How the Tables Turn

Knives cut through the air, flying towards the throng of ponies upon the stage. Twenty of them flew into the thicket, nine of them making solid connections and sending droplets of blood into the air. Nine ponies fell to the ground. Four of them returned to their hooves. The throng closed, obscuring Phoenix and Ashes from view. The two of them made their way to the back, keeping their eyes on the air above them as the pegasi guards took to the air, divebombing the crowd with their wings extended, the serrated blades attached to their wings knocking ponies to the ground as well as tearing deep gashes in their flesh. They landed upon the ground, flaring out their wings, resulting in deep gashes and even fatal stab wounds on the ponies around them.

Phoenix and Ashes turned tail and ran together, reaching the hallways and going down to Ashes’ house. Ashes galloped inside, and Phoenix turned and stood sentinel at her doorway.

One pegasus guard had the mind to follow them. He had been flying down the hallway behind them, and was now converging on Phoenix in a breakneck dive, wings forward and wingblades poised to stab.

Time seemed to slow down as Phoenix barely ducked under the blades and took the wings themselves to his shoulders. He was knocked onto his back. He used his hind hooves to encourage the pegasus forward with a kick, causing him to overshoot and tumble off of him. He got to his hooves at the same time as the guard. They turned and faced each other, charging towards each other. The guard reached up mid-charge and detached the razor-sharp blade from his wing, preparing for hoof-to-hoof combat, which wasn’t a smart idea going up against Phoenix.

Phoenix’s forehoof came forward, knocking the blade off-course, and he used his other to turn his charge into a tackle. The guard responded with Phoenix’s move, kicking him off, but not before Phoenix could bite down on his other wingblade and tear it away from his wing. Phoenix landed with grace, remaining steady on his hooves, and whirled around to face the guard. The guard lifted his blade, drew back, and threw it. It spun through the air. For a moment, a smirk crossed the guard’s face as he saw that the blade connected with Phoenix’s face. It was wiped from his face when he saw that it was firmly wedged between Phoenix’s jaws, inflicting no injury and arming Phoenix further.

With no options left, the guard took to the air, flying over Phoenix. When he was just flying overhead, he pulled into a backflip and divebombed Phoenix from directly above.

Phoenix crouched and bucked his hindhooves impossibly high, connecting with the pegasus guard’s jaw and twisting his neck with a satisfying crack. He fell to the ground like a ragdoll, and remained limp and unmoving.

Phoenix’s lips stretched into a smirk.

Ashes strode into her bedroom and pushed the bed to the side. She lifted a section of carpet, revealing a trap door. She opened it and pulled away the tarp, the lockbox, and the bloodstained book. She lowered her head into the space, and took a chisel in her mouth. She wedged it into a loose brick in the wall and pulled it out. She lifted the brick out and turned it around. It was hollow on the inside.

She pulled a white box out of the brick and placed it on the ground. She simply sat and stared, allowing the memories to take hold of her and wash over her.

”Ashes, the guards are taking me to the Dark Corridor. I don’t yet know if I’ll return or not.”

Pounding on their door sounded out for the third time.

“I need you to take this.” He held out a white box. “It’s the only part of your family you’ll have.”

“OPEN THE DOOR!”

“Ashes, I need you to look at me.” Ashes turned her tear-streaked face to her father. “You are my only daughter, and I have faith in you. You’re going to get out someday, and when you do, I want you to wear this with pride. This is who you are, Emerald Ashes, and it’s who you’ll always be. Don’t let anything change that.

CRACK

A guard came forth and grabbed hold of her father, pulling him into the hallway. She rushed forth and grabbed onto her father, holding him in what would  be their final embrace. The guard pushed her off roughly and yanked him from the room, leaving behind a broken door and a mare wailing in sorrow as she looked upon her dad for the last time.

Ashes reached out a hoof and lifted the lid off the box, one single tear sneaking from her eye and shimmering as it fell from her muzzle when she looked into the box’s contents.

A necklace.

A simple silver chain. Suspended from it was an emerald, half of which had been bathed in flame, resulting in a coating of soot. The emerald had been coated in glass, preserving the soot upon it. Scribed upon the glass orb was a pair of wings, between which was a cloud spewing down a single bolt of lightning.

She gazed upon the gem. Emerald Ashes. The last gift she had received was a namesake, her identity, a part of her that would make her whole.

She extended her hoof and lifted the necklace from its box, placing it upon her neck. She would fulfill her father’s last wish.

She would wear her identity with pride.