't disobey again.”

Tomb didn’t acknowledge his words and just started walking towards the kitchen.

With a sigh, Sand Dial walked to the back part of the house where his room was. Pushing open the bedroom door he looked at the tiny room where he spent the majority of the day. The room was sparse, to say the least, the only pieces of furniture in the room being an old dresser, a simple box spring mattress, and brass brass-rimmed full-length mirror. Honestly, if he didn’t say that was his room no creature could tell.

Steeping inside the bedroom, using his back left hoof to close the door behind him, he mumbled, “It’s not fair, I did my stupid job so why can’t I go out like everypony else?” Stopping as he was about to pass the mirror, he turned to look at his reflection, wanting to try and see what made him so different.

As Sand Dial looked at his double, he thought he couldn’t see anything. He was about normal size for a colt his age, maybe a little bit small at worst. His fur color was slightly different, his muzzle to his right past front legs was sandy brown while his back half was white with small flakes of that sandy brown dotting it. Okay, he didn’t see many ponies with multi-colored coats, but he knew they existed. What about his mane or tail? No, he had seen several ponies in town with brass manes and tails. Looking at his white curved horn he wondered if that was it. Yeah, there weren’t many unicorns that lived in town, but surely that can’t be it alone. Through the process of elimination, he could only think of two things that could be the source of why he wasn’t allowed to be like everypony else, his cutie mark and eyes.

Positioning his pony to more easily see the infinity symbol plastered to his flank he scowled. It was after he got this thing that his mom started acting so weird. It also didn’t help that after he got his mark his eyes changed color, which he doesn’t remember ever hearing about happening to other foals when they got their cutie marks.

Sand Dial glared at his mark for a few moments before tearing his gaze away from it. “Stupid special talent,” he gruffly said. The colt’s eyes started to sting as tears formed. With a whimper he sat on the ground defeated, tears streaming down his muzzle. He wanted to escape, to have a normal life. “Please, won’t any pony save me from this hell?”

Author's Note

Well, a new adventure begins. I hope you all enjoy the ride, for as long as it may go.