Dear Friend

Dear Friend

One’s past irrevocably determines their future...

I always hated visiting my parents graves. I hated the sinking feeling of hopelessness that engulfed my heart as I looked down on them. I hated seeing their tombstones standing like sentinels, silently holding them captive. My want was less for their freedom, but more for my own happiness and for that I felt an inkling of guilt. Some say that it's only right for a foal to bury their parents, but what they don't realize is, it's just as hard if not harder were it the other way around. For a parent has the ability to gain another foal, but a foal has no means to find another parent. They are lost without them. I know I was. The graves lay in the shadow of a towering juniper tree, it had just been a sapling back then. The name my sister had given it escapes me now, but when we were younger it was nice to know something was watching over them, it eased the pain, a bit. Yet as time passed and the visits from sympathetic neighbors became fewer and finally ceased, Ember and I began to realize just how alone we were. Alone was how I felt on the windswept hilltop the next day as I stared down at the tombstones with disdain, not for my parents but for the memories they brought up and burned down to nothing. I scrapped my hoof across the frost covered granite surface to reveal the chiseled out writing. "Here lies Jade and Storm Heart, loving parents of Blaze and Ember, they will be sorely missed,". Such hallow words could not fill the void they left behind. Kneeling down I placed a small bundle of flowers at the base of the tombstone, the pink magnolias stood out in stark contrast to the whiteness covering the ground. It was amazing how big of a gap two inches of dirt could make.

“Bye mom, bye dad...” I said before turning my back to them and taking a deep breath. I couldn’t stand being there much longer, I was surprised I lasted that long. I hated them, for dying, for leaving me and my sister. It was so...selfish.

The year they died no rain fell from the heavens, not a single drop. Food was scarce and the apple orchards weren’t producing at even half of their capacity, times were tough, for everypony. Even Saddleback’s wealthy family couldn’t escape the hardships created by the drought. I closed my eyes and the memories came flooding back of day everything in my life changed.

Wiping the sweat from my eyes I paused a moment to catch my breath and check on the cargo of my cart. To my relief the boxes hadn’t shifted since I left town, mother would’ve killed me if something was broken. The midday sun beat down on me and the air was thick with heat. All around dead and shriveled up plants blew across the plains while dust devils swirled in the distance. Summer had choked the life from the land and we were the ones who had to pay. A vulture shrieked some ways away, must be another dead buffalo, I thought to myself. Seeking shelter, I took refuge under the skimpy branches of a dying soap tree. I wouldn’t stay for long, just cool off and be on my way. While I waited I amused myself with flipping through the bundle of mail I had picked up. Flyers for groceries, doctor bills, a letter from Ember’s secret admirer, all typical Wednesday mail, except for the last one. It was cream colored and sealed with a gold sticker emblazoned with the letters LH. Fear began to trickle into my veins. LH was Saddleback’s family brand, it was on all of their apple crates, it even capped the gates that guarded their front entrance. The perfectly scrawled hoof writing addressed it to my father. Quickly I set it down and covered it with the pile of mail and took a deep breath to calm myself. Never once had we gotten a letter from our land lords, all the business was usually conducted face to face, I had no idea why they would suddenly change their ways now. Against my better judgement I pushed the feeling of anxiety to the back of my mind. Trying to occupy myself I watched a black beetle crawl along a stooping branch but my eyes kept darting back to where the letter lay, covered up by a 2 for one deal on cabbages. One peek wouldn’t hurt, I could just seal it back up and no pony would be the wiser. For all I knew it could be good news, maybe dad was getting a raise, or money to fix the leaky downspouts. Not able to endure the mystery any longer I tore open the letter and dumped out it’s contents. Only a single piece of parchment floated to the ground and I picked it up unfurling it carefully, dying to see what was written inside, but fearful all the same. I read slowly one word at a time.

Dear Mr. Heart

In regards to your farm, it has been two months since our last letter and we have

not received any sort of payment for land costs. You were warned of the consequences and now your debt must be repaid. At 12 noon on July 27th expect our collectors at your homestead. You have two choices, stay and pay your debt in full, or leave and never come back. The choice is yours. This may seem like a merciless act, but we assure you we are being quite merciful, we could have had you taken care of months ago but decided to give you a chance. Don’t let it go to waste.

Best wishes

Flim, Sr. VP of Bad News

I felt the blood drain from my face. Whatever a collector was it didn’t sound friendly. Don’t let it go to waste. What was that supposed to mean? The feeling of anxiety welled up in my throat and my breath quickened. The 27th was today. With complete disregard for the cart I took off at a gallop for home.

The anxiety slowly turned to dread with every hoof fall. Every step closer I hoped that when I crested over the last hill I would see my father standing with the collectors smiling and handing them a big fat cheque. I hoped that my sisters and my mother would be inside cooking and baking like they always did, filling the house with delicious smells. Yet when the time came I saw nothing. As I burst through the front gates into our front yard I was met with silence. Something was wrong, the house looked quiet, the chickens weren’t cooing and the hogs weren’t snorting like usual. Creeping towards the barn door that was slightly ajar I noticed scuff marks leading inside. I reached for the door handle but froze when noticed the odd shadows cast by the barn. Something had moved.

“Who’s there?” I called out.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” A voice with a thick Trottingham accent answered, not in threatening way but stern, much like a teacher scolding a student. Immediately I shrunk back from the wide white door, straining to see who was talking. “You could run you know, never look back and save yourself the horror of what lies through those doors, but I know you won’t,” He continued. “Although, whatever you choose to do, leave or stay, you must promise something for me,”

“Who are you?” I demanded.

“That doesn’t matter, will you promise?” He asked.

“What do you mean horrors?” I countered even though I knew very well what it could be.

“Promise me you’ll stay strong no matter what happens and look for me when the eleventh-hour strikes and darkness falls,” the voice said in hurried tone.

“Who are you?” I asked again.

“Will you promise if I tell you?” he asked, clearly annoyed with my lack of compliance.

I nodded my head, not sure if whoever was talking could see me or not.

He cleared his throat, “My name doesn’t particularly matter, but my friends call me the-,” He trailed off.

“The what??” I cried. “Who are you!!” My eyes began to well up with tears and I charged into the shadows, only to find a couple of busted barrels and a patch of charred grass.

“Mom! Dad!” I called out, “Dew Drop, Kitty, Ember, where are you?!” I raced around the yard looking everywhere for my family, except the barn. In exasperation I dropped down onto the front steps and began to cry. I cried like never before. The fear of  being alone and nothingness seared my soul and drove a knife into my heart. By now I knew what lay in the barn, I couldn’t bring myself to look but I had to.

A part of me died that day, a part of me I will never get back, lost forever. Lost as I collapsed to my knees in a pool of blood as red as a summer sunset and cried out my parents names. I screamed for them to wake up but my voice could not reach where they had been taken to. My mind flashed back to the letter, “you have two choices,”. Father had made his, and damned me to this life taking everyone else along with him. Everyone, except for me, or so I had thought.

A loud whooshing sound blasted through the air and blew out the panes of glass in the barn windows. I stumbled to my feet and threw open the double doors to see Ember laying in the middle of the yard with a huge circle of burned earth around her. Around the circle were strange looking symbols all pointing towards the center.

I rushed over to her motionless body and shook her awake, “Where are Kitty and Dew?!” I cried. “Mom and dad are, they, something’s happened,” I sobbed. Ember still seemed unconscious as I stroked her hair and tears flowed down my cheeks.

Sheriff Silverstar said when he had found my sister and I we were still in the middle of the yard, passed out.

The days following passed in a haze of interrogations and cold, dark jail cells, but after the through search of our house they could find no evidence of what I saw. The circle, the symbols, the bodies... All gone. I swore I had imagined none of it, it had all felt to real. Deducing it to be a simple kidnapping Silverstar released the two us into the custody of Braeburn’s family, promising that ours would be found within the week. Although the week came and gone and no signs of Kitty or Dew Drop showed up, I prayed that they were still out there, some where. On the other hand I didn’t bother believing that my parents were still out there, I had felt the blood on my hooves as tried to shake my mother’s body awake and that couldn’t have been my Imagination, I knew my mind wasn’t capable of that. It could barely process the fact that, if my parents had know this was coming, why did they stay. Why sacrifice themselves and possibly my sisters for what appeared to be, in the sake of their own pride and Vanity. Sure they were porud of us and our way of life, but I never thought they felt this strong. To me it didn’t make sense, they were selfish by being selfless. Everyday I wonder what life would have been like if we had ran away. If they were all still here and our family wasn’t fractured like it was. Yet sometimes when I close my eyes and let go of the world around me, I can hear them whispering.

“Trust us Blaze, we know what you will become, make us proud, we love you,”

Now if I ask Ember what happened to her she sides with the sheriff and says that I had just imagined it all. Something about the way she said made we think otherwise though, like she was hiding something. And there was still that stallion who had talked to me. It all didn’t add up. I never told anypony I felt this way of course, they’d think I was crazy.

“Blaze, we’re going to miss the train!” Octavia’s voice called across the frozen field. I exhaled slowly and let the warm air seep out of my lungs and crystalize in the chilled air. I hoped that the weather in Ponyville was better, it was really putting me on edge.

Expect from me soon.

B.