The Aurorians: Rise and Fall

The Aurorians

“Oh, this is not good at all!” a light blue stallion with a white mane and dark sapphire blue eyes complains.

“Sparks, you better hurry and finish digging before it collapses onto us!” the black stallion with a flaming orange mane and ruby eyes urges.

“Well I am doing my best, Arso!” yells Sparks.

“How much further?” asks Arso in his complaining tone.

“I am close! The ground seems to be getting softer...” Sparks explains to Arso and the group.

Suddenly, Sparks pushes the soft ground up and pokes his head out to the surface. With amazement, he sees a full moon lighting the nightly landscape. He also notices a large forest of trees in the distance.

Sparks shouts with joy, “We made it! We´re free at last!”

He climbs out of the hole he’d been digging and yells back down: “Hey everypony! Hurry up before this tunnel collapses on all of you!”

One by one they all begin to climb out. Just as the last pony makes it out, the tunnel collapses in on itself, spewing dirt from the hole.

“Did everyone make out safely?” Sparks asks the group.

Arso relieves his worries. “Everyone is accounted for.”

“Good! We better hurry before the dragons find out that we escaped!” Sparks opines with a sigh of relief.

“And where should we head off to?” Arso asks looking around.

“We should head off to the trees near the mountains!” Sparks suggested. “If we go that way, we will be heading opposite of where the mines are located.”

“Why should we head that way? It seems too far to travel! And what if the dragons notice we’re gone?” The question remains unacknowledged.

Arso sighs. “Alright everypony! Let’s get moving!”

They walk through the night on the dry, rugged terrain. Suddenly, a loud, horrible howl resounds behind them. Sparks and the others are stunned by the noise they just hear.

“Everypony! Start galloping! Don’t stop and don’t look back!” yells Sparks.

They run and approach the forest ahead. Three dragons suddenly appear out of the night sky, casting their shadows on the soil below. They sweep down, grabbing every pony they can get, returning them to the mines.

‘This isn't good...’ Sparks thinks silently to himself.

A dragon swoops down to grab Sparks, but Arso, aware of what's happening, knocks Sparks aside, sacrificing himself.

"Get to the forest!" Arso yells at Sparks.

Sparks rushes to his hooves and gallops again, knowing the forest in front of him is mere hooves away. A dragon, seeing Sparks, swoops down to capture him. Unaware of his surrounding he hits a large tree, falling flat on his back. The force of the impact causes Sparks to tumble down a hill straight into a raging river. Sparks does his best to swim, but the stream is far too strong. Sparks cannot grab a hoofhold of anything and is quickly carried away.

He then notices the water getting even faster and the sound of a roaring waterfall resounds ahead!

‘Oh, this cannot be good!’ Sparks thinks.

Then, suddenly dropping over the falls, Sparks begins to yell at the top of his lungs.

He hits the bottom and everything goes dark...

Sparks awakens shortly after. He finds himself miles away from the waterfall, washed up on the side of a calm stream of the river into a nice but muddy grassy clearing.

He is exhausted from his horrifying escape, surviving the waterfall without any harm but a bruise to his left hoof.

Realizing it’s still dark and it’s probably only been a while from his escape, the blue stallion notices that it’s still full moon.

He is sure the dragons have stopped looking. If the Dragons saw him fall into the raging river, they would surely think he´d be dead.

Sparks gets up and trots further onto land into a nice soft patch of grass, panting heavily, trying to regain his energy.

While he lies down, he looks up to the sky and notices all the stars are shining brighter than he has ever seen. He had never seen stars when he was forced to work in the mines.

The sight was amazing! He then caught a glimpse of a bright shooting star passing by. This reminded Sparks of before he was taken away from his parents.

They once had told him, that if he ever saw a shooting star, he should make a wish on it.

Sparks looked at the star and made his one wish: “I wish for all ponies to be free from the dragons grasp.”

But then, he notices something weird about the shooting star he wished upon. It’s starting to turn to his direction, coming right at him at a fast rate!

Sparks begins to panic and ducks for cover behind a small hill nearby.

Just when he jumped behind the hill he hears a large boom.

Heavy blasts begin to roll over the hillside from where the object crashed and throw the blue stallion out of his cover.

Shortly after that, the blasts stopped.

Curious of what just crashed, he slowly peaks his head over the top of hillside. To his amazement, he notices whatever crashed has made a crater large enough to form a pond for fish to actually live in. Sparks begins to travel to the epicenter of where an object is currently sitting - or better: a pony!

It is fairly larger than Sparks and has wings and a horn on it. To even increase the mystery of this strange pony, he realizes it has a mark on its flank, appearing to be like stars in the midnight sky with many shades of color!

As Sparks gets closer, he wonders if it’s even still alive and begins to poke at it with his hooves on its side ribs, asking concerned: “Hello? Are you ok? Seems like a tough landing you had.”

The creature then makes a noise in pain because of Sparks continually poking at it. “Owww…”

Sparks, curious about the sound of the strange pony, decides to poke at it again, hoping for better results.

Just as he does, it mentions a few words out to Sparks “Please stop doing that!”

Sparks decides to do so and stops poking at it. For whatever reason, it seems like this type of pony doesn’t liked to be touched.

“Are you in pain? Do you need some help?” Sparks questions in a cautious tone.

Then the strange pony responds to Sparks’ question and rises to its hooves, his crimson red eyes staring down at him. “Nah. I think I’m fine. Just a little bit bruised is all.”

Realizing this, Sparks notices that this pony stands quite taller than him.

“May I ask: WHAT are you and WHO are you?” he questioned.

“I am Owal. I am part of a race called ‘Alicorn’.” the strange pony responds in a generous tone.

“Uh... can you tell me what an ‘Alicorn’ is?” the blue stallion asks Owal with curiosity.

Owal starts to respond with no hesitation: “Well, Alicorns are the most powerful creatures to rule. I have no time to explain this any further now.”

“Wait, why that is so?” Sparks asks.

“I am here for a recon mission. There´s evidence to suggest that ponies here are being mistreated. So I can convince my father that the stories about the ponies here are true. I hope a team can be organized to free them and take them away from here. This is where you come in, my fellow stallion.”

“Oh, what a relief!” Sparks cheered and introduced himself. “My name is Sparks. Ever since I was a young foal, my whole life comprised working in the mines for those horrible beasts.”

“Well Sparks, you have shed some light on my situation. My father has to believe me now and get me the team I need to free all the ponies!”

“So when do we leave to convince your father? When will we be back to free everypony?” the blue stallion asked with anticipation.

“As far as I know, it´ll take twenty-four full moons in your time to get you back to my world and to convince my father.”

‘What a waste of time!’ he thinks.

“But…Everypony I have known could be dead by then! What if your father says no?”

Sparks rants upset. “I just can’t do that! I am not going with you. There must be another way!”

“THERE IS NO OTHER WAY!” Owal yells over Sparks. “You will come with me to my world! Period!”

“Seems like you don’t really have much of a care for everypony here.”

“I care as much for anypony on this world as you do, Sparks! But it´s the only way!” the alicorn insisted.

Sparks sighed. “Fine! If it’s the only way, I will do it, though I may not like it…”

“I am pleased that this argument has come to a short conclusion. I am tired and not in the mood for any big discussions. We have to rest now before we travel back to my home.”

“Okay. We will rest tonight, and leave as soon as the sun rises. The sooner the better!”

“Alright then. Let´s rest. We´re having a long journey ahead of us.”

Owal goes and lays down into a patch of grass.

Sparks points to Owal’s flank and begins to ask him the question about the mark “Can you tell me this though...what does that mark on your side rear mean?”

Owal stares up at Sparks from his place in the grass. “That, I will tell you later. For now It’s not that important. What IS important is getting you to my father for the evidence I need. So please go to sleep now.”

Sparks lays down into a patchy grass area, too, and vastly falls asleep.

Owal watches Sparks’ eyelids close and him falling asleep, ensuring that Sparks won´t try to run off and ruin his chance for the freedom of the ponies of this world. As soon as Owal notices Sparks´ calm steady breaths of his deep sleep, he also drifts into a restful slumber…

…until a mysterious voice begins speaking to him…

“Owal, you have to awake! I have something important to tell you!” Owal, a bit startled because of the voice, rose to his hooves in surprise, facing a white stallion, shining in a glowing golden light directly in front of him.

Owal wonders. He knows the stallion:

It was the Guardian of Gifts!

Owal, just like every other Alicorn, doesn´t know very much about the Guardians. All he knows is that Guardians only contact and speak to Alicorns when they have something important to tell.

Owal bows down in respect on the Guardian.

“What does the Guardian here in front of me has to tell me?” he asked.

“Owal, I must tell you that your decision to take your friend Sparks here to your world could be the wrong plan! He was right when he talked about another way.”

“How is that possible, Guardian?” he frowned, still bowing down and puzzled with thoughts of what the Guardian could mean.

“Stand up and I will tell you why.”

Owal rises to stand and faced the Guardian on eye level.

“If you take Sparks to your world, your father will unquestionably turn you down for your acting. You have disobeyed him! This will also result in you never having the chance of freeing every pony here! Your friend Sparks will be free, but will die lonely, knowing that the ponies he knew will never be free!” the white stallion explains emphatic.

“So you’re telling me the future of what will happen?”

“I am only telling your future of what most certainly will happen if you return with sparks to your father! Seeing the rhythm of time even is always changing for everything you do, it´s though most certain your father will turn you down.”

“So please tell me about this other way, Guardian.”

“Then let me tell you the history of this world first…”

Owal nodded in agreement and impatiently listened to the Guardian´s words.

“You see, Owal, this world once was ruled by two brothers at one time. One was the prince of the Caspians, race of ponies, the other prince of the Dragons.

These two princes of this world kept the balance between each other. The Dragons were powerful, but the Caspians had a power...an ability that held this balance between the rivals.

One day, the prince of the Caspians called upon me wanting to have a more peaceful balance between him and his brother. I, the Guardian, warned him that his brother may won´t have a peaceful world. The prince of the Caspians urged me for a peaceful solution with his brother and so I gave a spell to the prince of the Caspians to lock the Caspian powers inside the ponies. I gave to his brother a spell that would have kept dragons from doing any harm to ponies. These spells, once used by an Alicorn, when casted upon his race may never let the Alicorn who cast the spell disband it once used.

The prince of the Caspians used the spell and the prince of the Dragons saw this as an advantage to have the world for his own and betrayed his brother by not using his spell I gave to him.

The prince of Caspians fled the world, knowing that he could never return to help his people and the dragons henceforth ruled this world.” he ended

“So are there any questions about what I just told you?”

“But…If you can see my future, then why you didn’t tell him about the intrigue of the dragon-prince?” Owal questioned.

“I did, but he felt certain that his brother would agree with him and they would make peace. Even though I can see the future, the flow of time’s rhythm is always shaping, so there was maybe a chance for peace between these two brothers.”

“Couldn’t you have interfered and fixed that choice?”

“As a guardian, I do not interfere with one’s choices of what one desires and needs. I only provide the things that I may help with to an Alicorn.” the Guardian explains

“So what is this other way? How can you help me?” he finally asked.

“Let me show you something about your newfound friend Sparks…”

The Guardian and Owal walk up to the sleeping stallion. As soon as Owal approaches, he notices Sparks mumbling a few words in his sleep

Sparks mumbles: “You smell …… very nice today.….. Where have you been, beautiful?”

“Is THAT what you wanted to show me?” Owal asked in disbelief.

“No, it is not what I wanted you to see or hear. Pay closer attention to him!”

As Owal watches closely he notices a twitch and sees a static electric discharge from Sparks.

“Did you see what I wanted to show you?”

The alicorn frowned. “Yes, but…what is it?”

“That is the power of the Caspians! It wants to be free again. To fix everything that went wrong in this world and make it right...the way it’s supposed to be…”

“So Sparks here is a Caspian and his powers want to help?” he sums up.

“That is true, Owal, and you can help him make this world restore balance again. Just the way it was long time before.”

“But wasn’t the power locked away inside them, never to be disbanded?”

“The spell I gave the Caspian prince cannot be disbanded by the one who casted it, but a spell to a new Alicorn here can disband it.”

“So you know of a spell that can unlock the powers of the Caspians once again?”

The Guardian nodded. “I do have a spell that will help you but you must make a choice: either try to convince your father and face a chance of rejected aid or, take the spell that, I hav to warn you now, carries dire consequences if I give it to you.”

“What will this spell do to me if I accept it and use it?” Owal asked with slight doubts.

“This spell will bind you to all the hearts of any Caspian. You use it to release their power and will never be able to leave them as long as they care for you.”

He sighed in relief. “Well that doesn’t sound so bad. I care for everpony on this world right now!”

“That is not all that this spell will do Owal.” the Guardian added. “If your heart grows dark, you will put a terrible curse on all the Caspians that you used the spell on.”

“So I must make a choice now...either take Sparks back to my father and risk getting rejected by my father, or take a spell and risk the consequences with the spell…”

“Those are the choices you have to make on your own, Owal…”

Owal stares back down at Sparks sleeping and hears him mumble a small sentence: “I am sure of it everypony… that one day… we will all be free...”

Owal makes up his mind and tells the Guardian: “I have come to a decision, Guardian of the Gifts!”

“So what will that decision be?”

“My decision is to take the spell and show these dragons that these ponies deserve freedom!” he says fervently.

“If that is your choice Owal, I will give you the spell…”

“Before you give me this spell…” he interrupted him “…I have to ask...what is the future of this time rhythm that I choose?”

“This choice of this time rhythm has great confidence of victory but harder choices will be made along the way.” the Guardian announced.

“Sounds like the choice to make so far. Give me the spell!”

The Guardian nods and concentrates. A glowing ball of light appears in front of Owal, moving closer to him, flashing in a bright blinding light. Shortly before Owal went blind, he noticed the Guardian disappeared. Owal now has a mysterious spell racing through his mind. He begins to stare down at Sparks from where he is standing and notices that Sparks has a large, glowing aurora around him.

Owal thinks silently to himself. ‘What a strange blue colorful aurora!’

Owal knows that this spell must be linked to the aurora and be related to the power of the Caspians. Owal moves one of his hooves closer to Sparks and begins to tell him to wake up.

“Hey Sparks! Wake up, you blue ball!”

“Why do I have to get up?” he groans sleepy. “Is it time for you to take me away from every pony I cared about back at the mines?”

“No. I remembered something and I think I have found another way!”

Sparks raises his head, suddenly wide awake. “Wait... you found another way?”

“Yes. I just remembered this spell, and it works on certain ponies like you.”

“What’s a spell?” he asks dumbfounded.

“It’s a magical thing that can give ponies new abilities, as long as they have an aurora.”

Not feeling so sure about what Owal is telling him he responds back in an unsure manner.

“Ok, if this spell can give me new abilities, whatever these should be, in what way does this involve me?”

“I just noticed that you had an aurora! And I remembered this spell!”

“Well then why didn’t you remember this spell earlier?” he questions cooking an eyebrow.

Owal doesn’t want to tell Sparks about the Guardian of Gifts, fearing that he may thinks he would be crazy and run away from him.

“Well I forgot that! Anyway, I read the aurora can exist in ponies. In my world we have never seen them and the spell was pretty much abandoned. I learned it anyway and all of a sudden now I remember it.”

Sparks looked at Owal warily. “Okay…you sure do forget a lot of things. Are you sure you are okay? Or are you trying to trick me into thinking that you are going to use some kind of spell that will help me but will end up being a different kind of spell to keep me from escaping?”

“It’s no trick Sparks.” the alicorn placates. “You have my word on it! I will even shake hooves with you because you have my promise.”

“Well alright then.”

Owal and Sparks shake hooves with each other, agreeing that Owal will not do any betraying on Sparks.

“Are you going to let me use this spell?”

“Uh...yeah…sure…Why not?” Sparks replies slightly nervous.

Sparks sits down in front of Owal and begins to twitch with static electricity. As Owal notices this, he asks him when that began to happen to Sparks.

“Well, I will tell you if you tell me what that mark on your side is.” he says, grinning slyly.

Owal moans. “Fine! I will tell you after you tell me about your static twitch. It’s important to know before I use this spell!”

“Well, if you have me insist on telling, I will tell you. But promise to tell me about your mark after the spell.”

He rolls his eyes. “Trust me I will tell you.”

“Well ok.” he begins. “When growing up and working in the mines, I was outside hauling a cart in a lightning storm until I got struck by lightning out of the sky.

Other ponies don’t know how I survived, but it was the only day the dragons let me rest. Arso covered for me by hauling my cart as an extra. They don’t really like Arso, and the dragons thought it would be a good punishment for him for starting a large fire on the dragons huts before.

Boy, were they mad about that! But ever since that I have had weird electrical twitches that always come and go.”

“Well, thanks Sparks for the info. Are you now ready for me to cast this spell?”

“Yeah I guess. This won’t hurt will it?”

“ I don’t know. Never tried it before on a pony with an aurora.”

“Oh...ok.” he says with nervousness and slight panic in his voice.

“Ok, lets get started...”

Sparks closes his eyes in the panic of possible pain. As Sparks closes his eyes, Owal casts the spell. It appears that nothing has happened.

Sparks opens his eyelids, asking: “What did it do?”

Owal turns around pondering to himself and says to Sparks. “It seems to have done nothing! That is strange...I am sure that I did it right...it felt like I casted it correctly.”

Sparks notices something and tells Owal that it did have some effect. “Well you did fix my static twitch. I am glad that’s gone.”

Owal replies, still pondering to himself: “Well, yes that’s good for you, Sparks. But I don’t understand what I made wrong. I swear I did it all right!”

Sparks tells Owal of something else that is new to him. “I am also feeling like I am more energetic now. And stronger, in some kind of way all of the sudden…”

Owal, still musing, makes a small remark. “Well that’s nice, Sparks, that you are feeling that way. But maybe the spell doesn’t do what it supposed to do. I am certain though I did it right.”

“Hmm…let me try something on that dead tree over there…” Sparks muses.

“Sure, Sparks. Knock yourself out. I am going to figure out why it didn’t work.” he says absent-minded.

Then, Owal recognized what Sparks just said and turns to see the blue stallion blast a bolt of lightning from his body, ripping the dead tree in half, catching it on fire.

As soon as sparks threw that lightning to the tree, Sparks and Owal were both surprised, but Owal is more surprised to see a mark appear on Sparks´ flank.

“Did you see what I just did, Owal?” he cheers.

“Yeah...that’s really surprising!” Owal replies. “But not as surprising of what just appeared on your flank!”

Owal points to the mark on Sparks’ flank, which appears to be in the shape of lightning seen in a lightning cloud.

Sparks looks over to his side where Owal is pointing and notices the mark. “I got a mark just as you have!”

“I think it’s time to tell you about marks, starting with mine.”

“Well I am glad you are going to tell me.” he says and perks his ears.

“You see, Sparks, I got this mark from what a lot at home call me: A visionary! I always thought about new ways of making worlds more peaceful. And they usually did work, but that’s not how I got mine.

I first got it by solving a problem between two friends who always fought each other on who was stronger. I got tired of them fighting over a silly dispute and decided they should challenge each other. I used a trick that only I and my father know how to do.”

“What’s that trick?” Sparks interposes

“Well the trick was to see, who could split a solid iron ingot with ones hooves. I challenged the both of them between each other to see, who could do it. Both tried and failed.

Then I showed them that if they do it together and hit it in the right location with the right force, it would crack in half. My friends realized that neither one of them was stronger, that each other’s frustration made them weak, but if they worked together they could split the iron ingot. After they did it, my mark appeared with these eight points and these colors shown, showing me that I share what ponies want: a vision of peace.

My mark is a visionary of peace!” he finishes.

Sparks is fascinated about these marks, but wonders about his own. “Well that’s an interesting way for one to get his mark, but mine was given to me by you, pretty much.”

“Well that is true, Sparks. You see, where I live, they are called cutie marks. And for you, they aren’t really in terms of wanting to be cute.”

“Well what should we call these marks?”

“Well your mark shows that you are really powerful with the ability to control lightning and cast it so let’s just call these power marks.” he suggests.

“Sounds good to me.”

Sparks ponders another question. “So what kind of pony am I? You told me you’re an alicorn and I guess you do magic and can fly.”

Owal still lies to Sparks about who gave him this knowledge of his missing race of ancestors, fearing the history with them and alicorns may break his trust.

“Well, on my world we have Zebras, Pegasi, Unicorns and Earth Ponies. But I´ve never seen an earth pony with an aurora. I have never seen ponies like you that I know of. I have only heard of them.”

“Hmm you say you can see an aurora in ponies like me...” Sparks muses.

Owal nods. “Yes that is right.”

Sparks smiles with an idea. “Then let’s just call ponies like me ‘Aurorians’!”

“Now that sounds like a fitting name.”

Sparks nods. “Well, then it’s settled: Ponies that have powers similar to mine and marks in ways like mine are called ‘Aurorians’!”

“Sounds good! You and I together shall free all the Aurorians here on this world!”

Sparks shouts with joy, beginning to trot up a hill, eager to fight. Owal stomps on his tail with his front hooves, preventing him from doing so.

Sparks falls to the ground onto his back.

“Ouch! What was that for?” he asked angrily.

Owal overlooks Sparks hovering above his head and tells him in a calm, but strict voice: “You can’t just go barging up the hill like that and start a fight against beasts like dragons!”

Sparks gets up and pulls his tail out under Owal’s hooves, replying confident: “I have powers now! And I know how to punch and kick with my hooves.”

Owal gives Sparks a stern look. “Yes, you may know how to fight! But you don´t know how to fight well! Do you have a plan to fight the dragons at the mines? Your powers may not be enough to do the job and you may get yourself killed, losing the only chance we have to free the ponies of this world!”

Sparks begins looking down upon the ground, feeling sorry for his actions. “I am sorry…if I was getting over my head. What do you have in mind?”

Owal tells him with a happy look upon his face. “Well I am glad you asked. I will teach you the fighting techniques I know, apply them with your powers and work on a plan to free your friend Arso from the mines.”

“So when do we begin?” Sparks urges.

Owal gives him a quick, responsive answer:

“We are going to begin right now and train until the next full moon!”