A Thieve's Redemption

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Pink Dreams
Chapter 2 - Blood Red Secrets
Chapter 3 - Orange Flaming Wings
Chapter 4 - Cold Blue Menace
Chapter 5 - Locked in a Grey Box
Chapter 6 - Black Past
Chapter 7 - Black Past part 2
Chapter 8 - A Mother's Embrace
Chapter 9 - Guilty Insanity
Chapter 10 - A Life for a Life

Chapter 1 - Pink Dreams

Ten days. I have been walking for ten days and not a single city in sight, not even a small village. It’s just grass, hills and this narrow dirt road I have been following, all alone.

“And that’s what you get for listening to strangers.”

Except for himhim.

“Shut the hell up Quill. You were the one that told me to listen to her in the first place. Someone that lives alone in a hut, in the middle of a forest, can’t be very trustworthy”

“Aw c’mon! She had to be a witch or something, and we know they know all sorts of things”

“She had twelve cats! Twelve! Twelve that I could see; there were probably more hidden somewhere. Well, at least I stole a few apples from her, or I would have starved to death already. We’re not that bad”

“And now you ate them all and we have absolutely no food left. We’re screwed”

I stopped and stared at him. That’s Silver Quill, my only traveling companion and the closest thing I have to a friend right now. He just stood there, staring back at me, floating a few inches above the ground. Quill had the annoying habit of changing forms all the time, and this time he was a brown coated earth pony with a disheveled mane and wearing a suit.

Why can he change his shape like that and why is he floating? Well, that’s because he is imaginary. I know what this sounds like, and no, I’m not a pedophile or anything like that.

You weren’t even thinking about that were you?

Anyway, when you live by yourself your entire life, your head tends to get a little bit… messy, to say the least. I wouldn’t say I’m crazy per se but; let’s just say that Quill isn’t quite the only imaginary friend I’ve ever had.

“You do know that you don’t eat right? You’re not even real”

“Then how am I here if I’m not real? How are you seeing me?”

“How come I’m the only one that sees you?”

“Humans! It’s the humans I’m telling you!”

I just ignored him. He did that a lot, talking about conspiracies and that sort of stuff. I just walked until I reached a small river to drink some water and fill up my canteen.

I looked down to my own reflection on the water. My fire-red mane and white coat were tainted by dust and dirt from the road, making me look like a hobo. The old wrecked piece of brown fabric strapped on my back that I dare to call a cloak gave the final touch to it, especially the hood. I always remember my mother whenever I see my reflection, which you can guess, is more frequently than I’d like to. My mane and my red eyes are exactly like hers.

I miss my parents.

I decided to stop there to rest for a bit; while checking if all of my stuff was in order. I laid down all of my possessions on the ground and looked at them. A small survival knife, a hatchet, the cloak, an army canteen, a recently acquired pouch, stuffed with bits and a small red gemstone (the former owners seemed to be quite fond of it, but I can be rather convincing with the hatchet), and my most prized possession, a large, strange shaped object, with straps like a school backpack, covered in rags. Anyone that saw me from a distance wearing it like I usually did under my cloak would think I’m a hunchback, and it’s easier that way. No, I’m not telling you what it is. I hide the damn thing for a reason.

“You know, your walk would be a lot easier if you dropped that thing”

“And we wouldn’t have to walk so much if someone didn’t insist on following a random stranger’s advice. You know I can’t throw it away; I still have to fix it. It’s too important to me”

I got up and repacked my stuff. In lack of food, there was quite a lot of grass around, but wild grass has a weird taste to it. I ate a bit before going back to the road; after all, it was going to be a long walk.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

“Hey! Looks like we’re here!”

“Here where exactly?”

“I don’t know do I look like a GPS?”

“You know what Quill? Just shut up and look for a sign or something”

After two more days walking, we had finally found a village. A small sign by the dirt road read “Ponyville”. Small place indeed. At least my job is easier in places like these. It’s easier to gain the trust of the townsfolk.

“Seems like the crazy cat lady wasn’t so wrong after all, just a few hundred miles off”

I didn’t even retort, as a fat raindrop fell right on top of my head.

“Crap, it’s raining”

“What tipped you off Sherlock?”

“Ha ha. I can’t let this get wet” I pointed to my backpack.

I saw a bright colored store close by and ran for it. Upon closer inspection I noticed that it looked like it was made out of gingerbread. I stood in front of the door, under a ledge that blocked the thick raindrops. The streets were deserted as it would be expected, as the Moon was high in the sky.

“Good thing I got here in time, the rain thickened pretty fast”

“Are you a sugar cube now? Getting a bit wet never killed anyone”

“Talking about food, doesn’t this place look kinda…” I looked back at the building looking for the right word.

“Edible?”

“Something like that. I’m glad that we finally reached someplace civilized; now I just need to find a place to stay and try to fix the cloudwalker”

“Who are you talking to?” A third voice spoke, coming from behind me. I jumped back and prepared to get my knife. She just stood there and stared at me, smiling. It was a good thing that no one else could hear Quill scream or he would have awoken half the city.

“WHERE THE HAY DID YOU COME FROM?!” I asked, trying to stay as calm as possible, but failing miserably at it.

“I come from a rock farm far away from here; I left because it was really boring. What about you? I know you’re not from Ponyville because I know everypony here and I don’t know you”

I just stared back in confusion as the adrenaline left my bloodstream, trying to put my thoughts in order and answer. She kept on staring at me expectantly for nearly a minute while I calmed down.

“Yeah, I’m not from here, I come from Trottingham. My name is…”

“Steve!” Shouted quill to me just before I finished.

“Steve” I repeated right after him. The pink pony stared at me in suspicion for a few awkward moments.

“Thanks a lot Quill” I muttered angrily between my teeth.

“Always eager to please” He said sarcastically.

All of a sudden, the smile came back in full force to the pink pony’s face and she gave me a strong hoofshake. Strong might be an understating as she literally lifted me off the ground and shook me in the air like a twig.

“My name is Pinkie Pie, nice to meet you Steve” She stopped the hoofshake and looked at me “What was that sound?”

“I think it was my wrist snapping”

“No silly, the grumbling. Was that your stomach? Are you hungry?”

Indeed, I was starving. I hadn’t had anything decent to eat since my apples ran out a few days ago. The idea of having anything different than wild grass was really appealing.

“Do you want a cupcake?”

“What’s a cupcake?”

The pink pony burst out laughing, even falling down to the ground and rolling on her stomach. I just stared at her. After nearly a minute of laughing, she got up and wiped the tears on her eyes.

“Good one, now do you want a cupcake?”

“I’m not joking, what’s a cupcake?”

Her smile disappeared. She took my hoof and walked me into the store and despite the lack of lights, she navigated around with ease. A sweet smell lingered in the air as we walked towards the back of the store. I don’t know why I followed her without much suspicion and just let her take me by the hoof like that, it was probably the prospect of real food, and after all, what could be so bad about these “cupcakes” anyway?

As we arrived at a large kitchen, she let go of my hoof and turned on the lights. I protected my eyes with a hoof while they slowly adapted to the brightness of the room, and just as I lowered it, she was right in front of me smiling expectantly, while a white box was laid before me. Inside of it lay twelve round, bright colored things, that looked more like pieces of decoration rather than food.

She noticed my confusion and grabbed one, shoving it in her mouth and chewing contently. I picked one of them up and took a humble bite out of it. I looked down to the other ten in front of me and just devoured the one in my hoof, proceeding to do the same with each one of the others.

The pink pony brought two more boxes full of those things and I just chewed them up one after another, and she had to pull the boxes away or I would have chewed on them too.

“So you really like cupcakes don’t you?”

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life as far as I remember” Although that’s not much when you spend most of it having to steal to survive or pick food up from trash cans.

Another thought crossed my mind.

“Sorry to say that only now but I have no money to pay you”

“If five hundred bits in your pouch is having no money than I don’t know what’s being rich” Intervened Quill as usual, I just ignored him.

“Don’t worry about that, I’m just happy to see someone enjoy the stuff that I bake” She stopped talking and looked up with a thoughtful look “Wait a minute, you have no money and you’re not from around here right? So that means that you have no place to stay! If you want you can stay here for the night, you really look like you have nowhere else to go”

Free food and now this. What was the catch here? Maybe she saw my pouch and wants to steal it while I sleep, maybe even kill me. That makes much more sense than a pony that offers a place to stay to a complete stranger.

“Sorry but I’ll have to refuse, it would be too rude of me to freeload like that” And I like my kidneys where they are thank you very much.

As I walked towards the door to leave and find a nice place to set up camp, I bumped into a small cabinet, and from behind it came a small spider, not bigger than one or two inches. I looked at it with disdain, not really being afraid of bugs. The pink pony however, had another opinion, and my look drew her attention towards it. She screamed and walked back, reaching for a frying pan, and charged towards the spider blindly.

I happened to be between them, but she didn’t seem to care, as she came crashing down on me, striking a bowl of frosting on her way down with the pan, covering her coat and mane in white. Having to defend myself many times throughout my life, I had developed quite decent reflexes, and instinctively spun her and pinned her front hooves to the ground. I couldn’t avoid but to smile at the scene, the joyful pony from earlier going crazy like that because of such a small thing, even getting all dirty like that.

“Pinkie what’s going on down there? Good thing the babies didn’t wake up or it would be…”

A blue coated and pink maned earth pony came walking down the stairs and stopped as she saw me. Just as suddenly as she stopped, she fainted, nearly hitting her head on the handrail.

I didn’t quite understand why, then I looked at the situation from her perspective. Just picture the scene: A pony that is probably her daughter or at least a relative of some sort, pinned down on the ground by a complete stranger, who happens to be smiling while she looks away to the wall in terror. And to top it all off she’s covered in a strange white substance.

I got up and helped her get up too, the two of us blushing strongly and avoiding eye to eye contact. The sooner I left the better.

“Soooo, I think I’ll be going, have to find a nice camping spot”

“Right, I’ll handle everything here. Good night and see you again tomorrow!”

With that I left the store and walked towards the edge of town, the rain having stopped a while ago. I chose a spot under a large three and lay down, wrapping my cloak around myself. I needed to get some sleep. But I just couldn’t.

First because Quill continued to laugh like a maniac the entire night; apparently he found my embarrassment to be quite amusing. Second because I just couldn’t get the events of the day out of my head. I kept on remembering that mare that gave me food and offered me a place to stay without asking for anything in return. I almost felt bad about doubting her, and how I nearly accepted her offer. I always tried to keep an eye open when I interacted with someone else, after all you can’t just trust others like that, but she looked so innocent, it was hard to doubt someone with a smile like that. And her blushing face was absolutely cute.

Maybe we could meet again tomorrow, maybe I could talk to her again, maybe…

NO!

Focus. No relationships, no befriending any pony or creature of any kind, just come to town, do your job, run like hell, get to the next town, wash, rinse, repeat. That’s how I’ve been living until now and it has been working. Bonds of any kind only hold you back and bring you pain.

It was almost sunrise when exhaustion got the best of me and I finally fell asleep, and for the first time in weeks I dreamed. Dreamed of cupcakes and pink cotton candy.

Chapter 2 - Blood Red Secrets

The sunlight on my face brought me back from my short night of sleep, and I got up, slowly absorbing the details of the world around me. I was once again at the edge of town, looking at the sign that pointed towards it and read “Ponyville”. I could see other ponies in the distance going on about their daily business on the market street, preparing food carts and such.

I needed to start working if I wanted to get out of this town anytime sooner. My backpack wouldn’t be of much use and would attract too much attention, so I decided to bury it in the same spot I slept last night.

You might be wondering what is it that I work with. It’s no big deal, really. I just come into a new town, “befriend” as many ponies as I can and then I get to know who the wealthiest ones are. Then it’s just a matter of breaking in, taking all I can carry, and leaving unnoticed. Sometimes it goes smoothly like that, sometimes I leave with half the city after me with stakes and torches; it’s just a matter of caution. And if half this city was just as carefree as the first pony I met, then this was going to be a piece of cake.

Pinkie Pie. That was her name. I just couldn’t get her out of my head.

“Having pink dreams again eh Ember?”

“You know Quill; if you had a throat I would have already ripped it”

“Don’t give me that, you even mumbled her name in your sleep. And now her mother thinks you’re a rapist”

I blushed. The dream I had last night came back vividly to me. I won’t get descriptive here in order to keep the innocence and sanity of the few of you that still have either one (if the internet didn’t do its job already).

Oh and by the way, that’s my real name; Ember, and I don’t think that I need to tell you why I can’t use my real name in this line of work. I just hope that my wanted posters burned down along with half Canterlot when Discord came back, and that no one finds them ever again.

And so I left to find a job, after all, what better way to earn the trust of the residents than to prove yourself an honest and hardworking pony?

The marketplace was still rather empty. As I strolled around the place I noticed the intrigued looks of the other ponies, and I remembered that not only I was a complete stranger, I still looked like a beggar.

I kept on walking and looking around, looking for a proper place to start my search, when I bumped straight into somepony. It was a small yellow coated pegasus with a pink mane and three butterflies for a cutie mark. She dropped down her bag and I helped repack her stuff, as she apologized repeatedly.

“I’m sorry! I’m really really sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going and eeek!”

She let out a loud shriek as she raised her head and looked at me through her mane.

“Sorry ma’am, I was the one walking so carelessly. Are you okay?”

She whispered something barely audible, looking away from me.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that, are you feeling alright?”

“For Luna’s sake Ember take the damn hood off, you’re frightening the kid!” And for the first time in a month Quill gives me some useful advice. I lowered the hood and she seemed to be a little bit more at ease.

“Sorry if I scared you like that, it’s just that I’m new around here and I wanted to find a job. Could you give me some directions?”

Once again she muttered something completely incomprehensible. I sighed. I wasn’t going to get anything out of this one anytime sooner.

“Can you point me the way?”

She seemed to appreciate the idea of not having to speak, as she raised her head a bit and pointed towards a large tree close by, that seemed to work as some sort of house.

I tipped an imaginary hat and thanked her, before heading out towards the tree. She sighed in relief as I left, and I couldn’t understand why that mare was so afraid of me. Maybe she was like that around everyone? No, that couldn’t be right, after all, how could anyone like that survive in the real world?

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

I knocked at the door of the house-tree. The door opened and before me was a small dragon with purple and green scales.

“Hi there, do you want to borrow a book?”

“I’m looking for a job and someone directed me here. Are you the one in charge?”

He charged inside without even answering and brought back a piece of parchment and a quill, and gave me a pleading stare.

“Are you here for the librarian job? Please tell me you are! Here’s the contract, just please take the job!”

I took the parchment and laid it down in the ground in front of me. I wanted to read the whole thing and know what I was getting into here. My jaw dropped halfway through.

“This part about the payment here. Is this for a year of work?”

The dragon smirked. “No, just a month”

“Where do I sign?”

He gave me the quill and pointed towards the end of the parchment. I took it and signed without hesitation. He took it and looked at it.

“Just so you know, there is a bedroom in the second floor and a kitchen in the back in case you need… Steve? Is that your name?” He stared at me confused.

“Yes, that’s my name” I stared angrily at Quill, who just ignored me.

“So your list of assignments is on the desk, you start right now, if you need anything, find a book about it, and remember, Twilight requested a weekly report on the situation of the library, there’s parchment on the front desk, bye!” The dragon finished speaking and ran like a bat out of hell, disappearing in a cloud of dust.

I sat down on the ground, looking at the door. What the hay just happened? It seems like I just got a job and a house. In less than thirty minutes of search. The dragon seemed to be a bit desperate to give the job to someone, not even asking for references or anything, and I was starting to get quite suspicious.

I walked inside the library and in the front desk was a roll of parchment long enough to wrap the entire tree if I wanted. I started to unwrap it and on the first line was the royal seal.

Wait, the Twilight Sparkle?

I’m so screwed right now. I’m a wanted pony, and now I’m working for the Princess? And what the hay is with this roll of assignments? Is this a library or a farm?

Ack, screw it all, I’m in a library, I’ll just read a book, maybe it will help me get my mind out of this mess. It’s not like the books can’t cope without anypony taking care of them for a bit. I walked past the table and looked at the shelves. The books were separated my topic, and in each topic they were ordered alphabetically. Apparently the previous owner of the place was a neat freak.

I walked towards a shelf in the back, hidden behind all others.

“Books to be forgotten? Sounds promising”

“Maybe it’s a code for forbidden books! There might be something valuable in there, and if you’re in charge you can just take the book and pretend it was rented but never returned!”

“What happened with you today Quill? Are you sick or something? This is already the second time you say something useful”

“I used to be a writer you know! Don’t underestimate my wisdom”

“Right right, you used to not exist before I imagined you. Now just help me choose one”

I picked one of the last ones, under the letter T.

“Twilight? Why’d you choose that?”

“I don’t know, maybe it was written by the Princess? Who knows, it’s got her name on it. And I like apples therefore the cover seems good. Let’s see what it is about.”

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

50 pages. It’s all I managed. Now I’m here in the bathroom, puking my lungs out. Quill was floating above the closed book on the ground, staring at a wall with blackened eyes. He spoke somberly.

“As a former writer, I feel violated. I’m going to try to kill myself now. I don’t know if it’s possible to die twice but I’m about to find out”

I went to the sink and washed my mouth. I’m never getting close to that shelf again. There’s no way this day can get any worse.

A thought crossed my mind. I still needed a place to hide my money, and no one ever looked at that shelf. I took my knife used it to hollow out that wretched book, and used the space to store the bits I had on my pouch.

All that remained were a few bits that didn’t fit and the blood red gem I had stolen. I laid it down on the front desk to take a good look at it. Against the light, I noticed many runes carved on the stone, and some of them seemed to have been carved inside of it somehow. Whoever I sold this to would pay a nice amount of bits for it.

But then, why should I sell it? Why did that thought even cross my mind? I gazed upon it and felt it stare back. Somehow that didn’t scare me at all, It just made it even more attractive. Yes. I will keep it. With me. The ruby was so mesmerizing, so beautiful, so hypnotizing, so...

“Heloo! Anypony home?” A voice called out from the slightly opened door, and was followed by a pink head.

I didn’t have much time to think of what to do, so I instinctively hid the stone in my mouth, pretending to chew on it. When I saw the pink pony standing by the door I smiled goofily without even noticing.

“There you are Steve! When Spike told me that a pony he had never seen came here looking for a job I knew it had to be you because you’re new in Ponyville and nopony knows you so I came here looking for you hey is that gum?”

She looked even prettier than when we had first met, and she was looking for me! I tried to speak but without much success. The best I managed was a barely comprehensible mumble.

“Sowee it’s ma rasht one”

“It’s alright, I have some at home. So hey, I’ve been looking for you all day! I need you to go to Sugarcube Corner today at six. I have a surprise for you!”

“Go where?”

“The bakery where we met the first time silly, I live and work there. Will you be there?”

I just nodded affirmatively.

“Great! See you there!”

I sighed as she left, just as fast as she had come in. I opened my mouth to drop down the ruby, but with a loud bang, the door smacked open and her head popped back in.

“And don’t be late!”

She closed the door once again and disappeared, leaving me to panic alone, and luckily she didn’t stay long enough to see me coughing like mad, after she startled me into swallowing the whole stone.

I expected it to come down scratching my insides and killing me from internal bleeding, but it came down like a liquid, as if it had dissolved.

A sharp pain on my back made me forget about the whole thing for the time being. It was still early, and it would be a good idea to get some sleep before going to see Pinkie. I took of my cloak and headed upstairs after locking the door.

The bedroom had two beds and a small basket lying on the ground. I fell down on the closest one and the feeling of a real bed, after sleeping of the ground for weeks, made me drift quickly into sleep.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

I looked at the three pegasus fillies in front of me. They were smiling mischievously and whispering amongst themselves. I stood on the edge of a large cloud.

“How do you even call yourself a pegasus? You don’t have wings!”

“But you told me that my wings would grow one day!” My eyes were flooded with tears.

“I lied! Don’t be a crybaby, I’m sure your parents hate you as it is, everypony knows you’re adopted”

I couldn’t make out the details of the other two fillies, but the one in front of me was cristal clear. She was a black coated filly with a long grey mane and two bat wings for her cutie mark.

I felt weak; all I could do was look at the ground and cry.

“Aren’t you gonna say anything? Are you going to make me beat you up again?”

She pushed me with her front hooves and I plummeted down the cloud. Then darkness.

I woke up, panting, covered in sweat.

I hadn’t had that nightmare in a while, and never so vivid like this. Looking to the side I could see a dark head poking from under the bed. As I got up, it slowly moved out from under the bed, revealing a dark pony with hollow eyes and a trashed, dark cloak that seemed to be made of pure darkness.

“Eeeembeeer. I came to take your soul to the afterliiiiife!” It spoke in a ghostly voice.

“Cut it already Quill, I know it’s you”

“You’re reeeealyyyyy no fuuuuuuun do you knoooooow that?”

I looked at the clock in the wall. There were still a few hours left, so I should make myself presentable. The pains had now reduced to a weird tingling sensation on my back, so I decided to take a bath.

Under the warm shower, my mind wandered back to Pinkie. Out of all the ponies I had met since I got here, she was surely the most ecstasic, but also the most fascinating, and definitively the most beautifull…

I banged my head against the wall, letting out a guttural scream as I did.

“Stop that. Remember the last time you trusted somepony? Remember the pain? We’re not letting that happen again. Just keep this in mind: Everypony has a rotten core, you just need to trust them for it to come out, that’s all” I spoke up without even noticing.

“Still crying over Nightshade? She’s past can’t you see? Won’t you ever move on?”

“What the buck are you doing here Quill? Don’t you know anything about privacy? And weren’t you killing yourself or something?”

“By the looks of it, you can only die once. And don’t give me that crap about privacy; you walk naked all the time! And if I remember correctly, you had somepony to see, so shouldn’t you get out of the shower already? You’re going to be late.”

“Sometimes I wonder why can’t I just will you away like any imaginary person”

“I already told you I’m not… You know, I’m not even trying anymore, I just don’t care”

I got out of the shower and dried myself, then headed off to the bakery. The whole town was so small that you could go to one side to the other in less than two hours walking, and I reached the place in just a few minutes.

I opened the door. All the lights were turned off and I could hear a loud sound of breathing. Before I could think about leaving, the lights were turned on and dozens of voices called a the same time.

“SURPRISE!”

I reached out for my knife instinctively, remembering that I had left behind. I looked around confused.

“What’s this all about?”

A rainbow maned pegasus spoke from the middle of the crowd.

“Well duh! It’s a surprise party for you!”

Pinkie popped from nowhere once again and started to explain.

“Since you got a job at the library I knew you were going to stay here in Ponyville, so I threw you a party so you could get to meet everypony and get some friends!”

“Wow. Just. Wow. It’s just that nopony ever did something like this to me. I don’t know what to say” I was blushing, and I felt my eyes get wet. Was I crying?

“Don’t worry, that’s what friends are for, now why don’t you come and enjoy your party?”

I lowered my head. I couldn’t look up or they would see me crying and that wouldn’t be much of a first impression. I took a deep breath and tried to restore my composure. I wiped my eyes with a hoof and smiled to her. She smiled back. I looked at all the ponies in the room. It was filled to the brim with what I believe it was at least half Ponyville.

“Alright so I think this is the idea of this party so I should introduce myself” I spoke as confidently as possible “My name is Steve and I’m from Trottingham, I’ currently working at the library here, thank you all for being so…”

I stopped. The pains in my back had returned, this time much stronger than before. I couldn’t speak, only moan in pain as I felt like burning needles were being pushed against my skin. I could see the preoccupied ponies approaching me to see what was wrong.

I tried to get back up, only managing to go halfway, my knees still flexed.

“AARGH!” I let out a guttural scream of pain, and then fell to the ground, blacking out completely. The last thing I remember was hearing a few voices nearby.

“Is he dead?”

“Sweetie Belle!”

“If he’s dead can we feed him to Gummy? I want to know how he eats without teeth”

“Scootaloo!”

Chapter 3 - Orange Flaming Wings

I slowly opened my eyes. I could feel something soft beneath my body, so I guessed somepony took me to a bed. I looked up and saw the last sight I wanted to see right after waking up.

“What’s with the outfit? And just what happened to me?”

Quill was floating in front of me, this time he was a light green pony with a white mane, wearing a white lab coat and with a needle for his cutie mark. He also had a stethoscope around his neck.

“For the first question, this is a hospital so of course I would be a doctor. And as for the second one, I have no idea. You just started screaming and fainted back there at the party. And also, I think someone took advantage of you while you slept”

“WHAT?!”

“I’m saying that I think someone raped you”

I tried to get up, but my hooves were strapped to the bed by four leather belts, holding me with my back turned upwards. My current position only helped getting me more desperate.

“What makes you think that?”

“Because you’re pregnant”

My anger was replaced by absolute confusion.

“Say what now? I’m a colt how the hay do I get pregnant?”

“Then if it’s not a foal you’re having explain me that on your back”

Quill pointed towards a window located right in front of me. It was dark enough out there for me to use it as a mirror. I squeezed my eyes and saw two lumps on my back, about as thick as my leg, but half as long, coming from right above my front legs. Each one pointed to one side.

“Quill, in the first place, a foal can’t grow on your back, and second, if I were to give birth to something shaped like that, it would be a snake. And why am I tied down anyway?”

“Sorry for that, it was for your own safety” A young white coated mare with a red cross cutie mark approached me.

“What do you mean?”

“When you got here, although you were unconscious, you were having strong convulsions and muscular spasms, so we needed to restrain you so we could give you proper treatment. We haven’t been able to determine what exactly happened, but I’d like to take an X-ray of your back”

She walked towards the bed and removed the straps one by one. I didn’t know if she heard my conversation with Quill, but if she did she was doing a great job pretending the contrary. I got up and stretched my limbs. I didn’t feel anything different except for the skin on my back being pulled by the two lumps. A white box with a large colorful card drew my attention. Quill noticed me staring at it.

“That’s something your pink friend let you. She was here not long ago, waiting to see if you would wake up”

I took the card and opened it. The card read “I’m so sorry you couldn’t enjoy the party with us, so I brought you some cupcakes to cheer you up! The doctor said it wasn’t anything bad, so you’ll be fine in no time. Get well soon!”.

Under the “From” section were five signatures of ponies I didn’t know, probably some ones that were in the party. Except for one, written in pink, that I recognized immediately.

I opened the box and my mouth watered before the twelve cupcakes, each one of a different color. I took one and prepared to eat it, and then I saw the nurse with a look of curiosity on her face. I looked at the cupcake and then at her.

“Want some?” I motioned towards the box.

“Thanks” She grabbed one and took a small bite of it. I looked at her as she chewed on it happily.

“Oh, is there something in my face?”

“No, nothing, sorry”

I looked away and began eating. By the time she finished her second, I had already eaten the rest, and was licking the frosting on my hoof.

“You know, these are were really good”

“You don’t usually buy cupcakes from that bakery?”

“No, it’s not that, they tasted better than usual”

Before I had time to ask anything related, she got up and motioned for me to follow.

“So, shall we get going?”

She headed out of the room and I followed. The clinic was very small, as it was to be expected of such a small town. The walls were completely white and the only decoration were eventual flower vases placed along the corridors. Typical dull hospital decoration.

We arrived at another white walled room, with a large cubic machine attached to the ceiling by a telescopic support, and from it came a black tube. The wires coming to and from the device gave it a eerie look.

“So, how does this X-ray thing work?”

“It’s relatively simple, it is like taking a picture of your bone structure so we can see what’s wrong”

“I don’t really get it. Is it some kind of magic?”

“Not really, more like radioactivity, now stand in front of the machine while I adjust it”

She walked towards the tube and began preparing it, the silence in the room giving me time to think.

Sharing food with somepony. Why did I do it? It’s not like me; I used to have a hard time just getting something to eat. But then, when was the last time somepony willingly gave me food? What’s with the ponies around here? What’s wrong with me?

“It’s all set. Now stand still while I go hide behind that lead wall over there”

“Why would you do that?”

“To protect myself from the radiation of course”

“And where is my protection?”

“If you had one the X-ray wouldn’t work”

“Let’s get this straight, you have to protect yourself from the thing that makes the machine work so it can affect me? Does it have any side effects?”

“It’s really recent technology so we don’t fully understand, but no one had any serious problems aside from some minor…mutations”

“Wait what?”

“Now just try to stand still for a few seconds please”

She just smirked uneasily and walked away, trying to end the topic. I heard the machine rumbling and tried to stay as still as possible. But suddenly the pain on my back came back, this time stronger than before. I could feel something moving and pushing against my skin. I couldn’t do anything; I already had to use all of my strength just to stand up. The nurse was panicking.

“ARGH! What did you do to me?”

“Nothing! The machine is still off! I’ll go get some help!”

“Then go! FAST!”

She darted from the room and let me there screaming in agony. I just hoped that whatever she would do she would do it fast. Seconds after she left the room, I felt a sharp pain and a burning sensation at two different spots. If I were at Quill’s point of view, I would have seen the two pillars of flames erupting from the two spots where the lumps were.

The entire room was on fire now, and I could hear cracks in the ceiling. My legs were trembling and I felt my consciousness start to fade again.

“Ember! Don’t you dare faint right now or you’re going to die! Jump through the window! Quick!”

“I… I can’t. It’s closed; I’m too weak to open it”

“Crap, I haven’t done this in a while but, I’ll have to try”

“Quill, what the hay are you talking about?”

My vision was hazy and the smoke made it even worse, but I could see Quill approach the X-ray machine. A strange glow came from his body and he disappeared. The machine ripped itself from the ceiling and crashed into the window. My body was heavy but I couldn’t just lay there and die. I used all of my remaining strength to walk towards the window and drag myself through. A small shard of glass was still stuck in the frame and it craved into my stomach. The pain got some adrenaline in me, and gave me the strength to get all the way through.

“C’mon Ember! You can’t stop now, if the fire reaches you you’ll still die!”

I only managed to crawl a few meters away from the building before felling my hooves go numb and my legs stop working. I fell to the ground panting heavily.

“Is…here…far…enough?” I spoke between my breaths.

“Yeah, it’s good. Now rest, we both deserve it”

Before I closed my eyes I saw something I had never seen before. I saw Quill with his eyes closed, not floating but lying down on the ground, snoring. Then all turned black.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

“It’s a shame the party didn’t work out right Pinkie?”

I looked to the source of the voice. It was Rarity. Her, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were talking by one of the food tables. They were the only ones left now that the party had to end up early.

“Yeah, too bad, I wanted you all to meet him”

“Me too, ah’ve been wanting to meet this new fellow since ya have been talking bout him a lot since yesterday.”

Had I? I hadn’t even noticed.

“Pinkie dear, calm down; you’ve been walking around in circles with that worried look since he left. He’s probably fine, they already took him to a doctor, we can’t do anything else now. Why don’t you sit down and have something to eat? If you frown this much you’re going to get wrinkles”

“That’s it!”

“What’s what sugarcube?”

“He’s probably all alone in that hospital and feeling sad because he couldn’t go to his own party, so we should go visit him and I’ll make some cupcakes for him. I bet he’s going to be super happy!”

“I don’t know Pinkie, maybe we should just let him rest for now, we don’t know what happened or even if it’s something contagious maybe it was…” Before I could hear Fluttershy finish, I just darted into the kitchen. Time to bake some cupcakes! Baking always helped take my mind of bad stuff.

I finished them in no time, and admired my work. In the kitchen table were about fifty cupcakes, all frosted and ready to eat. The others had been chatting in the kitchen with me and helping if I needed anything.

“Now I just have to put them in a box and we can go”

“Don’t you think you might be overdoing this a bit? I mean, nopony can eat fifty cupcakes”

“I can eat fifty cupcakes!”

“Nopony except you Pinkie. Why don’t you just take a single box? It’s a bit more reasonable”

Rainbow Dash was probably right, Steve loved cupcakes but fifty might be a bit too much. I got one of the boxes in the kitchen and put twelve of them inside.

“You can eat the others if you want since we’re not taking them”

While I searched for a piece of paper and some pens, they ate the cupcakes. In just a minute or two, I came back and all the cupcakes were gone.

“Wow, you were really hungry!”

“Pinkie, what did you put in these cupcakes? All the stuff you do is usually great but these ones were awesome! Are you trying a new recipe or something?” Rainbow Dash asked excitedly.

“No, it’s just the usual stuff, but thanks for that anyway”

“Ya know Pinkie, if ah didn’t knew ya, ah’d say you have sumthing for that new guy”

I smirked uneasily. Why was I blushing?

“What makes you think that?” Fluttershy asked, blushing almost as much as I was.

“Aw c’mon Fluttershy, you can’t be that slow! She’s been talking about that guy since yesterday, and for the first time I saw Pinkie really worried about something, and guess what it was? Also, making these awesome cupcakes for him without even noticing, I think it’s pretty clear that…”

“Alright who wants to sign the card?!” I shouted, trying to change the subject, and passing the colored pens around. I sighed. Rarity was probably right, he’s fine.

At least I hope so.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

“I hope these blackouts of yours don’t become a habit, otherwise you’re going to end up without a kidney in a dark alley”

Once again I woke up in a bed without knowing how. At least this time there was nothing restraining my hooves and I could get up.

“Where am I?”

“Somepony carried you away from the fire after you fainted, and brought you back to the library”

“Well, so much for knowing what the hay were those things on my back”

“I was going to talk about that but you better go take a look at the mirror”

I looked at him puzzled, but didn’t question further and headed to the bathroom. The pulling on my skin was gone, but now I was feeling a strange sensation in my back, like am itch you can’t scratch. I looked at myself in the mirror.

“When you woke up you were already like that, don’t ask me how it happened”

I wouldn’t ask. My expression was a mix of confusion, fear and worry. What made me freak out wasn’t the dried blood all over my back or the patches of burned skin around it. It were my wings.

Or sort of.

Where the two patches of skin ripped, came two skeletal appendages, shaped exactly like the bone structure of a pegasus wing, composed of three separate and articulate sections.

I opened them then closed them. I moved them from one side to another, and bent them on every way possible, feeling the new part of my body. The lack of feathers, tendons or muscle made me able to move them in angles that weren’t supposed to be possible. Quill stood behind me with a look of curiosity.

“Quill, I swear by Celestia’s grave that if this is one of your pranks, I’ll find a way to hurt you. Somehow.”

“What do you think I am? I can’t do something like that. They appeared at the clinic, along with those fire pillars that burned down the place. And by the way, you should go check if anypony got hurt because of you”

“Why should I care? I’m alive”

“Maybe that pink pony will be there looking for you”

“Let me go take a bath”

The burns in my back ached in contact with the water, but I had to scrub the dried blood or I would scare the crap out of anypony that saw me. As if the wings weren’t doing a good job at that already. Despite the brutal way the bones had gotten out of my back, the only damage were the burns, the flesh around them seemed to have healed itself somehow.

I put my cloak back on and walked out of the library looking for the clinic, this time remembering not to put the hood on. It wasn’t really hard to find, since there was a large agglomeration of ponies all around the scorched remains of the place. I could see at least twenty ponies there, each one focused into a different task, some cleaning up the debris, others sawing pieces of wood or helping carry bricks around, all of them helping rebuild the place somehow.

“So you’re finally back up.”

I looked around and saw a rainbow maned pegasus with a light blue coat approaching me.

“Yeah, I’m still a bit weak but at least I can walk. I don’t believe we’ve met?”

“I was at the party with the others. The name’s Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer of Equestria and future Wonderbolt” she stroke a pose, spreading her wings as much as possible.

“I’m Steve, greatest librarian of Ponyville. Nice to meet you” I extended a hoof and tried to act casually. I didn’t want her to recognize me. She shook my hoof, then stopped and stared at my face.

“Say, haven’t we met before? I think I remember you from Cloudsdale”

“No, I don’t believe so. I’m from Trottingham you see. The owner of this clinic must be a quite rich person right?” I tried desperately to change the subject.

“Why do you say that?”

“Being able to hire so many ponies to help with the reconstruction must be quite expensive”

“You’re joking right? Why would anypony charge to help a friend in need? If you had seen the state Nurse Redheart was. She was so desperate she could barely stand. We all thought you had died in there. You should go tell her you’re alright. Also, you could help us rebuilding too. Or you could go help prepare the food for the workers if you’re still feeling bad ”

“I’m not really good at cooking”

“Don’t worry, neither is Applejack, but Pinkie is helping her out there and you could…”

“Where is the kitchen?” She backed off slightly at my sudden burst of “enthusiasm” and pointed to a blue improvised tent near the construction site.

“Thanks, see you around!” I left before she had time to answer and walked towards the tent.

Helping a friend huh? Great, I doubt I will get paid to do this. Working for free sounds kind of pointless. I stopped and looked at the many ponies at the site. Even children were helping, carrying small wooden planks and small amounts of bricks. And I could see that all of them were smiling. Where was the joy in that?

One of the smaller foals, a unicorn, was trying to lift a piece of wood almost as big as himself. When he finally managed to lift it above his head, it fell down, hitting him. The other foals around laughed.

Kids are always the same, wherever you go. No doubt they would be mocking him at school tomorrow for this.

I looked again. He had stopped crying and was now laughing along with the others. Then, two other young unicorns came and helped him up. All of them surrounded the plank in a glowing halo, and together, lifted it away.

I shrugged and kept on walking, soon reaching the tent. Inside were Pinkie and another mare with an orange coat and yellow mane, wearing a hat. I supposed that was the Applejack Rainbow Dash referred to. Pinkie was stirring a large cooking pot, as big as her over a bonfire while the other mare had a knife in her mouth and was cutting some vegetables.

“See Applejack? It isn’t that hard. Just cut everything up and throw it in the pot”

She tried to reply but the knife in her mouth didn’t help much.

“Do you need any help?”

“Steve! You’re awake! How are you feeling? And by the way, this is Applejack, she works at Sweet Apple Acres, they have the best apples of Equestria”

The ponies around here are quite humble huh?

I waved a hoof to her and she tipped her hat in response.

“Don’t worry, I will. I came here to help with the food, is there something I can do?”

“Actually, we’re almost wrapped up here, you can help serve the food after we’re done, I just have to finish cooking the soup, you can wait there”

I sat down and looked around the place. It was just an improvised kitchen with a bonfire to cook and a few tables around. Judging by the fact that there were only two ponies making the food I could tell that Pinkie knew her way around the kitchen. Applejack finished cutting the rest of the vegetables and Pinkie let her handle the pot, then walked towards me”

“I bet you’re hungry right?”

I nodded, remembering I hadn’t eaten anything since my second blackout, which had happened yesterday.

“Since you couldn’t get to the party I saved you a piece of cake, here” She produced a small white box out of nowhere and handed it to me.

“Where did you… how do you do that?"

“Do what?”

“If ah were you ah wouldn’t think much about it. That’s just Pinkie being herself”

I shrugged and opened the box. Inside was a large piece of chocolate cake covered in white frosting. I licked my lips and took and began to eat, finishing all of it in just a few minutes.

“Did you make this?”

“Yeah, I always make the food for my parties”

“I was thinking it was just the cupcakes but you really know how to cook”

She kept on smiling, but lowered her head a bit, and I could see she was hiding a blush.

“Hey you got some frosting on your face” She looked at my face.

“Where?”

“Here” She walked towards me and licked the tip of my nose. It was my turn to blush now and my face was red like a pepper. I could feel something moving on my back. I looked behind and saw my cloak lifted by the wings bellow and for some reason I couldn’t get them down. Quill, who was completely silent until now burst out laughing like mad.

“Looks like you’re taking the whole wingboner thing too literally”

I stared at him confused. I had no idea what he was talking about.

“What’s that on your back?” She asked and I felt that there was no way I could keep on hiding this. I took off my cloak, exposing the skeletal wings, and the other mare almost dropped her spoon in the cooking pot.

“What the hay are those things?” Applejack looked frightened.

“Wow! That’s so cool! Can you fly?” Pinkie on the other hand, seemed rather excited about that and didn’t even bother asking about how they appeared.

“I don’t know, they just appeared there today when I woke up. I haven’t tried yet, but I doubt they’re going to work without any feathers”

“You haven’t tried yet right? So how can you know if it works?”

She had a point.

“Applejack, take care of the soup for me, I’m going to help Steve fly!”

She pushed me from the tent, leaving the other pony with a frightened look alone in the tent. We walked towards a large park that had a wide open area. On the way there the ponies that saw me had mixed reactions from fear to curiosity.

“Okay, you won’t have to worry about falling on anypony here and there is a nice open area”

“What I’m worried about is how am I going to get up from the ground”

“Just beat your wings”

I tried beating my wings furiously, but I didn’t move an inch.

“It’s no use; I just can’t get off the ground”

“C’mon, I know you can do it, just try again. If you have wings then they’ve got to work”

That gave me a certain level of confidence. I’ve always wanted to be able to fly, but lacking wings that was just a dream. For a moment, I felt like it would actually be possible for me to do it. All the years at flight school came back to me, all those lesson would finally be used for something.

I faced the open area and began running to get some momentum. When I was satisfied with my speed, I began to flap my wings frantically. The lack of resistance was noticeable, and so I didn’t leave the ground, but I kept on running.

I felt a strange warmth forming in my back, starting from my spine and going all the way to the tip of my wings. I focused on that sensation and kept on running, and stopped flapping my wings. I could feel my wings getting warmer, and if I could see them I would notice that they were becoming red, like hot iron. When the sensation got too strong for me to bear, I flapped both wings with all of my strength. They blazed and propelled me into the sky. I could see the shape of two orange wings formed by the flames, surrounding the red hot bones.

I was flying. I felt my eyes tear up. I just wish my parents could see me now, soaring through the skies. I flew circles around the area I took off, just to get used to it. It came naturally to me, and soon I was spinning and playing around, swimming through the air and testing how high I could go. I felt like I could do anything.

I saw Pinkie waving at me and saying something I couldn’t quite understand, so I decided to get closer. I dived towards her, positioning my wings in a way that I could control my speed. Suddenly, the flames that formed my wings faltered, and I lost control, making me fall right on top of her. I positioned my hooves so they wouldn’t hit her in the fall, and we ended up on the ground, with me on top of her staring her straight in the eyes.

We were both smiling and my eyes were full of tears.

“I was flying! After all those years I can finally fly!”

“That was really awesome, how did you do that?”

“I have absolutely no idea”

We just stood there, facing each other and smiling, my tears dropping down on her face. I leaned forward towards her. She closed her eyes and I did the same.

“Oh my!”

We both jumped up and looked away from each other, Rarity looking at us with a hoof covering her mouth and her cheeks slightly reddened.

“Oh don’t mind me, carry on, I’m just watching”

“Rarity what are you doing here?” Pinkie asked smiling awkwardly.

“Well, Applejack told me to go get the two of you so you could help with the food, but I can tell her that you’re “busy” if you want”

“No need for that, we were already going miss…”

“Rarity, nice to meet you, you must be the Steve Pinkie was talking about”

Apparently she hadn’t noticed my wings until this point of the conversation. She stopped and looked at them with her mouth open in surprise.

“Pinkie didn’t mention you having such… peculiar features”

“They kind of appeared this morning so she wouldn’t know”

“Say… I believe you two would prefer that I remain silent about your… activities here right?”

Wait a second, is she going to blackmail me?

“Yes, I would like that very much miss Rarity”“Then I think that you should drop by at Carrousel Boutique, tomorrow morning. I have something I want to try with you. See you later then”

With that, she walked away, without even waiting for an answer. I looked at Pinkie, who was still blushing, yet her smile was never gone.

“Shall we go then? I think our help is needed elsewhere”

We walked side by side towards the tent in absolute silence, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. Quill however, refused to stay shut.

“So do you think your wings work now? I mean, like pegasus wings? Because if they do, I think you should pay your parents a visit don’t you think?”

I nearly stopped. Cloudsdale. Could I just go back like that? Would my parents accept me? I’m a thief now, a criminal, wanted for stealing even from the princesses themselves. How could I just show up back home like this?

By the end of the day. The clinic was almost rebuilt and we were all exhausted.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

“What is it that you wish for vermin?” I asked the pony in front of me. The thunderous roar of my voice usually sent the bravest warriors running, but this mare didn’t even flinch “Have you come for my riches? If you have then save your time and leave before I devour you”

“I do not run from anything nor anypony, and I haven’t come here for your gems dragon. What I want is far more interesting”

“I must say, you are either a fool or a very brave one. Remove that hat and let me see the face of the one that challenges me” The pony was wearing a wizard hat and a cape. The only thing I could see of her was a necklace made of some long objects that clacked with every move she made.

“That won’t be necessary, for you won’t remember it. In fact you won’t remember anything. The thing that I wish would be your heart”

I took on a fighting stance. I could feel magic swirling around her body and charging on her horn. I let out a breath of red fire upon her before she had time to fight back. A wave of smoke covered the cave. She was surely finished now, no creature could survive such attack, especially a pony.

“Done already? Very well, it’s my turn now” The smoke was pushed away by a powerful burst of wind and in the middle was the pony, completely untouched, except for a small burning on the edge of her cloak. I saw her necklace light up, then her horn, followed by a fast bolt of magic that shot towards me.

I looked down and saw the hole in my throat. The magic bolt was so powerful that it managed to cauterize the flesh around the wound, stopping the blood from coming out. I tried to breathe fire again, but it didn’t come out.

So this is how I die. What a disgrace, being killed by a single pony. Well, at least I might be able to see my old friends, maybe even Alduin. Maybe it isn’t all that bad, after all these centuries.

“Given up already dragon? Of course you have, for no one can withstand my power, and soon those who mocked me will know it too, for I am the almighty, The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Chapter 4 - Cold Blue Menace

I knocked at the front door of the boutique. It was still early in the morning but the unicorn didn’t specify the time. What was her name again? Rarity I think. Maybe I should come again later.

“Just a moment” A voice called from the inside and soon the door opened.

“Good morning and Welcome to Carousel Boutique, what can I…” She stopped the presentation as she recognized me “Hi Steve, come inside! And please leave that ragged thing outside” She pointed at my cloak. I took it off and hid it in a bush near the door.

As I walked inside I noticed dozens of mannequins with half finished clothes and fabric scattered all over the floor.

“Sorry for the mess, Nightmare Night is coming soon so I’ve got hundreds of requests for costumes from all over Equestria, and I’ve been having a few problems lately, that’s why I need your help”

“But Nightmare Night is still two months away; can’t you finish everything in time?”

She lay down on a large psychologist couch I was sure that wasn’t there a second ago.

“Not in my current situation .You see, I’ve been really stressed lately. With all the work piling up, more orders coming faster than I can finish and having to take care of my sister by myself really isn’t helping. What makes it even worst is the lack of any available colts in town to suit my current “necessities””

As I began to slowly move away from the chair, she got up and walked towards me

“Look miss Rarity, I really don’t know what you’re getting at here”

“You really don’t get it? It’s very simple, really” She kept on moving towards me, looking at me straight in the eyes.

“I really have NO IDEA what you’re talking about” I stumbled on a roll of fabric and fell to the ground.

“Don’t play dumb with me; you know why I called you here. I wouldn’t call you if I weren’t really desperate”

“I really don’t know if I can do this”

“Don’t worry, you just have to stay still and let me do all the work”

“Look, I’m sorry but I already have somepony”

“Oh, so you already did this before?”

“Actually… no, but it feels like I’m cheating on her”

“Don’t worry about that, nopony even cares about exclusivity or something like that, its normal to do it for many different ponies”

I sighed. Enough is enough, time to give up already.

“It’s my first time so don’t expect much from me”

“Oh I know you’ll do just fine, don’t be nervous, modeling isn’t that hard”

“Wait what?”

“Modeling of course! I really needed a colt to help me with all these outfits, the mannequins just don’t have enough… expression, for something more complex. And every single colt in town is working. Except for you at least”

“So… You want me to be your model?”

“Exactly. What else did you think I wanted?”

“LET’S GO TRY SOME OF THESE CLOTHES SHALL WE?!” I got up and walked past her, trying my best to hide my blush.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A few hours later we were finally done with most of the outfits. After trying more clothes than I have ever seen in my entire life and helping with adjustments in most of them, we were both exhausted. Rarity seemed to have a bit of an obsession with making everything “perfect” so we ended up taking more time than expected.

While we rested and drank some tea she had made, she tried to make some small talk.

“Say, I couldn’t help but notice that you don’t have a cutie mark yet”

Here we go again.

“Yeah, living in a big city, you don’t have much time to look for a special talent, and worry more about staying alive”

“Hmm. You should meet the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they’re a group of kids here that are looking for theirs, I bet you could get along very well”

Wait, that was it? No mocking or mean comments about me being a blank flank? And just as fast as she brought up the subject, it was gone.

“So, you’re working at Twilight’s library now?”

“Yeah, it was the first place I looked for work and the small dragon there seemed to be pretty eager to hire me. I wonder why.”

“That was Spike, he was the one that worked there with Twilight before those unpleasant events with Discord breaking free again. He probably wanted to get back to her side as soon as possible, since they have never been apart for more than a few days ever since he was born. They’re just like brothers. Also, taking care of that library all by himself was probably pretty hard since Twilight has always been a bit paranoid about it. You too must have been having quite a workload lately”

I remembered the huge parchment with my assignments, and remembered how I hadn’t even touched it.

“Right…very busy with all the library… stuff. By the way, that’s the first time I hear somepony talking about one of the princesses so casually. Do you know her?”

“It takes some time getting used to this whole royalty thing, she was just a normal unicorn a few months ago and now she’s the princess. She was one of my closest friends here in Ponyville. I still remember all we did together. But now she doesn’t even need us to use the Elements anymore. We are still in contact, but most of the time it’s just letters, she even taught me a spell to send them directly to her”

“Wait, you’re one of the Elements of Harmony?”

“Yes, me and my friends were the six elements. I believe you’ve met them all already”

“Wow, I never thought… wait, Pinkie is one of the elements?”

“Of course, she’s the element of Laughter”

“Hmm. Makes sense. Still, there is one thing I that still bothers me. About this whole incident involving Discord, I really don’t understand what happened and how did the ponies accept her so fast. I mean, she killed Princess Celestia right?”

“I believe you don’t read many newspapers do you? Alright, I’ll tell you what happened. There has been a lot of rumors about a coup or something like that but I’ve known Twilight for too long. The truth is, Discord took over her mind and forced her to kill Princess Celestia. Then, she got into a shock state that we had to help her out of, so she recovered and then Celestia gave her her own powers so she could fight Discord, who is now trapped on the moon, and now Twilight is an alicorn and the new princess of the Sun”

“So she did kill Princess Celestia”

“Sort of, she says that she is still alive inside of her. I don’t really understand it but I still believe her”

“And what about her not needing you as the elements anymore?”

“She fought Discord and used the elements all alone, we also don’t know how but she says it was thanks to us. That’s the real story, don’t go trusting anything else you read. Well, there is more to it but at least you know what happened and I don’t want to keep you too long, you look like you could use some rest”

She was right, after all I had helped rebuild the clinic yesterday, and also had to wake up early today to come here. She still had work to do so I left after chatting for a few more minutes. The idea of going back to the library for some sleep sounded great.

I walked away from the boutique and towards the library. On my way there I spotted many stalls selling various types of food on the center of the town, and so I decided to take a look. I hadn’t even bothered to get my cloak back, but at least most of the ponies were too busy chatting, selling or buying to pay attention to my wings, and I didn’t see any known faces.

Except for one. Even in the middle of the other ponies I could recognize that pink mane from a mile away. She was buying apples at one of the stands from a red colt that could easily pass for a bull. She noticed me just as she walked away from the stand, and in the blink of an eye she was right before me. I didn’t even bother asking how she did that. I was a bit more worried about the green lizard attached to her head.

“Pinkie... There’s something on your head”

“Oh him?” She pointed towards it with a hoof “That’s just Gummy”

“Just? I think he’s chewing on your head”

“Don’t worry, he has no teeth. So, have you tried flying again since yesterday?” She pointed at my wings.

“No, not yet, I’m still learning how to control these things, I nearly burned the bed in my sleep, good thing I woke up before the fire spread”

Actually, good thing Quill woke me up. I looked around wondering what happened, he hadn’t said a single thing since yesterday. I looked up and saw him flying above my head with a quill and parchment, writing something. He noticed me looking up.

“Don’t mind me, go on”

“Is there something in the sky? Is it a UFO!?” Pinkie asked excitedly. I smirked.

“No Pinkie, there’s nothing there, don’t worry. So, what about you, what are you doing here?”

And so we went on for a few hours, walking around the market and chatting about nothing in particular. I was happy with the way things were. The two of us, talking and laughing, it just felt right. Except for one thing. It hurt every time I heard her call my “name”. I felt sick, lying to her like that.

I stopped walking and she did the same, looking at me with curiosity.

“What happened? Steve?”

“Pinkie, I need to tell you somethi…”

“IS THAT AN ICEBERG?” She shouted suddenly, cutting me of completely. I turned around to see what was wrong. A block of ice, nearly as big as a house, had simply appeared in the middle of the town square. A large part of it was hollowed, making it look exactly like a stage, and a few ponies stood around it, wondering what it was.

“What the hay is that thing?”

“Let’s go take a look!” Pinkie looked more excited than usual; she darted towards the crowd without even thinking twice, and I followed as close as I could. Looks like my confession will have to wait.

“Call the Batman! Mr. Freeze is taking over!” Quill had finally looked up from the parchment and looked just as confuse as I was.

“Just keep writing Quill”

Turns out a mare was indeed using the “iceberg” as a stage. I couldn’t quite make out its features but the blue coat and light blue mane, the rest was mostly covered by a blue cloak and hat, both as nearly as worn out as mine. Pinkie was already positioned near the stage and when I caught up with her I could see an angry expression on her face for the first time.

“So, have you come to bow down to the might of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Have you Ponyvillians finally recognized my grandiosity?”

I was starting to understand why Pinkie didn’t seem to like the pony on the stage. It was then that somepony threw an apple at the stage that things started getting ugly.

“Get out of here!”

“Yeah, you’re just a fake!”

I could hear many of the ponies in the crowd shout at her, clearly angry at her for some past event. I couldn’t be more clueless about what was it.

“So that is how it is going to be then” I could feel the repressed anger in her voice, a feeling I knew quite well “Once again you try to humiliate me, just as that damn unicorn did. Twilight Sparkle. She was the one I should have my revenge on. But since she is now out of my reach, I shall show her what it is to lose all that you hold dear, starting by her friends and home”

“Wow, can you see that Ember?”

“No Quill I can taste that! What the hay is she?”

Most of the ponies were running in terror except for me and Pinkie. I don’t really know about her but my legs were shaking like crazy. The amount of raw magical energy she was channeling was absurd, and even an earth pony (with recently acquired wings) like me could feel it.

With a sudden scream, she unleashed the accumulated energy in the form of an ice wave, freezing everything in the area but the ponies. She turned her look towards Pinkie.

“Say, weren’t you one of Twilight Sparkle’s friends who encouraged her to face me?”

Pinkie didn’t have much time to react, as she was grabbed like a ragdoll and tossed into a nearby tree. I felt the force of the impact as I saw the frozen tree shatter.

“YOU BASTARD!”

I screamed and charged towards her without thinking twice. She also took me to the air with ease using her magic, but instead of throwing me she held me in front of her face, turned upside down.

“I don’t believe we met. New in town perhaps?”

“I’m going to kill you!”

“So brave, so foolish. So you really think you can stand up to me? I, the Great and Powerfull Trixie? Well, just so you know, these jewels aren’t just for show” She held up her necklace with a hoof and I saw that there were more than twenty stones attached to it, each one of a different color and size, but none smaller than my eyeball “Since my previous failure here in Ponyville, I looked for ways to become even greater, if that was by any means possible. So I stumbled into a book by a pony you just might know, his name was Starswirl the Bearded. And in it there was a very interesting spell. You see, each one of these stones contains the soul of a creature. And of course with that comes its power, which is, in turn, transferred to me in the form of magical energy. Most of them are unicorns but you see, the jewel of the crow is this one” She pointed to a red one, as big as my hoof “This one is from a dragon, a real, full grown one. So understand this, you’re not facing just me, you’re facing a dragon, and a battalion of unicorns. Amongst other creatures”

She spoke with a cold tranquility that was really getting in my nerves. But there was nothing I could do from my current position, being simply held above her head, without a way to fight back. If only I had more power. If only I was stronger.

If only I could use magic.

I felt a sharp pain on my head, a pain I recognized, and which only grew in intensity. The unicorn seemed to have gotten tired of me as she threw me carelessly on the ground, a few feet away from her. I got up and faced her, trying to ignore the pain. All I knew is that I wasn’t just going to let her hurt Pinkie like that.

“Look kid, you better leave before I start hurting you”

“I’m going to kill you!”

“Oh for Luna’s sake, is that all you know how to say?”

I charged towards her once again. The pain was becoming unbearable, and running was starting to become a chore. She tried to grab me, the magic glow surrounding my body again, but seeing as it failed, she casted a long ice spike towards me. I had to stop and dodge, and we were both now about a meter away.

“Weird, it seems like I cannot grasp you with my magic anymore. I demand you explain this to me”

I felt the sharp pain of skin ripping and flesh tearing as I continued to charge towards her, and I could feel my head getting warm and blood flowing down my face. I didn’t know what was happening but I could see a look of terror on the unicorn’s face, which had to be a good thing. She cast another ice spike, but it was torn to bits by a light that seemed to have come from me. Before I could get close enough to hit her, she teleported away.

“Interesting, so you are an unicorn as well”

“Am I?” I stopped and raised a hoof towards my head, touching something that wasn’t supposed to be there. Now, where used to be just my mane, grew a white horn. Looks like she was right. I had no idea why this stuff keeps happening to me but it seems like it’s for the best.

With a newfound strength and the pain slowly reducing, but never leaving my head, I ran towards her. She kept sending bolts of magic and ice attacks towards me, but somehow I deflected them. The spells just flowed to me naturally, like breathing. But still, I was inexperienced, and I had never fought like that. She managed to keep me at bay, also defending all of my attacks with ease, while I was completely exhausted after just a few minutes of combat. Then, in just a few more seconds she had me pinned down, with an ice stake going through my left fronthoof and all of my hooves frozen to the ground.

“It seems like you have some skill. But it is all futile, for the one you are facing is no other than The Great and Powerfull…”

“AH WOULD YOU SHUT UP ALREADY!”

A rainbow colored streak crossed the sky and struck the distracted unicorn. I could see Rainbow Dash Standing on top of the unicorn, pinning her down with her hooves.

“Another one of Twilight’s friends? You’re making this too easy for me!”

With another shine of her horn a pair of shackles formed on Rainbow Dash’s legs, who was then slowly lifted from the ground until she was just above the unicorn.

“Too bad I finished the first one too fast but this time I’m going to enjoy it. You see, there is a reason I like ice magic so much, it’s just so versatile. It’s not like other unstable elements like fire or such, I can actually mold it into very… interesting shapes”

Her voice remained cold and calm, but still retaining all of her arrogance. She used her magic to form a large coffin, with the exterior shaped like a standing pony with its fronthooves crossed in front of its body. The coffin opened and dozens of spikes could be seen inside.

“I saw this in a circus once, I think it’s called… iron maiden. But no, this isn’t going to work, your wings won’t let you fit. Let me just get them out of the way for you”

Her magic began to pull on Rainbow Dash’s wings, as she winced in pain. But Trixie was too distracted to keep an eye on me. Despite my exhaustion I still managed to cast a small bolt of energy onto the ice on my hooves and break it. I ran as fast as I could towards her, despite my wounds burning like fire. She only noticed me when it was already too late.

With all of my remaining energy, I made a half spin with my entire body, using the momentum of my short sprint and craved one of my wings into Trixie’s chest. She dropped Rainbow Dash immediately and tried to free herself without much success. I focused on my wings and tried to recall the sensation I had when I flew for the first time. The flames returned, this time in the form of a wave, that burned the unicorn’s body to ashes.

I fell on the ground in a state of pure exhaustion. My whole body hurt by at least the threat was gone. I felt my consciousness slip away, but then I remembered the whole reason I got into this fight.

“PINKIE! Wait here Dash, I need to help her, I’ll be back with help soon”

I darted towards the shattered tree, and there she was, unconscious on the ground next to it. A small line of blood came from her mouth and her breathing was erratic and weak.

“No no NO! I’m not letting anything happen to you!” I looked around completely desperate, looking for somepony to help me out. There was nopony around, they all had run away in fear. “Quill! Help me out here! What do I do?”

“I don’t know! Maybe you could try a healing spell, you have a horn now remember!”

Right. Focus. I never did this before;heck, a few minutes ago I hadn’t even ever casted any kind of spell, and now I was about to try something that could save or end the life of somepony. The pain came back and my head exploded, I felt like something was being forced into it, like the knowledge of the spell being shoved into my mind.

Without another word, my horn began to glow and the glow surrounded Pinkie’s body. I could feel her broken ribs, one of them had pierced a lung and she was very weak. Slowly but steadily I placed the bones back in their places and fixed the tissue. I had no idea of how I had just done that, but I couldn’t care less, after seeing her open her eyes once again and mumble.

“Steve… is that you? What’s that on your head?” She was still smiling, despite being visibly weakened by the wounds despite the healing process, and she spoke with a faint voice.

I was very close to fainting again, all of my strength leaving my body, but I still had to do this.

“Pinkie, I need to tell you something. I was lying to you, to all of you. My name is actually…”

“Ember! You are hereby under arrest for robbery, murder and crimes against the crown!”

A powerful voice announced from behind me. I looked back only to see Twilight Sparkle in front of me, with two guards by her sides. Up close she looked even taller than I thought she would be.

I fell down to the ground and let the darkness envelop me. I was too tired for this crap.

Chapter 5 - Locked in a Grey Box

“Wake up! Lunch time!” A cold bucket of water forced me out of sleep and I tried to get up, only to find myself on the ground again after tripping on the pair of shackles placed on my ankles. One of the royal guards dropped a plate with a strange substance that was apparently supposed to be food in front of me and walked out of the cell, locking it behind him and joining another guard by the door.

I wasn’t in the mood to eat, but for some reason I also felt like I hadn’t eaten in five days (trust me, I know how that feels) and was completely exhausted so I ate anyway. It was probably due to all the spells I had cast earlier, but since I had never used magic before, I couldn’t be sure.

After finishing I decided to take note of my surroundings, since there wasn’t much to do. The place looked like a large basement, with sacks and bottles scattered around and the cell I was in the middle. The cell was made of poorly welded bars and was probably made in a rush. Apparently, there was never a need for one in Ponyville, if I was still there. The shackles on my legs were attached to the ground, leaving very little room for movement, and one of them had a glowing blue stone on it. I could feel all the energy in my body flowing towards the stone, so I guessed it was there to stop me from performing any kind of magic. My wings were also tied to my back with a rope. At least somepony bandaged my wounded leg, which was now held in place by a piece of wood. It wasn’t broken, but the ice stake had pierced through the muscle, making it impossible for me to walk properly.

Now. Now of all times I had been caught. I had no idea how, but just when I had finally found a place in which I could settle. Just when I had finally found somepony…

“It seems you’re awake at last”

“Quill, I’m not in the mood for this”

“Quill? Oh, the one that left a while ago. A very literate pony indeed, despite all his paranoid theories about humans. We had a very entertaining conversation while you were unconscious, but now you’re the one I want to talk to”

I looked behind me and the one there was definitively not Quill. While he still had the same ethereal appearance, I could feel his presence in the room, like the breathing of a large animal, and unlike Quill he changed from form to form by the second, from unicorn to earth pony, to pegasus, alicorn or even other creatures like diamond dogs and manticores.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, sorry for that; you see, after you’ve been deceased for so many centuries you end up forgetting how to retain your own form. Maybe this form will ring some bells, so to speak”

His body wavered and he changed slowly into an ancient looking unicorn, with a light brown coat and a long white beard. He wore a cloak and a hat, both decorated by stars and constellations, and bells that were attached around them.

“Starswirl the Bearded. That’s it. I’ve finally gone crazy. What’s next? You’re going to call my other imaginary friends and throw me a bucking party?”

I thought about Pinkie and the memory brought a tear to my eye. She was probably never going to speak to me again. The guards were staring at me with curiosity by now but I couldn’t care less.

“Silver Quill already told me about your opinions on him and that you would probably behave the same way towards me, but I can assure you that I am certainly not a fruit of your imagination. Before anything else, let’s get some privacy shall we?”

A faint glow formed under his hat and the two guards fell to the ground. He looked at me and his horn glowed again, shattering my restraints.

“And apparently, this is happening. So does this means I’m not going crazy?”

“That’s not for me to decide, I’m a wizard, not a psychologist”

“Let me change my question. You’re a ghost then?”

“Yes, I believe you could call me that, but I prefer the term wandering spirit”

“But how?”

“Well, in my case it was due to my ignorance in trying to play god. A failed spell that was supposed to grant me immortality, but ended up killing me and imprisoning my soul in this world, and now I wander without a body, working for the princesses. That’s only my case though, others like your friend are souls that have died while holding onto a very powerful feeling , so strong that it does not allow their soul to rest, so they try to deal with it in the afterlife. Most of the times it is guilt or regret”

“Then why am I the only one who can see him? And you?”

“You’re not the only one. Ghosts, as you like to call us, only show themselves to the ones we want to, so he could show himself to anypony else. Although interacting with living creatures or physical objects exhausts a ghost, making it impossible for us to try to live a normal life amongst you and limiting our contact.”

“But what about you? You just cast a spell on me and one the guards, and correct me if I’m wrong, you broke a device made to absorb and resist magic, using pure magic, and that doesn’t sound very easy”

“I’m a special case. Not only I was one of the most powerful magic beings in existence while I was alive, my spell transformed my body into a spirit. In theory I never died, I only changed forms”

“But why are you here?”

“Yes yes, I was getting there and you kept distracting me with all those questions. I’m here to correct a few of my old mistakes. You see, during my life I created many things, books, artifacts and such, and as you can probably deduce, most ponies shouldn’t be allowed to gain access to them. So for the last years I have been helping the Princesses recover them. I ended up here following a mare that had gained access to one of my writings, a spell that allows you to trap the essence of a living being and use it as a battery for magic, but it seems you already took care of the problem. And that takes me to the next artifact”

“I think I already know what you’re talking about”

“Yes you do. I’m here for the ruby you stole at Canterlot, but just by looking at you I can safely say that those wings and horn aren’t supposed to be there. Do you have any idea of what could have happened?” I shook my head negatively “You don’t?” He looked confused “Are you going to tell me you swallowed a gem accidentally?” I nodded “Oh for Solaris’s sake, what’s wrong with the kids these days?”

“Then tell me what the stone does already! You’re driving me crazy here!”

“I placed a… “defense mechanism” on the stone so nopony would use it by accident. The only way to enable the stone’s abilities is swallowing it. I’m going to pretend you did it by accident and explain the rest. I created it by request from an earth pony in his last breaths. He was afflicted by a disease that even I was unable to heal, so I created an artifact imbued with an enormous amount of raw magical energy. The energy in it was far too strong for most unicorns to channel, and impossible for an earth pony, so I created a mechanism that allowed it to be directed. The stone would tap into the mind of the pony, and direct the energy in order to realize its strongest desires, whichever they were. Unfortunately he died before I could complete it, so I hid it in his tomb and left it there. You can see how much power it has since it was able to change your body like that, but by now it is probably nearly depleted. The next time you use it will certainly be the last, and it might not even work right”

I thought about it. Ever since I was a child the thing that I wanted the most was a pair of wings, and that was the first thing I got. Then, a way to protect Pinkie, so I got the horn, and then a spell to save her. It made perfect sense.

“That’s… great. But still, it doesn’t matter anymore. Pinkie won’t want to see me ever again and now I’m going to rot in jail for the rest of my life”

“You still have your horn. And the last charge on the stone”

“I’m too exhausted to cast any spells”

“What about the stone?”

I didn’t answer, but I knew exactly what was going on. If the stone could read my mind then it knew. I didn’t want to see Pinkie. I knew she would surely hate me for what I did, especially for lying to her”

He looked at me with a mix of pity and compassion, like he could see right through me.

“Look kid, I was planning on killing you right now to stop you from using the stone again, but I’ve taken a liking to you for some reason. You remind me a bit of myself when I was younger. And I don’t want you to have the same fate as I did”

“What happened to you?”

“That’s… a story for some other time. All I can say is that I died alone. To be honest, I knew the spell I performed was going to kill me, but did it anyway, all because I was foolish, just like you are being.”

“You’re going to help me out?”

“Oh no, I couldn’t do that, I made an oath to the princesses so I can’t disobey any of their orders, I already did too much. But all is not lost. You still have a great friend on your side”

“Quill? But what is he going to do? Break me free?”

“Just wait and have faith, he seemed quite determined”

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

I flew through the skies of Ponyville. Most of the ponies were crowding the area around the basement where Ember was being kept, probably wanting an explanation why the savior of the town was locked in a cell, while Princess Twilight was in the main building of the apple farm, and seemed to be having an internal monologue. But the mare I wanted was nowhere to be seen. I headed to the colorful bakery and went through the walls looking for her, and found her at the second story of the building, a pink stain on the corner, sobbing uncontrollably.

Crap. How do you even approach somepony in that state? So I said the smartest thing I could think of then.

“Erm… hi?”

She looked back and for a moment I wondered if I had the wrong pony. Her usual smile was far gone, her hair had fallen straight down, her face was stained by tears and her eyes were red.

“Who are you?”

I steeled myself and took a deep breath. I had something important to do.

“Sorry to intrude like that. I’m Silver Quill. You’re Pinkie Pie right?”

Her expression lightened a bit, and she didn’t seem to notice my ghostly appearance.

“I’m Ember’s friend. I need to talk to you”

She burst out crying once again, even more than before. She walked towards me and my heart sank when she tried to hug me, looking for comfort, but passed right through me and fell to the ground.

“Sorry for that. My body is probably dust by now, so don’t expect to be able to touch me”

“Are you a ghost?” The shock seemed to help make her focus.

“Yes. Yes I am”

“But what happened to you?”

“I have to say, that’s the first time anypony asks me that. They usually just run in terror. But that’s not important now, I might tell you some other time. I’m here to ask you to help Ember”

“I can’t!”

“Why? Aren’t you worried about him? I though you liked him?”

“But he hates me!”

“And where the hay did you get that idea?”

“He lied to me, and he left me! I don’t even know where he is right now!”

“He saved you! He risked his life to save you from that unicorn. I bet the entire town would have been dead before the princess could get here if it weren’t for him. He hurt himself to save you, he even healed you! Do you still think he hates you?”

“But… why?”

“Answer me this: what are your feelings for Ember?”

“I… I don’t know. I never felt like this before. Whenever I’m with him it just feels…”

“I… I don’t know. I never felt like this before. Whenever I’m with him it just feels…” She stopped and looked around as if she would find the right words floating in the air.

“Right. It feels right doesn’t it? And it feels like you lose a part of your heart whenever you’re apart. Am I right?” She nodded without much enthusiasm. “I don’t even need to hear your answer. Let me tell you something Pinkie: Ember is in love with you. I never thought that I would see him feel that for anypony again but he truly is. And as far as I can tell you feel the same”

“But if I’m in love with him then why do I feel so sad right now? I still want to help him but I also feel so angry at him! And he left me alone here!”

“Love is complicated Pinkie. It takes time to get used to, and even then you still won’t understand it. But it’s worth fighting for, that I can say. And no, Ember didn’t abandon you, stop saying that. He was arrested by the princess herself, and now he can’t get away. That’s why I need your help”

“He’s in jail? But we don’t even have one here in Ponyville!”

“Not exactly in jail, more like in a basement at Sweet Apple Acres. They also improvised a cell for him, but there are royal guards watching over him. As far as I know, you are a friend of the princess right? You could convince her to…”

“That’s it!”

In just the blink of an eye the color of her hair came back and the grim expression disappeared, making way for the bright smile that I was accustomed to. The only remnants of her breakdown were the reddened eyes and the trails left on her face by the tears.

“That’s what?”

“I’m going to break him free?”

“WHAT?! You and who else? As far as I know there are at least two guards with him and the princess is in the farm too. You’re supposed to convince the princess to let him go, not become a criminal too!”

“So you’re not coming?”

I sighed. There’s no reasoning with this one, just like somepony I know.

“I’ll help you then”

“Great! I’ll get the explosives!”

“Right, I’ll be waiting right he…EXPLOSIVES!? ARE YOU BUCKING INSANE?!”

“I really don't get it, why does everypony keep on saying that?”

Chapter 6 - Black Past

Once again I found myself in the same exact situation I was not too long ago. Starswirl had put the two guards to sleep and broken my restraints, but soon the spell wore out and they were awake and questioning how did I free myself. I just shrugged and let them do their jobs without much resistance as they tied me with some ropes that were lying around since there were no more shackles available. Starswirl stood silent, and so did I and the guards.

My notion of time had completely disappeared inside the dark candle lit basement, and I had no idea of how many hours I had been in there for. The guards didn’t seem to mind, but the silence was driving me mad. After the crowd that protested outside the doors left, the only sound that could be heard was the continuous breathing of the guards, the eventual owl outside that seemed to be the only living being to inhabit the area at night, and the sequential explosions in the distance.

Well that didn’t sound quite right.

Soon the other two guards rushed into the basement as if some natural disaster had hit the town.

“Ponyville is being attacked! We must ensure the safety of the citizens. The two of you, come with us!” said one of the guards, trying as hard as he could to maintain a minimum composure.

“But we must guard the prisoner”

“Alright, you stay and keep guard” he pointed to one of them “and the other one come with me.” And just as fast as they had come in, they left, and the silence returned, but not for much longer.

A semi transparent head popped in the room from the ceiling. I opened my mouth to say something but he put a hoof to his mouth signalizing for me to stay quiet.

“Is it safe Quill?” shouted a voice from above. He facehoofed and answered with an irritated tone.

“Do whatever you want”

“Okey-dokey! There it goes!”

The guard looked up with curiosity, and less than a second later, another explosion cut the air, this time right above us. A large portion of the hoof gave in, falling right above the guard, and on top of the pile of rubble I saw a black and pink blob, fallen on her back, with a large bag strapped on her neck.

“Pinkie just what the hay is that?”

“Oh, hi Ember! What is what? The bag, the outfit, the hole in the ceiling or the whole thing?”

I took a deep breath and tried to stay as calm as possible.

“First, the outfit”

She was wearing a black “vest” that covered her entire body in black, except for two small holes in the back and her head, which was completely visible, rendering the entire disguise completely useless.

“Oh that’s my burglar outfit! Well, technically it isn’t mine, I just borrowed it from Rainbow Dash so I could sneak past the guards, but it’s too hot in here so I just took the head part off”

“Why does Rainbow Dash have a burglar outfit?”

“Funny you should ask, I never thought about it”

I sighed. This wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

“Pinkie, why are you here? Why did you explode the ceiling?”

“To get you out of course!”

“And why would you possibly want to get me out of here? You heard the princess, I’m a thief, just another criminal, and now I’m probably going to be stuck in a cage for the rest of my life. You should just leave before you get in trouble”

For the first time since I met her, Pinkie stopped smiling and spoke with a grave and serous tone.

“Ember, I’m not leaving you here. It’s not fair that you get arrested after saving us all like that. You could have died. I could have died, if it weren’t for you” she looked down at the ground all along as she spoke.

“Well Pinkie, let me tell you something: THE WORLD IS NOT FAIR! Ponies like you that live a good and peaceful life don’t understand how it is to have to fight to survive, to steal your own food, to get beaten up by cops because of two bits.” Those words stung me. I didn’t want to yell at her, but I wanted to make her leave. I couldn’t let her be caught there, even if it meant making her hate me.

“I don’t care. I’m going to get you out of there, either you want it or not” she looked down at the ground all along as she spoke.

“Pinkie, just get the hay out of here! My leg is wounded, there’s no way I can get away like this”

“You can fly away. You have wings now” The tranquility in her voice felt alien to me. It was like she was somepony else.

“But what about you?”

“I’ll find a way”

“JUST GET OUT OF HERE DAMNIT!”

The room stood silence for a few seconds, and I thought I could hear her sob for a second.

“Tell me Ember. If you could choose the kind of life you could live, what would you choose?”

“Something far more peaceful than this I suppose” I gave a half hearted laughter.

“But how would you live?”

“It doesn’t matter”

“Just tell me”

“With you!” I nearly shouted without thinking, and just let the words flow like a flood “It wouldn’t matter where or how I would live. I just wanted to be with you. But for now I just want you to be safe. Get out of here before the guards come back. Before you become like me”

She walked slowly towards the bars, still looking down, but I could see her smile, even if she wasn’t looking at me. She grabbed a strange object from the bag, a brown package with wires connecting it to a small panel with buttons with numbers on them. She attached the object to the lock on the door and began to type on the buttons.

“What’s that Pinkie?”

“Oh, nothing important”

“Pinkie, that’s really important, what is that thing?”

“I’m going to blast the door”

“Is there no way to reason with you?! Let me put it bluntly, if you do this, you’ll be helping a thief. A thief that stole from the princess herself and dozens of others. You’ll be a criminal, you’ll have to leave this place and live on the run just like me. You’ll have to abandon all of your friends and family. Just because you wanted to set me free. Do you still want to do it?”

She looked up from the device, her cheeks were slightly red and there was a bright smile on her face.

“Well, I guess we’re partners in crime then!”

I loved her. I didn’t know when, I didn’t know how, but I had fallen completely for this mare. Although it made me sad to see her lose everything she had just for me, I couldn’t help but smile. So I just sat down and let her do whatever she wanted to.

“I suppose those explosions back there were your doing then?”

“Eyup. I needed some distraction for the guards so I set some bombs around town. Don’t worry, they’re just loud, they don’t actually do any damage. Any big damage at least”

“And what’s exactly that thing you’re using there?”

“Just something I brought back from the rock farm. We used it to crack some bigger stones back there”

“How big?”

“Reeeealy big ones. I think it’s called… D5 or something”

“Don’t you mean C4?”

“Yes! That’s it! Did you work on a rock farm too?”
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
I was taking a walk through the apple orchards to clear up my mind. I just didn’t know how to deal with this problem. In one side, there was what I thought was justice. That pony, Ember, had stolen from many people, and even stolen royal property, a powerful magical artifact nevertheless. I thought that the right thing to do was to take him to court and send him straight to jail, to punish him for his crimes.

But in the other side, there was the issue of Ponyville. All of the townsfolk were on his side and none of them seemed to care that he was a criminal. All that they cared about was that he had saved them all from Trixie. When Rarity called me I could swear she was overreacting again, but I saw the damage that was caused and knew what would have happened if nopony had intervened.

“It seems that you are troubled Twilight. What is the matter?”

It was Celestia’s voice inside my mind. The remnants of her consciousness that inhabited there, and she had acted like a counselor until now, always calming and helped me in various situations.

“I just don’t know what to do Princess, if I arrest this pony, I will be treated as a merciless tyrant, who ignored a great deed. But if I don’t, then it would mean that I am incapable of maintaining order and seem weak. I just don’t know what to do”

“Have you listened to him yet?”

“Who? Ember?”

“Yes”

“But why? I have evidence of everything he did, he is certainly guilty!”

“Just do it Twilight. Maybe it isn’t his fault. You have to know when to show strength, but also when to forgive past sins”

“Alright, I’ll go then. Those fireworks already woke me up anyway. Tell me Princess, do you know of any celebrations at Ponyville today?”

“Twilight I already told you to stop calling me Princess already. That’s your role now, not mine. And in case you didn’t notice, those were explosives, not fireworks.”

“Eplosives?! And you didn’t tell me?!”

“I thought you had already sent the guards. Remember that I only have a slight perception of the world around you from here”

“That pony could be trying to escape! I need to go see what happened!”

I started running towards the basement where Ember was being kept, when a voice from behind stopped me.

“Just where the hay do ya think you’re going without us miss?” Applejack called with a slightly irritated tone. Along with her were Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity, who were all waiting on the farm for the verdict on what was going to happen to Ember.

“I think Ember is trying to escape. You can come if you want but I heard explosions”

“Yeah, I think that the rest of Ponyville also heard those. Let’s go then!” Rainbow Dash rushed forward, prompting everypony else to run after her. In a few minutes we were already at the door that lead down to the basement, and I opened it swiftly with a burst of magic.

“Keep that thing away from me! You’re going to kill both of us!”

“Come on, don’t be a scaredy-cat, I know what I’m doing. Hi there Twilight!”

“Oh come on! Aren’t you guys going to leave me alone for a second here?!” Ember protested from inside the cage.

“What are you doing here Pinkie? I thought you were at the clinic resting” I asked, a bit afraid of the answer.

“I’m here to rescue him, and nopony’s going to stop me!” She proclaimed like the hero of one of those cheap action movies, rescuing the damsel in distress, while standing between us and the cell, with a determined look on her face, but always smiling,

“And why in tarnation are ya trying to get this fella out?” Applejack asked and the others waited expectantly for a decent explanation, including me, but was Ember who spoke.

“I blackmailed her into freeing me. I’m the only one responsible, she had no choice but to cooperate”

“And what exactly did ya use to do it?” Applejack seemed skeptical about the whole story.

“Excuse me?”

“Ah said what do ya have that ya could possibly use to blackmail her?”

“Erm.. I… have her parents hostage!”

“Lookit me sugarcube, ah’m the element of honesty, and ah can smell a lie like that from a mile away. Her parents are on a rock farm miles away from here. Just tell us the truth, it’ll be better for everypony”

“IT’S BECAUSE I FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM!” Pinkie let out a guttural scream, causing a wide range of reactions in the room, from Fluttershy who got as red as a tomato to Rainbow Dash, who couldn’t stop staring at her with her mouth agape like she had turned into a newt. I only managed to let out one word.

“What?”

Ember sighed. “Well, no sense in hiding it anymore. We were going to get away together. But now, please, if you’re going to punish somepony just punish me. She didn’t even manage to free me”

“Wow. That’s just…wow. That was weird. The strangest thing is that I came here to say that I will hear your side of the story. I want to know if you really deserve to be arrested”

The two of them looked at each other and smiled brightly.

“So you mean you’re going to free him?” Pinkie said with a newfound excitement.

“ONLY if I gather evidence that his crimes were justified, and considering the fact that he saved the lives of many ponies. But I will make sure myself that there are no lies this time”

He managed to get up and rise his head with confidence, despite the ropes around his legs and wings. “I don’t need to hide anything else”

“Well then, let’s begin”

I began to channel the spell and everypony in the room looked at me surprised. I believe they were expecting an interrogatory of sorts, but that would be ineffective. Starswirl floated at a coner of the room and waved a hoof to me, which I ignored. I wonder if he had anything to do with this. There was also another spirit that I didn’t know, who looked just as interested as the other ponies.

“Princess, may I ask, what are you going to do with me?”

“I’m going to look inside your mind and project the images of your past. This allows me to see all I need without any warping of the facts”

“Then show everything from the beginning”

“What do you mean?”

“What I said. The very beginning of my life. You asked me for the truth, then I am going to give it to you without any restrictions, for the first time as long as I can remember”

I looked at him, slightly puzzled. Nopony had ever been this acceptant to open its mind like this, and he sounded very confident. Might as well do it.

The light from my horn formed a purple tendril that entered his forehead, and from it came a light that hit the nearest wall. The process seemed to be absolutely painless and he just stared in amazement at the light that came from his own head and projected itself in the form of a black square at the wall.

“So, is it going to be like a movie?” Rainbow Dash asked, sounding more excited than it would be adequate for the situation.

“Well, I never thought of it quite like that, but yes, you could say that”

All that could be seen was the black square and some deep breathing sounds.

“So, did it start yet?” asked Rainbow Dash once again, her excitement slowly disappearing.

“Yes, it did start. Ember did say to start from the beginning, so this is it. The very beginning of his life”

The image suddenly turned to a bright light, and the sound of crying filled the room.

Chapter 7 - Black Past part 2

The bright white square on the wall began to shift and the image of a small room with white walls and a bed in the middle appeared. On the bed was a pegasus mare with a light blue coat and fire red mane. She was lying down on her back with her hind legs spread. Three other ponies were in the room, completely covered in white vests with holes for their wings.

The mare moaned in pain and the other ponies seemed to be focused into some sort of surgical procedure. Then, she let out one last moan, louder than the others before, and relaxed. The sound of crying filled the room and a baby foal was placed on her hooves, still dirty with blood. Her face was covered in sweat but she had a wide smile.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

“Aww, it’s so cute” Fluttershy said from the back of the room.

“Princess, I don’t mean to be disrespectful or anything” Ember called from inside the cage, blushing slightly “but you really didn’t have to go back so much”

“Of course I had to, you told me to show everything from the beginning so there it is” I answered calmly. Fluttershy blushed furiously having noticed that the “foal” in the projection was right there.

“What about your father? Where is he?” Pinkie asked.

One of the other three ponies took of his mask and smiled at the foal. He had a white coat and a bang of his green mane fell from the white cap.

“That’s him. He’s a doctor and insisted on being the one to take care of my birth” Ember answered.

“Ah don’t mean to offend or anything but aint both your parents pegasus? How come you’re an earth pony?” Applejack asked and Ember opened his mouth to answer, but I spoke first.

“Actually Applejack, that’s possible, and it’s not even that rare. Earth ponies, pegasus and unicorns are technically one single race. The genes for the occurrence of the wings and horn can manifest or not depending on the parents’ genes, but the rest is just chance. Take Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake for example, a unicorn and a pegasus that were both born from earth ponies.”

“Say what now?” Applejack said and stared confused at me.

“What she means is that it is possible for pegasus to give birth to earth ponies and vice versa” Ember Said. Applejack looked at him and his parents in the projection. The similarity was undeniable.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The screen moved again, and now Ember looked a few years older. His parents were dropping him of at a building that appeared to be a school. He had a strange contraption on his back, composed of a cylinder with a tube that led to an oval balloon shaped object. It was attached to him like a backpack. I asked what it was.

“That’s my cloudwalker. You probably know that but earth ponies can’t walk on clouds so my parents bought me that thing so I could live like a normal pegasus with them. Or that’s what they thought at least”

The image changed again. Ember was sitting alone in a bench made of clouds. The other kids were playing around in a playground by the school.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

“I think you can guess what happened to the boy without wings. We all know how foals can be jerks and how they pick on each other for the silliest things. I was like a cripple to them”

“But why didn’t you just talk to them? I’m sure you could make some friends if you tried!” Pinkie said. She didn’t seem to understand how hard it could be for somepony to make friends. I on the other hoof knew that quite well.

“You’ve never been to Cloudsdale have you? Even the kids are told to be competitive since kindergarten. Even the teachers didn’t try much to help me get along with the others”

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The image shifted again and Ember was with his parents again, this time at home.

“How was the first day at school? Did you make a lot of friends?” His mother asked with a broad smile. Her eyes were blood red just like his.

“Yeah, sure. I made some friends. Is daddy going to come home today?”

“Probably not, he’s got the night shift at the hospital again. He’s doing an emergency procedure on a kid that tried to pull off a sonic rainboom at flight camp. It’s the third time this month. What’s with kids these days?”

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

“Why did you lie to your mother? She could try to help you!” Pinkie spoke with a mix of anger and confusion.

“I didn’t want to bother her with that. Just me being unable to fly was already enough for her to deal with, and she already had to fly me around everywhere, since my father was busy all the time with his job. But that’s all past now.”

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The image shifted many more times, but it was always the same. Ember was almost always by himself. The only ponies that approached him did it to mock him as if he had a condition. Years passed in a few minutes, but little changed. Ember looked pained reliving those times but it had to be done if he wanted a fair trial.

What came next was apparently just another day like all the others we had seen. There was the same pony alone in a bench at school, looking down at the ground. But another pony approached him. It was a pegasus mare with a black coat and a long gray mane and two bat wings for her cutie mark. She spoke to him casually.

“Hey, you’re that kid with no wings right? Whatcha doin here by yourself?”

No answer.

“Don’t you have any friends?”

Ember lowered his head even more.

“Sorry, looks like I poked an old wound there. Look, I’m really bad at this but…” she looked around uneasily “I just moved here and I don’t really know anypony so, maybe you’d want to hang out with me?”

Ember looked at her without knowing what to say and just stood silent for a few seconds. She began walking away as she spoke.

“Well… sorry for bothering you. I think you don’t need my company.”

“Wait!” He shouted without even noticing “Yes, I want to “hang out with you” whatever that means. My name is Ember, what’s your name?” She walked towards him and extended a hoof, smiling.

“I’m Nightshade”

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

“Looks like you found a friend! It wasn’t so difficult was it now?” Pinkie said enthusiastically, only to look at Ember and find him looking down at the ground with a stare of pure anger.

“I’d be better alone than with that bastard” He spat angrily, leaving everypony, especially Pinkie and me completely confused.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The projection kept on going. The images now showed Ember and Nightshade together most of the time. Ember seemed happier, although he still didn’t speak to nopony else at school. Nightshade was a great flyer and so she quickly made many other friends, but was with Ember most of the time. The image now showed the two of them on a small cloud at the edge of Cloudsdale. Ember sat at the cloud while Nightshade flew around doing various tricks in the air.

“Hey Shade”

“What?”

“Why don’t I have wings like all the others? Why do my parents send me to flight camp even if I can’t fly?”

“No idea. Maybe they’ll appear, I don’t know. You could wake up in the morning and see that you’ve grown a pair of wings someday. I don’t know how this stuff works”

“Then I’ll be able to fly with you!” He seemed very enthusiastic about the idea. She laughed out loud.

“Maybe, but even if you grew wings you’d have to work real hard just to keep up with me” She emphasized this by dashing down towards him and moving out of the way in the last second, then landing by his side.

“Well you’ll see! One day I’ll be able to fly just as well as you! Then I’ll join the Wonderbolts!” He tried to maintain a straight face but it didn’t last much, as the two of them burst into laughter right away. After the laughter died down, Nightshade spoke in a more serious tone.

“You know Ember, you’re a nice pony. I don’t know why you don’t talk to anypony else. You could make some more friends you know”

His smile vanished and he looked down at the ground.

“No I can’t. The other pegasus just mock me all the time. You’re the only nice pony in this town, and I don’t need anypony else. Just promise you won’t leave me right?”

Ember probably didn’t notice but her black coat became slightly stained with red.

“Geez kid, you say some weird things sometimes. But I promise alright. Don’t worry about that. Now we better get going before both our parents call the police after us”

He smiled and the two of them got up and began walking away. I wondered what was it that Ember wanted to show us that could possibly turn him into a criminal.

Another shift in the image, but the place was once again the same cloud on the edge of Cloudsdale. This time Ember and Nightshade weren’t alone, and it was dark at night. There were four other pegasus with them, all around the same age as the two. Ember had his back turned on the edge of the cloud, and was curled up on the ground. Nightshade was in front of him, followed by the other ponies.

“Aren’t you gonna say anything? Are you going to make me beat you up again?” Nightshade screamed at him, while the only thing he could do was cry in pain. His body was covered in small bruises. Ember murmured something.

“I can’t hear you! Speak up!” She shouted angrily.

“Why are you doing this to me?” He spoke between sobs at a barely audible volume.

“Why? Because I can! Do I need any other reason?”

“I thought we were friends!” He managed to get up and scream at her, making her step back for a second.

“News flash kid: I LIED! Ponies lie, you better get used to it! I’ve got new friends now, and they’re not some worthless wingless pegasus!”

The other ponies behind her laughed enthusiastically, while she spat insults at him. She walked forward and he backed up as she did. She stared angrily, but not at him. Not even once she made eye contact with him, but the ones behind her couldn’t see that. He stopped when he reached the edge of the cloud. Anymore and he would fall down thousands of feet down.

She stopped, suddenly realizing where she had put him, and that one more step would be deadly for sure. The other ponies were screaming.

“Beat him up!”

“Yeah, break one of his legs, no one will even care!”

“Just do it already!” One of the other ponies pushed her forward as he said it. The push was enough to make her stumble on him, throwing him right of the cloud. The last thing that could be seen before everything blacked out was Nightshade screaming his name at the border of the cloud and trying to jump down as the other ponies held her down.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

“Wait, what happened then? Nopony could survive a fall like that” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I survived. Barely. The cloudwalker had a failsafe mechanism made to break the fall if I fell from a cloud to another so I wouldn’t pierce right through them. It only worked partially. I broke my two hind legs and went into a coma for a week” Ember answered dryly

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The image came back. Ember was now in an old and torn up bed, in a room just as old. He was alone and the only thing in the room other than the bed was a jar with a dead plant. He looked around and tried to get up, cringing in pain when he tried moving the broken legs.

“You really shouldn’t do that. They’re both broken and it’s going to be at least a month until you can walk again”

“Who’s there?!” He hid under the blanket and looked around for the source of the voice. A strange earth pony walked through the door. He had a white coat and mane. His eyes were white too, and he had a strange ethereal look.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. I couldn’t, even if I wanted to. My name’s Silver Quill. You’re Ember am I right?”

“How do you know my name?” He sounded just as afraid as he was curious.

“I’ve been watching you for a while now. Sorry for what happened at Cloudsdale. You’ve been asleep for a week now”

Ember looked at him and the memories seemed to come back to him like a flood, as thick tears streaked down his face.

“I want my parents! Where am I?” He screamed between sobs.

“Sorry kid, I can’t help you with that. You fell from Cloudsdale and now you’re stuck here on the ground with the other earth ponies and unicorns. This is an orphanage, one of the kids found you laying down at the ground nearby and brought you here. And I suggest you keep your voice down, this isn’t exactly the place where you’d want to be”

He wiped did his best to wipe his tears, and after a few minutes the flow reduced to a bearable level. He looked confused at the stranger in front of him.

“What’s wrong with here?”

“Let’s just say that the kids aren’t here exactly to find new parents. They’re here to be sold to anypony willing to pay for them. And it aint much I tell you. As soon as you get up from that bed you’ll be on your way to a coal mine or something like that”

“No! I want to go back home! Please don’t take me away!” He screamed desperately.

“SHUT UP KID! Listen to me if you want to get out of here! I’m the only one who can help you out of this. But you have to do what I say”

“Alright” He mumbled, even less than a whisper.

“Good. And one last thing”

“What is it?”

Silver Quill then slowly levitated away from the ground, and flew right through a wall, only to get back into the room right away, through the same wall.

“I’m a ghost. Don’t expect any physical help from me”

The next scenes covered Ember’s escape from the orphanage, where he found and got back the broken cloudwalker, and then the next years of his life, composed basically of stealing and running. Always the same; and never any companion other than Silver Quill. He grew up, years passed, but his life didn’t change at all. The images stopped when Ember and Silver Quill were right before the sign that read Ponyville.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Celestia simply stopped talking to me and I had no idea what to do. Rarity and Fluttershy were crying together, apparently more pained by what they had seen than Ember himself. Applejack seemed quite shaken, while Rainbow Dash just stared at Ember in disbelief. Pinkie had put a hoof through the bars and had a leg around his shoulders in an attempt of a hug, which he accepted gladly, and smiled warmly at him.

“I knew it! I knew I had seen you somewhere else, you were at flight camp too! And what was that guy at the end?” Rainbow Dash burst all of a sudden.

“He’s what he said. A ghost. And he has been my only companion for the last years.” Ember answered dryly.

“Well, that was certainly… enlightening to say the least” I spoke while trying to keep a minimum composure “but now I have to give my verdict. I have never been presented with a situation quite like this one before, and…” I stopped and smiled. How didn’t I think of this before?

“And?” Ember asked impatiently.

“And, I already know it. Ember, you have committed many crimes against not only dozens of ponies all over Equestria, but you also robbed a magic artifact that belonged to the royal vault” he bit his lip and frowned, waiting for the worst but still maintaining his dignity “but I cannot judge you solely based on those facts. You have suffered from various traumas ever since your youth and only performed said crimes on behalf of survival. With that said, I cannot arrest you, but I also cannot let you free”

“So what the hay is going to happen to me?” He seemed confused at his present situation and I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t enjoying this at least a little.

“You will be sentenced to two years of guarded freedom”

“And who is going to guard me?”

“I have already chosen the pony. It is somepony in who I trust completely. And I am completely sure of her valor and competence, since she is even one of the Elements of Harmony” I finished with a content smile.

“You don’t mean…” Ember said smiling just as wide.

“Pinkie, do you accept this?” I asked her, already knowing the answer. But what I didn’t expect was the bone crushing hug that followed it.

“Thank you thank you thank you!” She repeated as she crushed all the air out of my lungs. When she was finished, I took a long deep breath and tried to stay on my feet.

“So are we gettin him out of that cage or what?” Applejack asked.

“About that, there was supposed to be a guard here with the keys. Where is he?” I asked Pinkie.

“Well, I might have dropped a tiny little piece of the ceiling on top of him. He’s right under you. Oh and we don’t really need the keys” She sounded like a kid who stole a cookie from the jar. I pulled the guard from the debris and luckily he was still alive and fine. Pinkie pulled a small detonator from her bag and Ember screamed in terror.

“Wait Pinkie DON’T!”

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

It wasn’t really that bad. I felt a bit shaken of course, but that’s what you could expect of a pony that had just been forced to see the most painful events of his entire life displayed in front of him like a movie. I believe that part of it was because I had finally managed to move on after all those years, but most of it was probably because somepony was there with me all the time, with a leg across my shoulders.

And I couldn’t possibly expect the decision of the princess, not only to not arrest me, but to leave me in the hooves of the one pony that I hoped I could pass the rest of my life with. The day couldn’t get any better.

And then Pinkie had to get that detonator again.

A loud bang filled the room as the bars that made the improvised cage flew around. Luckily nopony got impaled by one of them. A cloud of dust had filled the air, and I fell down on my back coughing.

Before I could think of getting up, I felt something push against my face followed by a pleasing warm sensation, that I had never felt before. As the dust settled down I could see what it was.

Pinkie was pinning me down to the ground, and it took me a few seconds to process what exactly was happening. As she pressed her lips against mine. Pinkie was kissing me.

I got up and pushed my face against hers, returning the kiss. It was a wonderful sensation, and for a while we were both lost in the bliss of the moment. I believe we stood there for nearly a minute, but it felt like hours. When it ended, we stared at each other’s eyes with smiles on our faces.

Then I remembered we weren’t quite alone.

All of Pinkie’s friends, even the Princess, had a deep blush in their faces, and tried to avoid eye to eye contact as much as possible. But I could swear that the red pegasus with the pink mane had been yellow a few minutes ago. Silence reigned for nearly two minutes until the princess spoke.

“Errrm… I believe that we should go then, we already had too much events for just one day. I still have to tell the other guards that there is no war going on and take this one to the hospital.” she grabbed the fainted guard with her magic “And you Pinkie, keep an eye on this one at all times! I don’t want to catch him stealing ever again, or I’ll have to arrest him for real!”

“Yes Sir!” Pinkie saluted her like a soldier.

Each one of them left for their respective houses, leaving me and Pinkie alone. I let out a deep sigh, relieved that it was all finally over.

“What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked.

“Nothing. Actually, is just the opposite. I’m free! For the first time in my entire life I’m not running away anymore. And we’ll get to spend some more time together. Heck, we’re obligated to be together!” The two of us laughed.

“So what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t think the princess is going to let me stay at the library anymore, so I’ll have to find a new job and a place to stay.”

I looked at Pinkie and for some reason she was blushing strongly.

“Actually, I was thinking. There’s a room at Sugarcube Corner if you want to. There’s only one little detail.”

“What is it?”

“It’s my room”

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

It was already late at night and Pinkie and I were walking through the streets of Ponyville, on our way to the bakery. I had one of my wings wrapped around her shoulder and leaning onto her because of my wounded leg. We walked for a while without saying a single word, just smiling at each other. I was the first to break the silence.

“I’ve been thinking about something.”

“What?”

“After seeing all that, watching my own life again, I’ve thought about my parents. Did they forget me? Are they still on Cloudsdale? Did they have another son?”

“I’m sure they didn’t forget you!”

“I don’t know. I’ve been gone for nearly ten years now. But I think it’s fair that I tell them I’m alive”

“What do you mean?”

“What I said. I’m going to Cloudsdale” I let go of her and tried to stand on my own, nearly falling down to the ground when my wounded leg moved “After this leg heals up.”

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

I watched from above as the two ponies walked together. It was the first time I had seen Ember so happy. He had finally found somepony for him, and now I was just part of his past. He didn’t need me anymore.

“Hey! Quill! Don’t think I can’t see you up there!” Ember shouted and Pinkie waved a hoof at me “Get down here!”

“Oh, hi there Ember. Looks like it all turned out just fine in the end then. For the two of you.”

“Oh just shut up. It’s all thanks to you and I know it. I want to thank you. And sorry about the whole imaginary friend thing, I never thought you were actually a ghost. I never asked but, who were you? When you were alive I mean.”

For a moment I looked up and the memories came back to me. My life, my family, my death, everything flashed before me, all the ponies I met, all the things I did, and I was lost in thought.

“Quill? You alright there?” Pinkie asked, pulling me out of my daydream.

“Oh, sorry, I got lost in thought. I think I should let you be then.” I began floating away from them.

“What are you talking about? Come on, we’re going home.” Quill called me and I stopped in the air.

“You don’t need me anymore, I should let you live your life.”

“And you’re part of it whether you want it or not. You coming or what?” Pinkie and Ember motioned for me to follow, and went on. I floated behind them, without noticing the dumb smile on my face. Looks like I’ll be staying a bit longer.

“And we still want to know your story” Ember asked and Pinkie nodded in confirmation.

“I’ll tell you some of these days”

“Then tell us at least how you died”

“Now is not the best time. Trust me; I don’t want to spoil the mood”

Chapter 8 - A Mother's Embrace

It’s been almost a year since my trial, but it feels like it was no more than a few weeks. I’ve been living with Pinkie ever since, despite a few complaints from the Cakes about the two of us staying in the same room, but it’s not like we had a choice since she has to watch over me 24/7 now(not that I’m complaining or anything).

Life in Ponyville has been far better than I had even expected. The only thing that reminds me of my old life is the cloudwalker gathering dust on a high shelf. It took quite a while for all the other ponies to get used to having a pony with wings and a horn on the town. Some of them still insist on calling me an alicorn, but considering that the heaviest thing I can lift with magic is a bag of flour, the Sun or the Moon are far from being a possibility, seeing as performing magic requires quite a lot of focus and concentration, which aren’t exactly my strongest points. But I’m getting better at it. Slowly. Very slowly.

Anyway, I got to meet some foals around town and they pretty much went crazy when they noticed I didn’t have a cutie mark. Now I seem to be an honorary member of the cutie mark crusaders. Whatever that means. Still, they’re quite fun to play around with when they’re not doing dangerous stuff. Last week we managed to blow up an oven at Sugarcube Corner and I’m still wondering how did we make oatmeal do that.

Quill is involved in some project of his, and he insists on keeping it a secret. He found an old typewriter on Pinkie’s basement and now he spends all day typing. Well, typing is not really the word since he literally possesses the typewriter and it writes by itself. It’s pretty freaky to watch.

Pinkie insisted on letting me stay at Sugarcube Corner for free, but I couldn’t just leech on her like that, so now I’m working as a baker. Pinkie’s been showing me the ropes, and it turns out I’m not half bad at it, although not even half as good as her. With the money I’m making and all I had left from my “old life” that the Princess had the generosity of letting me keep (or unawareness that I even had it in the first place) I’ll be able to buy a house for the three of us to settle down.

Yes, you got that right; the three of us. Pinkie and I are going to have a foal, probably sometime in the next month. Well, what the hay do you expect when you put two young ponies, that just happen to be in love with each other, living in the same room, which just happens to only have one bed? Nopony was really surprised, except for Mr. Cake, that tried to rip my throat off with a kitchen knife. Nopony got harmed. Much. But I just couldn’t be happier.

And the fact that I was starting my own family brought back an issue. It’s not like I had even forgotten about it in the first place, but it was like one of those things that are so uncomfortable to deal with that you just push them to the back of your mind, like a leaky pipe or a creaking plank on the floor.

“So, Ember, you haven’t said anything about that in a while but what are you going to do about your parents?” Pinkie asked one day, completely out of the blue.

“What about them?” I asked without much enthusiasm, already knowing the answer.

“It’s been a while since you told me that you wanted to see them again, and you’ve been pushing it off ever since! My parents live really far from here, and I don’t want our foal to grow up without knowing his grandparents. And they’re probably worried sick about you too!”

“I know, I know! But the thing is, I don’t think I can just trot in and say ‘hey there! Remember me? I’m your son that’s been missing for nearly ten years now. Oh, and don’t mind the wings and the horn, I grew them while I was on Ponyville, no big deal. Also I’ll be a dad soon’. They’ve probably gone on with their lives; I bet they even had another foal by now.”

Quill floated through the ceiling and backed up Pinkie “You should at least have the decency of telling them that you’re alive. I know they’ve probably given up searching by now, but they wouldn’t just forget you. You fell from Cloudsdale, it’s not like they abandoned you on somepony’s door”

“Okay, I’ll go, I promise. It’ll be the first thing I’ll do tomorrow” I turned away from them and began fiddling around with some pans to pretend to be working.

“EMBER!” The two of them screamed in unison.

“Alright, alright, I’ll go get my stuff”

“Great, I haven’t been to Cloudsdale ever since I met you, it’ll be good to see how much it’s changed.” Quill said.

“If you missed it so much, why didn’t you go there by yourself? It wouldn’t take you more than a few minutes to get there flying.” I said, remembering that Quill could fly absurdly fast since he wasn’t affected by air resistance.

“That’s because I can’t leave you alone for more than a few minutes without you getting in trouble.”

“Give me one example.”

“Three words: Charlie, candy mountain.” He said trying not to laugh.

“Oh come on! I was just a kid, and those unicorns looked responsible.”

“Oh yeah. ‘Shun the nonbeliever!’” Quill said and burst out laughing.

“What do you mean? Where is the candy mountain?” Pinkie asked enthusiastically.

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

It took only a few minutes for us to get ready to leave. Quill obviously wound’t be taking anything, and I didn’t plan on staying so all I needed was a pouch with a few bits, my cloak and a hat. Rarity insisted on making me a new cloak since she deliberately threw my old one away, and also made me a hat to cover my horn so I wouldn’t attract much attention.

“Are you sure you’ll be fine?” I asked Pinkie with sincere concern.

“I’m sure I’ll be okay, what could possibly happen anyway?” Pinkie looked me in the eyes and gave me a reassuring smile.

“I just don’t want anything to happen to our foal” I said while rubbing her stomach. She giggled and leaned towards me. I gave her a deep kiss and walked away, waving.

The sky was slowly gaining a light shade of orange as I took off. I didn’t have the slightest rush to get there, so I took my time flying slowly and appreciating the view. My cloak was tied to my neck while my wings burned bright red. I still wondered how did they take all that heat without warping or breaking. By the time we arrived, it was starting to get dark.

I put the cloak on and adjusted my hat. Both the cloak and the hat were dark brown, and the hat was pointy and long, like a wizard’s hat. It reminded me of an old painting of Starswirl the Bearded I had seen at a mansion I broke in once.

“So, do you still remember where your parents live?”

“The city hasn’t changed much since then, I can probably find my way around. I just hope they didn’t move.” I answered, ignoring the possibility of anypony seeing me talk to the air.

I stopped and focused on my horn. It shone for a few seconds, enveloping my head and tail in a bright red light. After it faded, I looked into a pond to see the results. My eyes, tail and mane had changed from bright red to blue.

“Why did you do that for?” Quill asked.

“I don’t want anypony to recognize me. I’m supposed to be dead you know. And to be an earth pony.”

“And why the hay do you know a spell to change the color of your mane? Seriously, that’s pretty gay.” He said mockingly.

“Just shut up. That’s the kind of stuff you learn when Rarity is your magic teacher.”

We walked (well I walked, Quill just floated after me) for nearly an hour until I found the house I was looking for. It was exactly the same, exactly like I remembered it, a simple two story house, far from the middle of the town, with four small windows on the front. Despite remodeling a house being so simple when it is made out of clouds, nopony changed a thing.

My legs were shaking as I walked up to the door. For a few minutes I just stood there, looking to the door. I lifted a hoof and prepared to knock, just holding it there. Quill floated around impatiently.

“Aren’t you going to knock?” He asked angrily. I lowered my hoof and turned to him.

“Look, I’m not really sure about this anymore. Seriously, they couldn’t possibly still live in the same place, it’s been years! I’m not going to even bother about this. Let’s just go back to Pinkie and tell her they’re not here.” I began walking away from the door.

“Oh no you don’t! We didn’t fly all the way here for you to give up right on their doorstep. If you’re so sure they moved, then just knock and see who comes out. If it’s not either of them, we just apologize and leave.”

“Why should I even bother? I’m going back home!”

“Who the hay are you and who are you talking to?” A strong feminine voice came from inside the house. I turned slowly and looked towards the source. An angry looking mare with a baseball bat in her mouth was standing by the door, right next to me. She had a light blue coat and a fire red mane and eyes, just like mine. Her cutie mark was a gray mailbox.

“Nopony in particular, just, you know, talking.”

“And who are you? What do you want here? The asylum is the other way around.” she muttered angrily and somehow managed to speak clearly despite the bat in her mouth.

“You’re a cop and want to ask some questions.” Quill said speaking fast. I looked confused at him. “Just say it. Or you have any better ideas?”

“Sorry for disturbing, I’m… Steve from the Canterlot… Police Office, I just wanted to ask you a few questions.” She glared at me and I swallowed hard, hoping she would swallow that.

“Okay, get inside. but I’m keeping the bat.”
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Just like the exterior, the inside of the house was exactly the same as it was all those years ago. Not a single piece of furniture was removed or added. I looked around and the only new thing I noticed was a single picture on a frame. It was a picture of me as a foal, with my mother and father. I took it in my hooves and smiled at it.

“Hey! Put that back!” I nearly dropped the frame and tried to put it back in place as fast as I could. I followed the mare into the living room and she pointed at a chair. I sat on it and she sat on another one in front of me.

“So, what is it that you want to ask?” she dropped the bat by her side and asked roughly.

“Could you tell me your name first?”

“So you came here without even knowing who you were looking for?”

“I think I know who you are but I just need to be sure.”

“I’m Wildfire, and in case you don’t know that too, I work at the Cloudsdale Post Office.”

“So you’re still here.” I mumbled. I didn’t even notice the goofy smile creeping on my face.

“Aren’t you forgetting about somepony?” Quill asked from above me.

“Oh yeah, right” I tried to stay as calm as I could “Didn’t you have a husband? Where is he?”

“Shouldn’t you already know all this? He’s working right now, at the hospital.” She seemed to be getting impatient “Tell me kid, why are you really here? And don’t you think it’s a bit rude to talk to somepony wearing a cloak and a hat?”

I tried to take her attention off the fact “I’m here to talk about your son” I said dryly.

“What about him?! Don’t tell me you came here to torture me with more pointless questions!? I already told you bastards all I knew! He just disappeared one day and nopony knows anything about where he went! Can’t you just leave me alone?” She spoke louder with each sentence, letting her voice die down on the last one. I took a deep breath and sighed.

“He’s alive.”

She looked to me in disbelief “Did you find him? Where is he? What happened to him?” she spoke with a mix of hope and desperation.

“It seems he fell from the edge of Cloudsdale and ended up in a small nameless orphanage.”

“So?! Where is he now?!”

“Calm down miss, I’ll tell you everything I know.” I took another deep breath. This was going to be a long night.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

I told her the whole story, only omitting a few details like the foals that pushed me down. I didn’t want to dig up old problems right now. And also, I didn’t mention the gem, only a “strange magic artifact”, or the changes that it caused on me.

By the end of it, it was already dark. Wildfire was still sitting on the chair, looking down at the ground.

“And that’s pretty much it.” I finished “What do you think?”

“What do I think? That little idiot! He didn’t have to go and become a criminal! I didn’t raise him to be like that.” She still looked down.

Just as I expected. She wouldn’t want me to come back home after finding out all the things I did. My heart sank a bit as I heard it coming from her mouth, but she was right.

“He could have sent a letter. He could have told us… we were so worried…” That got me surprised. She was sobbing hard and the ground under her head was stained with tears. She didn’t look up so I couldn’t see her face, but I knew how much she was crying. She had always been proud like that.

“So you’ve missed him?”

“Of… course I did… I’m his mother for Twilight’s sake” she said between sobs.

I dispelled the hair change, got up and walked towards her. Before she could protest I embraced her in a tight hug. She returned it even stronger.

“I missed you too” I whispered in her ear. She gasped and pushed me away.

“Ember!?”

“It’s been a while ri…” I was about to finish that sentence when a hoof came flying straight in my muzzle.

“Hey! What was that?” I asked completely disoriented.

“Do you have any bucking idea how much we were worried about you? You’ve been gone for 9 years! 9 damn years! And not a single letter! Not a single word about you! We thought… we thought…” She tried to speak but seemed to be unable to find the right words. When she threw herself against me a second time, I blocked my face preparing for another punch. But instead, I felt a strong pressure on my chest.

“I thought you were dead… we both thought…” She sobbed uncontrollably, pressing her face against my chest. I ran my hoof through her hair and returned the hug with one leg, just as she did to calm me down when I was a little foal.

“Good to see you too mom. I’m back.”

“Welcome home.”

I held her in my arms until she stopped crying, and just like that, laying on the floor on the living room, the two of us fell asleep.

Chapter 9 - Guilty Insanity

The Sun hadn’t even risen yet but me and my mother were forced out of sleep. My brain wasn’t fully functional yet so it took me a while to understand what was happening. There was a colt with a white coat and a green mane, and a red cross for a cutie mark. He seemed shocked, fact that could easily be explained by seeing his own wife, sleeping on the living room while hugging another colt, less than half her age, both with content smiles on their faces. It was my father, who had just come back from the hospital. And being the strong and secure colt he is, he promptly freaked out and started crying, asking my mother what he had done wrong to deserve that.

I took me quite a while to explain the situation (especially because Quill wouldn’t stop laughing, even managing to choke even without having lungs), and just about the same time for him to process the fact that I was really his son, that had come back from the dead. He ended up crying even more than my mother, and hugging me until I choked. We talked for a few hours, we had plenty to catch up after all these years, and it was almost a monologue since I was the one that spoke for most of the time, especially after my dad knocked down my hat and I had to explain the whole magic gem situation. Their jaws almost hit the floor when they saw my wings burning. Despite having to relive all those painful memories once more, I was happy. Happy that Pinkie forced me to visit them, happy that I finally got to meet my parents again and happy that Quill had finally shut up after laughing for almost half an hour.

The two of them were especially happy after I told them I was planning on getting married as soon as I bought my own house, despite my mother being a bit angry at me for getting Pinkie pregnant before the marriage. Everypony was happy, until my dad brought something up.

“Hey son…” he spoke in an uneasy tone that I quickly noticed.

“What is it dad?”

“I know we’ve just got reunited, but I think that there’s somepony else that also wants to see you.”

I froze. The only ponies that would possibly remember me, or actually care that I was missing were my parents. Or at least they were the ones I wanted to. The only possibility left disgusted me.

“A-and who is it?” I stuttered, already knowing the answer.

“It’s Nightshade. She’s the one that would want… no, she’s the one that needs to see you the most right now.” He answered in the same uneasy tone.

“But she was the one that…” I started, anger creeping on my voice, but then just stopped. My parents didn’t know, nopony knew, I just told everypony that I fell by accident, and I wanted it to stay that way. I took a deep breath and calmed myself before answering again.

“Well, why not? Where is she now?” I answered casually. A smile slowly crept on my face and a very tempting idea did the same on my mind. This time my mother was the one to answer.

“We better show you. Come on.” She walked out of the house, followed by my father and me, while Quill floated above me, speaking so loud almost to the point of screaming.

“No, I know that smile pretty damn well Ember. If you’re having any stupid ideas just forget it, you don’t want to do anything you’ll regret. Remember that time on Appleloosa? You had that same smile on your face. That same damn smile.”

I tried to ignore him. Of course I remembered it pretty well. I was nearly dead when I got there, hadn’t had any food or water for days. I needed to find something to eat desperately. I could ask for food, that’s what Quill suggested, but I couldn’t have the risk of not getting any, and I would certainly die if that happened. I had reached the point of starvation when you begin to hallucinate, and there wasn’t even any grass in that damn place.

It was then that I noticed a pony, pulling a small cart full of apples towards the town. He was still almost half a mile away, and he hadn’t spotted me yet. I hid behind a rock until he passed by. I was smiling at the before the prospect of food after starvation. So when he was close enough, I charged towards him with a large stone in my mouth. I smacked it in his head twice and he fell to the ground. I managed to eat half the content of the cart, and stuffed my saddlebags with the rest. By then I was wondering how long would it take for him to wake up. It was only then that I realized he wasn’t breathing.

I had never killed anypony before in my entire life, and hadn’t done it again since then. He was a young colt, about the same age I have now. I still have nightmares about it, and I regret what I did every day ever since. But I wouldn’t regret this.

Not this time.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/--/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

I didn’t know where my parents were taking me, but I had a plan in my head, despite all of Quill’s complaints. But it all came crashing down when I saw where we were.

A sanatorium. Of all places. That was where Nightshade was. And as we walked through the cramped corridors dotted by cell-like rooms, followed by a guard, I asked to nopony in particular.

“So, does she work here now? I always thought that by the bat wing cutie mark she would have some talent related to flying.”

“No Quill. She’s in here. I think you should go by yourself, she hasn’t been very receptive to visitors, but you may be able to help.” My dad said, pointing at one of the doors that the guard then opened, followed by a remark.

“Visitors aren’t allowed to stay for more than half an hour. And don’t worry, she is restrained.” The guard said dryly.

I entered the room, followed by Quill, and the door was closed behind us. The room was no more than a concrete box with a door, a window and a bed, all of it made to float on the clouds through magic, like all the other cells. I looked around confused. I was expecting this to be some sort of joke, but there was nopony to show up and tell me the punch line. The walls were covered in scratches, forming phrases. The few ones that were readable said “I’m sorry” and “Please come back”, repeated over and over again.

The real shock came when I looked at the bed. There was somepony laying down on it, with its back turned on me. If I didn’t recognize the black coat and the gray mane, I would definitely recognize the bat wings cutie-mark. Nightshade was curled in a fetal position, apparently asleep. I just stood there for a while, looking at her, not really knowing what to do. She was thin, almost anorexic. Her once strong wings were now hurt and atrophied, being strapped to her sides, while her fronthooves were held together by shackles.

“Quill, get out.” I said coldly.

“Look kid, calm down and think before doing anything harsh. I think we both know…”

“GET OUT” I repeated, louder this time. He floated through the door while Nightshade shifted on the bed. She turned around and looked at me. I still had the cloak and hat on.

“Who are you? I don’t care if you think you can help me, just get out.” She spoke without emotion.

I just stood there in silence. She looked like a zombie, something straight out of a horror movie. She had black bags under her eyes and her pupils were shrunk. Her hooves were chipped; apparently she carved the concrete walls with them. I didn’t know what to do. She looked weak, her legs were as thin as a stick, and the bones on her spine had started to appear. If I concentrated a bit on my horn, I could easily break her neck from there. I could do it and nopony would care. She was a lost case already. Her eyes reflected no emotion as she stared at me.

“I’m Ember. Remember me?”

“Forget it. Others already tried that, I won’t buy it. Ember is dead. I know it. He’s only here now” she said and poked the side of her head with a hoof.

“You pushed me off that cloud. You and your other friends. Why did you do that?” My hooves were shaking madly despite the calmness in my voice. I had to stay focused or I would just end up killing her right there.

“They forced me to do it. I didn’t want to. I liked you you know. But they forced me. They said that they would hurt me. So I killed you. And now I’m here. ”

“How am I dead if I’m talking to you right now?”

“I said it. You’re in my head. Why don’t you go away? Maybe they’ll let me out if you go away? But I don’t want you to go away, or I’ll be alone.” She maintained an impassible tone, showing no sign of emotion, just staring blankly at me.

“You made my life hell you know? Ever since you threw me down I’ve been running away, fighting to survive. But it’s all over now. I’m getting married soon. I just want you to know that I always thought that I was going to marry you someday, before all that.”

Tears ran down her face as she spoke, and for the first time she showed emotion. Her face was contorted in a mix of fear and sadness, and the tears got bigger as she spoke.

“Me too. All I wanted was a friend… but now all I want is to get out of here. I want to get better Ember. I want to, but I don’t know how.” She went silent, and the tears continued to fall.

I looked at her. I pitied her, despite what she had done to me. But the state she was in, was just miserable. Then I remembered something. Something I still had.

“Is that really your greatest desire? Is it really all that you want right now?” I asked and Nightshade nodded in agreement, and looked at me with hope.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus. It happened so naturally the other times I didn’t even know how to do it. After a few moments, I felt a strange tingling sensation on my throat. In a single movement, I jerked my head towards the floor and threw up. But what was now there, lying on the ground, was a red stone, shaped like a diamond. I took it in my hooves and looked at it. The first time I saw it, it was bright red, almost as if it was filled with blood. Now, the color was faded and weak, but it still shone.

“Here, swallow this.” I extended the stone to her.

“What is this?” She held it tightly on her hooves, as if it could disappear anytime.

“Don’t make any questions. Just swallow it and remember what you truly want.”

She obeyed me and swallowed the stone with no hesitation. Starswirl told me that the stone would only work once more, so I hoped that it would be enough. Just as she did it, a white light enveloped the room, covering her and blinding me for a few seconds. When it faded away, Nightshade was left sitting on the bed, with tears on her eyes and a smile on her face, while she stared at her own hooves. She looked at me and her smile widened.

“Ember?! Is that you?!” She asked, apparently having forgotten all that happened earlier.

“Yes.” I said dryly.

“By Celestia, I thought you were dead! We all thought you were dead!” She said as she slowly walked towards me.

“Stop. Just cut the crap already.”

Her smile vanished and she stopped dead in her tracks.

“What’s wrong Ember?”

“I’m sorry but I just can’t take this. Seriously, you push me off a cloud and then expect me to act like nothing happened? Look, I know it wasn’t your fault, but I still hate you for it. I healed you, but don’t think that I’ll ever forgive you. Please don’t look for me. As far as you and everypony else that I knew is concerned, I’m dead.” I spoke harshly and fast, and then turned around, facing the door. “Oh, and by the way, I grew wings, just like you said I would.” I let out a blaze from my wings just as I finished speaking, burning my cloak and hat to ashes and spreading them as much as I could. I unlocked the door with a spell and left, without looking back.

Quill was the only one waiting right outside the door, my parents being on a small bench by the end of the corridor. The guard stared at my wings and horn with fear, but I couldn’t care less. I walked slowly towards my parents.

“I saw it all. I’m proud of you kid.” Quill said from my side.

“I still hate her you know. I really considered shoving my horn in her neck there quite a few times. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive her.” I whispered calmly, not wanting my parents to hear.

“I didn’t expect you to forgive her. I just didn’t want you to do anything that would haunt you for the rest of your life, but you did something great there. I mean it, I’m really proud of you.”

“So, when are you coming to visit her again?” Asked my father just as we got close enough.

“Never”

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

We walked back home mostly in silence, just enjoying each other’s company. My father asked some occasional questions, including what happened to my clothes, and I just said I lost them.

Just as we were about to enter the house, I recognized a silhouette, walking from side to side nervously, in front of the door. She rushed towards me when she saw me. She tried in vain to talk, only managing to emit some indiscernible sounds. She seemed to be in panic, and was breathing heavily. I put a hoof in her shoulder trying to calm her down.

“Calm down Fluttershy. Please, take a deep breath and tell me what’s wrong.” I tried to sound as calm as possible. She breathed deeply, but didn’t manage to say more than a few words before panicking again, which were just enough to make me jump off the nearest cloud and fly away as fast as I could, leaving my parents looking at each other in confusion.

“Pinkie… the foal… hospital…at Canterlot”

Chapter 10 - A Life for a Life

Fluttershy had barely finished mumbling something about Pinkie being at the Canterlot hospital and Ember leaped off the cloud like a panther. I would have asked her about what exactly was going on, but if I materialized in front of her she would probably just faint, so I went after him.

I had never seen him fly that fast, even I was having trouble keeping up. We could see the Canterlot Castle so we wouldn’t get lost, but still, it could be seen from miles away, and any pegasus would take about two hours to get there. The night was already falling, and Ember’s wings looked like two meteors crossing the sky.

Half an hour later we were right above the city, looking around frantically for the right place. Ember spotted a tall white building with a large red cross on top of the roof. It was a landing pad for emergencies, when patients needed to be carried by pegasi.

Without thinking twice, Ember charged towards it as fast as he could. It must have been quite a hellish sight for the few ponies that were around when he landed; an enraged “alicorn”, with bright burning wings, patches of burned skin and fur all over his back and an enraged look that could stare a wall into submission.

As he tried to get into the hospital, one of the ponies snapped out of the shock and tried to block his way, being quickly joined by the others.

Ember stopped walking and flexed his hind legs, preparing to charge headfirst onto them, but before he could actually do it, a bright light flashed around him, and he fell down to the ground.

--//--

The ponies on the roof tried to stop me from breaking into the place. There were five of them, and I could have probably flown right over them. in hindsight, I could just probably explain the entire situation to them, and they would probably just let me in. But I wasn’t thinking at the time. If anypony had harmed Pinkie, I would break all his bones then feed him to a manticore.

But just as I prepared to charge, a flash of light surrounded me, and pain shot through my entire body. I felt all my strength leaving me, and I just dropped to the ground. Before fainting, the last thing I saw were the ponies bowing down, and a voice I didn’t recognize at the time, speaking to them.

“Don’t worry, he’s with me, I’ll take care of him.”

--//--

As I woke up startled, I lost my balance and fell right on my back. The fall was agonizing and every move I made to get back up felt like a dozen knives slashing at my back. I screamed in pain, and a purple aura surrounded my body, and slowly an unknown force put me back up.

“Sorry! I thought it would be a good idea to lay you down on that bench. One of the doctors bandaged you up but some of the burns were pretty bad so I think you should stay off your back for a few weeks.”

I slowly regained my balance, and looked up to whoever was talking to me.

“Princess Twilight? Where am I? What are you doing here?” I didn’t bow down but she didn’t seem to mind.

“We’re at the hospital, and this is a waiting room. I believe I’m here for the same reason as you are. Didn’t Fluttershy tell you what happened?”

I looked around the sterile white room with a few benches on it, slowly trying to remember what exactly was happening before I fainted.

“Pinkie! Is she alright? What happened to her? What about the foal?” I asked, shouting without even noticing.

“Calm down, Pinkie’s fine, I promise you. But, there’s only one problem…” She rubbed her hooves uneasily.

“Just tell me already! What’s wrong!?”

She took a deep breath and sighed, looking at me with concern.

“I don’t really know the details Ember. Pinkie had an accident, from what the cakes told me she fell down a flight of stairs at Sugarcube Corner. Luckily Rarity was there with her, so she called me. I teleported them here, and the doctors had to perform an emergency procedure. The foal was born, but almost two months too early. I’m sorry Ember.” She tried to keep her composure, but seemed on the verge of tears.

I barely managed to sit down without falling to the ground again. I just stood there, staring at the ceiling.

“What happens now?”

“I don’t know. The doctors told me she has less than 30% chance to survive.”

She. My own daughter. There could be no worse way to find out your child’s gender.

“I want to see her.”

--//--

It was already three in the morning, so it was already long past visiting time, but the Princess was with me so the doctors had no choice but to allow me in.

The room was filled with incubators, but most of them were empty. I walked through every one of them, while Quill followed me in silence. In the left side of the room, right next to the wall, was a tiny mare with her eyes closed, not bigger than a doll, with a white coat, a bright pink mane;

and a pair of little white wings.

I looked at her; she was so fragile, breathing with difficulty through a tube, and with a needle stuck in her leg. I wanted to touch her, but she looked like she could break if I weren’t careful.

I left the room. My eyes were moist as I walked back into the same waiting room, where the Princess was. I sat beside her in silence. We stood there for about half an hour, before I broke the silence.

“Why can’t you do something about this?”

“What do you mean?” She looked at me confused.

“You know exactly what I mean.” I turned and looked towards her “You’re a goddess, you move the damn Sun for buck’s sake! Why can’t you just heal our daughter?! Isn’t she your friend?”

She sighed and stood there in silence. Before I decided to ask again, she got up and her horn flashed. The whole room was enveloped in light, and runes covered the walls. When the glow stopped, only the runes remained. I looked at her confused.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. I sealed this entire room so nopony can hear us or enter as long as I want.”

“Why did you do that for? What are you going to do?”

“I want you to know something Ember. Pinkie is one of my best friends. I owe my life to her, just as much as I do to all of them. Me and the rest of Equestria. But as much as it pains me to know what is going to happen, I can’t help you. Because I am not a goddess. Nor is Luna or was Celestia.”

“What do you mean? You can control the Sun, and you govern the entire land, how is that possible?”

“This is why I put up the barrier. This is the first time I am going to tell this to anypony, and it must not leave this room, or it could undermine the authority of all the alicorns that ever govern this land. I will trust you because Pinkie trusted you. And Quill, I know you’re there. Starswirl told me about you. You can stay too.”

She sat down and I did the same, facing her, while Quill floated around in silence.

“Alicorns aren’t gods. A long time ago, before the great dragon wars, before Equestria even existed, there was only one living creature. Eventually it gave itself the name of Solaris, and it was the creator of the Sun, the Moon and all the living things. I met him once, and he told me the entire story of creation, of how the world was made until Celestia and Luna, who were the first ponies to walk the land and that created all others. But he was the one true god, and the only one that existed.

“So you can speak to him? Why doesn’t anypony else know about him?”

“That is because he no longer exists in this plane. He dispersed his own consciousness over the world, creating the laws that bind everything together, from gravity to the very base of every living being. He isn’t dead, but he is also not alive.”

“So in the end it is all up to us.”

“In fact it is, but that’s what good friends are for.”

This time Quill was the one to ask.

“But there’s one thing I don’t understand. How did you become an alicorn? As far as I know you used to be Celestia’s pupil, and you were just a normal unicorn.”

“That’s because before she died, she gave me her powers and her very essence. According to what she had told me, this is the way that she and her sister found to choose the successor for the throne. Apparently, only alicorns can do that” She looked out of the window with a worried look on her face “I’m sorry for this Ember, but it is almost time for me to raise the Sun. I need to go, but I need you to promise me that you will never tell anypony what you heard here.”

“I promise.” I said without much enthusiasm. The princess then, teleported away from the room without another word. The runes on the walls slowly faded away.

Suddenly, I had an idea. Maybe, just maybe, I could save her. But I needed to sleep first. I needed all the energy I could get, so I laid down on the bench. I was exhausted, and as soon as I put my head down, everything blacked out.

--//--

A few hours later, a pony entered the waiting room with a small cart full of cleaning materials, forcing me out of sleep. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I left the room in silence and Quill followed right after.

I walked towards the room with the incubators again. This time, I made sure that nopony had spotted me walking in. it wasn’t hard, it was just a hospital, not a bank. And once again I found my daughter. She was in the same exact position than she was the previous day, only her breathing had become even weaker.

Quill seemed to know exactly what I was about to do.

“Are you really going to do this? Don’t you think you might be pushing your luck a tad bit?” He said sternly.

“I don’t know. But I have to try it. Celestia did it, and it worked. And technically, I am an alicorn. I just can’t stand knowing that this is the only thing I can possibly do, and not do it.”

“What if it doesn’t work? What if you die? I know you don’t want Pinkie to suffer.”

“That’s right, I don’t. But even if it doesn’t work, she’ll know that I tried. This is my redemption Quill. I’ve done bad things. If I die now, I deserved it. But she doesn’t deserve this. She deserves to live.”

Quill moved back in silence. He knew there was no way to talk me out of this.

I took a deep breath and concentrated. I didn’t know exactly what to do so I just went with the flow of things. I was going to give all of my energy, my lifeforce, my essence as Twilight put it. I focused all of it in the pony in front of me. My daughter. I was going to save her.

Then I felt pain. I couldn’t expect anything else. I was forcing all that kept me alive into somepony else’s body. I just hoped she would resist it. My legs were shaky, and I fell down to the ground midway through, but I didn’t stop.

In the end, I fell down completely, felling the world cool down around me as everything went black. But the last thing I heard was a deep breath, and the sound of a foal crying.

I did it.