The end of Skylar? Chapter 1: Prologue

It was another dark, cold night in Equestria, the leaves rustled and the branches groaned in the bracing wind that was whipping in from the north. By now most animals and ponies were at rest but deep in the night the distant noise of music could be heard accompanied by brilliant flashes of light and thunderous cracks of the exploding fireworks. The Occasion? Only the annual winter festival of course!

The volume of the music inside was almost deafening, so loud in fact that Skylar was very much considering sticking the corks from the wine bottles in his ears! Skylar let out a loud groan that was drowned out by the tumult, he wondered why he always got invited to these so called 'parties' by his friends, they knew he hated them yet they still insisted on him coming!

Gazing around though even he had to admit that the venue at least was beautiful. It was a very old (but newly furnished) oak house which had been converted into a club for special events, the walls were lined with many red velvet sofa's with solid mahogany tables in front of them, the few support pillars dotted around the room were covered in many fine decorations and vines wound their way around them, almost down to the floor (which he thought was a bit dangerous). The stage and dance floor were also rather magnificent, the floor alone could probably fit at least 100 ponies and the stage, with its beautiful silken curtains and large blazing torches could hold another 50! Laying back on one of the comfy sofa's near the bar / coffee area his mind began to wander and his eyes grew heavy.

Laying his head softly on the table he started drifting off to sleep (which was a miracle with all the racket going on!), he was exhausted from pushing himself to hard during the afternoons training and all he wanted to do was rest without being disturbed. Suddenly he felt something cold wash over his face and down half of his body, he opened his eyes and jumped up with a start! Looking down he could see that he had been drenched in apple cider (his most hated beverage) and that his mane was dripping wet... but who was the culprit? He looked up slowly and saw the grinning face of Rumble Chomp (A friendly but very clumsy / slow earth pony) looking back at him.

Skylar's first reaction was one of anger (he was already exhausted, hated loud noises and now this was almost to far!), his eyes narrowed and nostrils flared but he bit his lip just as he was about to come out with a mean remark... instead he looked around at the ponies staring at him and gave a fake (but convincing) laugh and shook off the cider from his body. He gently tapped Rumble Chomp on the arm and said (with a forced smile) be a little more careful next time okay? Rumble Chomp didn't even seem to register what Skylar had just said but instead ran back to the dance floor and started 'busting some moves'..... some very bad moves!

Skylar let out another deep sigh and sat back down at his table and poured himself another glass of extra strong wine, 'if I can't go to sleep then perhaps I can knock myself out with this , at least then I can still get out of this dreadful party!' he thought glumly. As he continued to drink the room around him began to move with a life of its own and he began to feel very relaxed. However this peace was not to last, he heard a gasp from one of the mares across the room... as he opened his eyes he saw that a glass (that Rumble Chomp had been swinging around while dancing) had left his mouth and was flying straight for him!

Skylar tried to duck out of the way but it was to late, the glass hit with full force on the left side of his face and smashed to pieces. Skylar whinnied in pain and held his hoof the left side of face, when he withdrew his hoof to take a look he gasped to see that it was stained by a considerable amount of blood. For a moment he just stood there, lost in the moment, and a couple of ponies rushed over to him while his friend Silverstar (who had been outside talking with a mare the whole time) hurried inside. When Silverstar could see the damage that had been caused to Skylar's face he pulled out some cloth and bandages from his pouch (he always had been very practical) and gently started dabbing at the deep cut on Skylar's cheek. Skylar sat down in shock while other ponies fussed around him but suddenly he felt a great surge of anger well up inside him unlike anything he'd felt before...He shot up from his seat, reared up on his hind legs and spread his wings as far as they go, the blood had now started dripping down his neck and staining his body as well.

'RUMMMMMBBBBLLEEE CHOMMMMMMPPP!' He bellowed! Rumble Chomp turned around and cowered in obvious fear (no one had every seen Skylar so enraged before). ' You are the most stupid, moronic and idiotic pony in all of Equestria! No wonder everyone always laughs at you behind your back... you STUPID OAF!'. The crowd of ponies gasped and tears began to well up in his eyes and roll down his cheeks. ' Please Skylar' He whimpered ' I didn't mean to do it i just get to excited sometimes and when Rumble Chomp (Yes he refers to himself in the third sense) get excited bad things can happen!

Skylar let out a deep growl, sounding more like a tiger than a pony, 'Look what you have done, LOOK!' he snapped back pointing to his face and to the floor which was now stained red, Silverstar put his hoof on Skylar's shoulder but he was shrugged off.. 'I've had a bad enough day without some dimwit like you making me stink of cider, damaging my face which may leave me scarred forever AND YOU THINK SORRY IS OKAY?! WELL ITS NOT!!!. He reared up as high as he could go and hoof stomped Rumble Chomp as hard as he could right in the nuzzle, Rumble Chomp crumbled under the assault and fell to the floor whimpering and clutching his face. Every pony gasped and backed away from Skylar (in this mood and covered in blood he looked extremely terrifying).

Skylar looked around the room at the frightened faces of all the ponies and suddenly all the rage left him, instead it was replaced by a deep sense of guilt and shame. A tear rolled down face, mingling with the blood and making the cut look even worse, 'What have I done?' He said with a sob, ' How could I do something like this to someone as innocent as Rumble Chomp... I don't know what I've become!' he continued with tears now streaming down his cheeks. Silverstar put his hoof around Skylar's shoulders and replied ' Look, you have been through alot today, we can all understand why you got so angry... if that happened to me I might have done the same! Let's get you to the medical center and get you cleaned up as soon as possible' he said with a comforting smile and gentle nudge.

However Skylar was already far to upset to listen to anyone, even one of his closest friends Silverstar. 'No, NO!' he cried, tears now flooding down his face 'I've done a terrible thing, I don't deserve to be here ruining all your fun and laughter....'. As he began to walk towards the balcony, where he intended to fly away into the night, Silverstar and a few other ponies grabbed his tail. Skylar whinnied and spun around, the others could see how deeply upset he was and Silverstar said ' Please Skylar, we really do understand what you've been through and how tough things have been for you... we don't think that your ruining the party and the fact that your even here makes it 10 times better'. Skylar let out a loud sob, shuddered, broke free from their grasp and lunged out into the night. With one beat of his powerful wings he had lifted off and could make out Silverstar shouting behind him ' Come back Skylar, you can't fly in the state your in and you know the weather is treacherous during the winter solstice!', however his words fell on deaf ears as Skylar continued to fly away until he was obscured by the darkness.

Silverstar turned back to look at the still stunned faces of the dozens of ponies who had now gathered on the balcony, it took him a while to gather himself but looking back at the red stained floor where Skylar had been he finally said in a panicked voice ' We have to go and look for him! Or at least tell someone whats happened... we cant let him stay out there especially not in the storm that is coming in from the north mountains, he will be killed! '. The ponies around him whinnied in fear and shouted ' What can we do? ' 'We will get killed to if we go after him!' 'None of us are strong enough flyers!'. 'Silence!' Silverstar shouted 'we have to keep calm, I am going to go to the Storm Watchers (Pegasi who specialize in controlling Thunderstorms, tempests, hurricanes etc) and tell them what has happened so they can save him before its to late! Who's with me?!' There were a few nervous shuffles and coughs... some ponies even started walking away but half a dozen said ' We will help you Silverstar, lead the way' with that they ran outside in search of one of the Storm Watchers.