Equestria: The Days of Blood and Steel

Chapter II

Nightwing jerked awake, he guessed it was very early in the morning but he knew he would not fall asleep again very easily. He fill a small cup with water, which of course would cut his extra water ration for that day. He walked into his mother’s bedroom. He slowly drank the water and threw the cup on the floor and looked up through the window. He was about to pull away after a few minutes, when he saw a gleam in the sky. A single ball of light was sparkling in a small dark patch in the middle of the city’s disgusting air. It was almost unnoticeable, but it was there, shining, begging to be seen. He let out a gasp as he stared at it, his mother had always told him of the stars and their beauty, but he had never remembered seeing one, he had made it a habit to look up at the sky every so often, even during day, in hopes of seeing one. And today he finally saw one, his heart felt light and his mind filled with inspiration, as if he could be a pony in space and touch all the stars. Then he laughed and pulled away from the window.

“Remember where you are, stupid? A pony, in space? Ha! Ponies will enter space when... when I meet my father.” He mumbled to himself and headed to the door, when suddenly a voice said,

“Stars, beautiful right? I love to watch them and wonder what the galaxy holds for us.”

Nightwing jumped, Crimson had suddenly come out of nowhere but Crimson just smiled and headed over to the window.

“I used to stargaze all the time with my mom, she and my father would do it all the time before they had foals, and before the war. I was always fascinated, I love them and their beauty. Sadly our library didn’t have many books on space, but that didn’t matter much because eventually the factory and city smog became too much and even our part of the city became covered in the dirty city air...”

Crimson then turned away from the window and turned to Nightwing with a curious gleam in his eye.

“You never told me about your family, who were your parents, you said my mother and father knew them.”

Nightwing felt uncomfortable but he felt he had a duty to say,since Crimson had told him about his family.

“Well my mother had been a successful shop owner in some town called ‘Ponyville’ she worked for every bit... You know what a bit is right?” Crimson nodded, remembering the old currency during the princesses rule, his mom still had some.

“She had saved enough bits to sell her shop in Ponyville and set up shop in the old capital ‘Canterlot’, but then the war came. Two of my mother’s best friends went to fight right away, another would leave to fight later, but the rest stayed together. As the war dragged on my mother met a Lunar Guard, one of the old Princesses guards, the ponies who made up the army. He had been wounded and stayed in Ponyville for some time to recover, while there he and my mother fell in love and my mother became pregnant, but after five months he was shipped out again, never to be seen by my mother again. She waited and waited but no word came. She gave birth to me just weeks before the fall of the old Equestria, just after giving birth to me she learned that my father had been killed in battle, and one of her best friends, head of the Land Forces of the Princesses armies had been captured in battle and publicly, executed....”

Nightwing took a breath as he continued and fought to hold back a tear.

“My mother stopped eating, she fell apart and...and...”

“It’s okay if you stop there, you’ve told me enough for me to get an idea anyway.” Crimson smiled and patted a hoof on Night’s shoulder. Crimson than let a small chuckle,

“Did... did your mom ever tell you about that earth pony...uh what was her name... Oh yes Pinkie Pie! Did you mom ever tell you about her and her wild parties?”

Nightwing sniffled then let out a laugh.

“Yeah actually all the time, there was this one time when that Pinkie Pie...”

They then spent the rest of that morning talking and laughing about the earth ponies’ parties, the pegasi Rainbow Dash, about the feats of Derpy Whooves, the magic of the librarian Twilight Sparkle and all the other ponies and stories they had been told...

"What about that mare you told me about? The one you like?” Crimson and Nightwing had talked the whole morning though and the sun had just risen but ten minutes ago, and they were still at it.

"Well like I said, her mother was a mare pegasi named Rainbow Dash. She looks just like her mom, cyan with Rainbow mane and tail, but then that is about it. It is rumored that they hate each other very much and that they no longer talk to each other."

Nightwing nodded, it would make sense that they disliked each other. Rainbow Dash had fought for the Equestrian Monarchy in the war, and was only spared because she surrendered when told too... And most like to stop an uprising from the pegasi who were still a threat and had supported the Princesses.

Rainbow's daughter most likely enjoyed the lifestyle of a citizen pony and probably spent lavishly like Crimson said. Some mares just had to have it all Nightwing guessed.

"I tried flirting with her for years, she mainly played with me then rejected me. Like I said, my father got impatient with me. But then she agreed to a date, I got her to laugh once, and even smile. But we mostly sat in silence the whole rest of the date. But after that we talked every once and awhile, she came and watched me leave when I was kicked out of the citizen's village. No goodbye or waves, but she was there... I think... I think i'll propose to her when I get back."

Nightwing suddenly coughed, propose? Was he out of his mind?!

"Isn't that sudden?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well shouldn't you get to know her, and go on a few dates or something before doing that?!"

Crimson looked suddenly like he had been struck.

"Is that to soon, do you think?"

"Yes."

Crimson merely sighed,

"Well I guess you are right Night... Maybe I should wait. I just... I just don’t know."

Crimson then looked up at Night,

"What about you? Surely there is somepony out there you like!"

Nightwing just shook his head,

"No, there is nopony. I never really looked anyway, life was just too...in the way I guess. Besides, not many mares live around here..."

Crimson let out a "oh" and looked around, at a loss.

"Don't the worker's get a day off today? Isn't there a park or something we could go to? I need to stretch my limbs, get some ‘fresh’ air."

That was right Nightwing remembered, on the seventh day of the week the Government allowed workers to rest from the nonstop work of the week, now of course many factories still ran, but usually only the necessarily ones, or the ones making goods in high demand. The ponies who worked this day got to rest on a different day though, so nopony was left out of the much needed rest.

"Yeah sure. We actually are near one of the bigger parks, just a few blocks past the factory... Well it's not much of a park anymore, all the plants are dead, the fountain doesn't run, but it's still a park in essence."

Crimson nodded as he imaged that and simply said,

"Sounds good, let's go."

And with that they headed down to the street and off to the park...