The filly struggled in her bindings, screaming helplessly for the mother she knew could not hear. Scarlet Force pulled at the ropes tying her to the huge wooden stake, trying her best not to look in front of her. No child wants to look at their mother's corpse, after all. The only reason Scarlet was moving at all was because she could still hear her mother's last words, ringing in her ear and bouncing through her skull. It was an order, a request, one that Scarlet promised to fulfill. Scarlet Force was so focused on escaping that she never noticed the three stallions step before her, one with a knife, one with a burning torch, and the last with a rope connected to a goat and cow. The cow was led and settled to Scarlet's left, the goat to her right.
"We offer to you, oh powerful Maker, our finest cow! May his sacrifice please you!" shouted the stallion with the knife, looking to the heavens. He brought the knife to the cows throat and slowly dragged, muttering as he did. The cow gurgled and dropped to the ground, dead. The stallion stepped over the cow and brought his knife to the goat.
"We offer to you, oh powerful Maker, our finest goat! May his sacrifice please you!" bellowed the stallion. He slit the goat's neck just as he did the cow's, muttering a strange phrase that Scarlet couldn't understand even if she heard it. The stallion finally brought the bloody knife to Scarlet Force, still struggling, still sobbing, still fighting. He pressed the knife against her throat, muttering the same phrase.
"We offer to you, oh powerful Maker, a child of two sinners! May it's sacrifice please you!" shouted the stallion. "May her soul rest with her makers: in the depths of hell!"
Blood spurted outwards, splattering against Scarlet's face. The little filly gasped at the arrow sticking from her captor's neck, the arrow from nowhere. The stallion fell to the ground, as did one of the others who captured Scarlet. Like the first, the second was a victim of a sudden arrow in his throat. The last captor rushed for the knife and pressed it against Scarlet's neck, determined to finish the ritual.
A sharp lavender blade pierced the stallion's chest. The pony wielding it ripped her blood-soaked weapon from her victim's chest, and kicked him to the ground. She wiped the blood from her blade onto her light purple armor and slid her sword into a sheath on her hip. The mare removed her helmet to let her straight-cut, deep purple mane blow in the wind. Scarlet Force couldn't keep her eyes off of the light pink highlight in her savior's mane. The mare, a unicorn, used her horn to untie Scarlet from her prison. The filly fell to the ground and scurried to her mother's fallen figure.
"Mommy!" cried Scarlet.
"Yelling about her won't bring her back." said the mare. "Nothing will."
"Mommy." repeated Scarlet. She nudged her mother's fallen body, stirring the pool of blood congregating around her neck.
"You got a name, kid?" asked the mare.
"S-scarlet. Scarlet Force." said Scarlet. The mare hovered the bloody sacrificial knife into Scarlet's hand.
"It's not safe here. Hold onto that knife and, if it comes down to it, use it." said the mare. She replaced her helmet, which covered most of her face. All that could be seen through the gaps in the purple steel were eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
"Why did they do it?" asked Scarlet. The mare smiled grimly and in spite of herself. She knew it was inappropriate, but she couldn't help herself.
"I like the way you think. You ask the right kind of questions." said the mare. "Your kidnappers were from Solar-Maria. They thought your parents were one of mine, which they weren't."
"Solar-Maria? What's that?" asked Scarlet Force. She forced herself to continue the conversation. If the mare left, Scarlet just knew something terrible would happen.
"How old are you? Five? Six?" asked the mare. She disregarded her own question. If Scarlet didn't know anything, she must've been young. Too young for this. "The Solar-Maria is a clan of ponies who want to rule Equestria. I'm part of the clan that's going to stop them: The Sparkle Hearts. Look, I have other things to do, so I have to go. You shouldn't have any trouble on your way to the next town. I killed all the Marias on the way here. Go, find a job, get some bits, and make a difference."
"How?" asked Scarlet.
"I can't tell you that. You have to discover your destiny on your own. But, if I were you…" said the mare. "You can't bring your parents back, but you can avenge them. If you really want to make a difference in this world, come find us. Help us win a war." The mare turned to leave the same way she came. Scarlet grabbed her around the waist and hung on for dear life. The mare swung her hips and kicked in frustration, but Scarlet didn't budge.
"Wait! Who are you?" asked Scarlet. "You seem really young to be in a war!"
"I am fifteen years old, and I'm already a lieutenant colonel of The Sparkle Hearts." bragged the mare. "Lt. Col. Twilight Sparkle. And I said I would join if I were you, when the truth is, I was you. I watched my parents die, too. Will you follow the same path I did? Or will you make the wrong call?"
With that, Twilight shrouded her entire body with purple light. She vanished with a pop of energy, one that threw Scarlet back a couple of yards. Scarlet sat on her back and sobbed, thinking of her mother, dead in front of her, and her father, dead who-knows-where. She suddenly remembered her promise to her mother, a promise that consumed her entire life from that moment on.
"Survive." her mother had said. "Survive, no matter what."
Ten Years Later
Scarlet stared into the clean, clear pond, taking in her own reflection. Her coat, muddy red, and her tattered tunic was matted with sweat and dirt. Her short, spiky, windswept mane was just as red and just as dirty. Even her soft orange eyes seemed faded and tired. Scarlet was exhausted, near the point of fainting. Still, she could not stop until she managed to get the hang of her power.
Scarlet stared at the huge stones sitting at the bottom of the lake. They were giant, many times larger and heavier than herself, and their faces were smooth and flat. No fourteen year-old Earth Pony filly would be able to lift the stone. None but Scarlet, that is. She looked to her flank, at the Cutie Mark of three black arrows pointing down and three white arrows pointing up. The arrows intertwined, like a set of mix-matched teeth.
"Okay, Scar. You got this." she said to herself. She stared at the stones at the bottom of the lake, and felt her body get lighter. It felt as if all of her weight shifted down to her hooves, leaving the rest of her to float, tethered to the ground. Scarlet felt a familiar crackling run through her, from the tip of her nose to the end of her short, choppy tail.
The pond began to ripple, and the air around it seemed to vanish. All around Scarlet was stiff and suffocating. She felt herself begin to choke, but she couldn't stop there. She shoved upwards with her mind. The color faded from the surrounding greenery, from the water and sky. All became gray to Scarlet as she felt herself rise higher, yet never leaving the ground. Her vision doubled and blurred, and she felt as if she could fall over. Scarlet heaved one last time, and it finally happened.
The water began to ripple more furiously. A huge chunk of the water's surface separated into baseball-sized droplets, which slowly began to rise into the air. The stone followed, slowly and aimlessly floating from the pond. The stones rose to about Scarlet's head, and she was hit with a mix of feelings. Pride, excitement, exhaustion, just to name a few.
SPLASH!
The stone dropped down into the pond unceremoniously, sending out a splattering of water. By the time the water hit Scarlet's face, she was already unconscious. She fell, face first, into the cold, crisp water. Water rushed into Scarlet's open mouth, flowing through her and entering her lungs. She let out a cough, and struggled to return to consciousness. She managed to wake herself up, but it was too late. Scarlet could do no more than kick and struggle, when an arm wrapped itself around her middle. After a great heave, Scarlet rose out of the pond and landed on the cold, grey dirt surrounding the freezing pool of water.
"This is a rather bleak place to drown, don't you think?" said Scarlet's savior. Scarlet took a glance, and instantly felt familiar. There was something about the mare's purple coat and straight-cut mane, her lavender armor and pink highlight, that resonated with Scarlet, as if they had met before.
"Thanks." said Scarlet. "You saved my life."
"Yeah. I did. Don't make me have to do it twice." said the mare. "You got a name, kid?" Instantly, Scarlet remembered the mare. Memories of their meeting, and of years of search, came flooding back to Scarlet.
"Twilight!" she squealed. Twilight looked confused, trying to piece together the puzzle of the little filly.
"That's interesting. My name is Twilight as well."
"No, I mean you're Twilight. Lt. Col. Twilight!" said Scarlet.
"General, now. Do I know you?" asked Twilight.
"You saved my life ten years ago."
"I saved a lot of lives ten years ago. Be more specific." said Twilight.
"You saved me from some Solar-Marias. They were going to sacrifice me, but you saved me!" said Scarlet. "You saved my life twice."
"Well, in that case, don't make me do it three times. Do you have a home?" asked the general.
"Not exactly. I kinda squat in that village up north. I think it's called Ponyville." said Scarlet.
"How do you get by?" asked Twilight.
"I'm a thief. I go around the village and I take from ponies who can afford to lose some." said Scarlet. "I'm not living large, but I'm living, right? Wait, you're not gonna turn me in, are you?"
"I'm a general of the Sparkle Heart clan. We're based in the Crystal Empire, and our jurisdiction ends long before we reach here. The occurrences of your little Ponyville village is of no concern to me." answered Twilight. "Unless you're making sacrifices to the Maker, I don't care."
"If you don't care, why did you come all the way down here?" asked Scarlet.
"I'm working. Remember when I said I was a general? Well, that tends to give me reasons to be busy." said Twilight. "I'm looking for somepony."
"A friend?" asked Scarlet.
"A comrade. She went missing somewhere around here. I have another squadmate looking on the other end of the forest. We've been searching for hours, and we still haven't found her." Scarlet's eyes suddenly grew brighter. She crackled with excitement, and her eyes shone with purpose.
"I might be able to help you." she said. "Nopony knows the Everfree Forest better than I do. I can help you find your friend."
"Comrade. I don't have any friends." growled Twilight. "Friendship leads to protection, protection leads to failure, and failure leads to death. But, yeah, if you can help me, we're even."
"Come on, then! She's probably near Rambling Rock Ridge." said Scarlet. She grabbed Twilight's hand, much to her dismay, and began to lead the general through the dark, dangerous Everfree Forest. Scarlet dragged Twilight through the deep, twisting, gnarling Forest, the Forest that was forbidden by the village elders. Scarlet never paid the laws of the village any attention. She was hardly a citizen, she wasn't even sure of the place's name. Ponyville sounded about right, but she wasn't too sure.
"What does your friend look like?" asked Scarlet.
"My comrade, and I will not say it again, is a pegasus." said Twilight, finally yanking her hand from Scarlet's grasp. "A pegasus mare, about five feet, eleven inches tall. Pink mane, blue eyes, yellow coat."
"What's her name?"
"She's called Fluttershy. Lt. Col. Fluttershy of the Sparkle Hearts." answered Twilight. "She's saved my life plenty of times. When we were only cadets, we got lost in the woods. I was almost mauled to death by a bear, but she saved me. As it turns out, she can communicate with animals."
"So, you are friends, then?" said Scarlet. Just as Twilight was about to begin arguing her case to the contrary, they arrived at Rambling Rock Ridge. To their left was a huge boulder, so large that Scarlet would have to stand on Twilight's shoulders to even come close to the top. Near the base of the stone was an armored mare, huddled around something. Scarlet couldn't see much of the mare, just her poofy pink tail.
"Lt. Col. Pinkamena, right?" asked Twilight stepping to the mare. Pinkamena abruptly shot up straight and brought her hand to her forehead in salute. She twirled to face Twilight, and Scarlet got a glimpse of her light pink coat.
"Sir, yes, sir!" shouted Pinkamena.
"As you were." ordered Twilight. "Any luck?"
"Well… I found her, but I don't know if that counts as luck." said Pinkamena.
"Why wouldn't it?" asked Scarlet.
"Who are you?"
"Don't worry about it. What do you mean, soldier?" asked Twilight. Pinkamena simply took a step to the left, to show what she was huddled around.
A mare with a light pink mane, done over her eye, was lying with blood pooling around her legs. The stone sat on her lower body, which was entirely crushed. Blood dripped from Lt. Col. Fluttershy's mouth, and her eyes were closed and unmoving.
"Oh my god…" gasped Scarlet. "Is she… dead?"
"No. She's alive, but not for long." reported Pinkamena. "I've been tending to her as best I could, but if we don't get her to an actual doctor soon…"
"Rise and shine, Fluttershy!" shouted Twilight. "Now is not the time to take a nap." Slowly, Fluttershy's eyes fell open. Her eyes were bloodshot, and it was clear that she had been crying for quite a while.
"General Twilight." coughed Fluttershy. "I'm sorry that I can't salute. I can't really move."
"Fluttershy, I'm going to be frank with you." said Twilight. "You're going to die."
"Twilight!" yelped Scarlet. She jumped to Fluttershy's side. "Don't listen to her. You'll be okay."
"Fluttershy, you know what I have to do." said Twilight. She ripped a knife from a sheath on her hip. "You've been a damn fine soldier."
"Coming from you, ma'am, that means the world." said Fluttershy.
"Wait! What are you doing?" asked Scarlet.
"I'm going to slit her throat." said Twilight. She pressed the knife to Fluttershy's throat and sighed. "Lt. Col. Fluttershy of the Sparkle Hearts, on the fourteenth day of the eleventh month of the Maker's seven-hundredth year, has fallen outside of the field of battle. Her death will be remembered, as will her contribution and loyalty to her cause. She will rest with the Maker, and we hope to join her one day."
"No!" shouted Scarlet. She grabbed Twilight around the wrist and pulled the knife from Fluttershy. Even though she was taken aback, Twilight could not help but marvel at the little filly's strength.
"Back off, kid." snarled Twilight.
"How can you even think about… Ugh! Help her!" said Scarlet forcefully.
"I am helping her. We can't save her from dying, but we can save her from suffering." said Twilight.
"You're a unicorn! Move the rock!" ordered Scarlet. Twilight yanked her hand out of Scarlet's grasp, with much effort.
"Don't they teach you kids about unicorn magic in school?" asked Twilight.
"I've never been to school." said Scarlet. Twilight ignored the stab of strangeness in her chest (she later understood that it was pity), and continued her rant.
"Unicorn magic is proportional to physical strength. The average unicorn can only levitate an object that they can lift on their own, maybe a little heavier. Specifically, the average unicorn can levitate only 1.3 times their own strength." said Twilight. "I can levitate five times my own strength, but even I won't be able to raise the rock. She's dead no matter how you slice it."
"No! I won't let you kill her!" said Scarlet. She threw her arms across Fluttershy, not hearing the tiny yelp of pain from the injured pegasus.
"Look, kid, I don't expect you to understand, so I'll try to explain the best I can." said Twilight. "We have three options here. Option A: We push the rock off of Fluttershy. We might, and that's a huge 'might', we might be able to push it off of her, but her legs will be mangled, bleeding, and probably infected. We carry her all the way to our base. She bleeds out before we make it halfway."
"Why can't we bring her to Ponyville?! We can make it, with plenty of time!" exclaimed Scarlet. It was Pinkamena who debunked her argument.
"The Ponyvillians won't help us." she said. "They're staying unaligned in this war, and they won't help a Sparkle Heart. The Marias will take that as a sign of their allegiance to us."
"Option B: We leave her here, head to our nearest base and gather a group of forty or more unicorns, however many it'll take to raise the boulder." continued Twilight. "It'll take us three days to get there and three to get back. Marias patrol this area every two days. They'll find Fluttershy, and torture her for information that she won't give up. Option C: I slit her throat now. She doesn't have to suffer anymore, she won't be tortured, and the Hearts are still protected."
"Or…" said Scarlet, rising to her hooves. "We can go with Option… Whatever comes after 'C'."
"Which is?" asked Pinkamena.
"I move the rock and we rush to your base. We get there and she lives." said Scarlet.
"Good plan. Only problem is that you're a nine year-old Earth Pony." said Twilight. "If I can't lift it with my magic, how do you expect to do it without anything?"
"I'm fourteen, and I'm not just gonna lift it. I'm gonna save your friend's life." said Scarlet. She placed her palms against the rock and concentrated. Her chest, arms, and head began to float, tethered to her legs which were firmly planted to the ground. Every breath she sucked in was thick, gelatinous, and sharp. All color vanished from Scarlet's view. She pushed up with her mind, with her soul.
The rock slowly began to rise into the air. It drifted to the left, then to the right, wobbling through the sky as it rose higher and higher. Pinkamena and Twilight looked on in shock, and Fluttershy let out a gasp (Scarlet hoped it was a gasp of joy, not pain).
"Move her! Now!" shouted Scarlet. Her vision was blurring, doubling. "I don't know how long I can hold it!"
Twilight grabbed Fluttershy's wrists, and Pinkamena grabbed her around the ankles. They pulled Fluttershy to safety just as Scarlet's rock smashed back to the ground.
"Whoo!" shrieked Scarlet, with a huge, goofy smile painted across her face. "How's that for ya, Twilight? More than five times your strength?"
"You didn't levitate it." said Twilight. She grabbed Fluttershy and threw her over her back in a fireman's carry. "You removed all gravity in the surrounding area. Much harder, and also much less useful. Not to mention impossible for an Earth Pony. Explain yourself."
"I… am going to puke." said Scarlet. Her smile grew even wider, and she fell face first onto the cold, hard stone.
"Pinkamena, please grab the girl." said Twilight. "And double time. Fluttershy isn't going to last long if we sit around here." And with that, Pinkie hefted Scarlet over her shoulder and they began the journey to the Crystal Empire.
