Chapter Four: Those Unknowable
~BlackRoseRaven
Last Call nervously made his way down the path, shivering at every rustle of grass, eyes snapping fearfully towards every shift of the trees. He was terrified: the fact he didn't even know what he was terrified of only made it all the worse.
He stopped beneath the first lamp, huddling himself in the middle of the light as he did a slow pivot and looked uneasily around. But as comforting as the light was, it made it harder to see out of, the darkness seeming so much deeper now that he was outside of it, the treeline on either side of the path nothing but rustling masses and the ground swarming with shifting shadows.
It made his head hurt. Why was the world he saw inside the light so different from the world he saw when he was out there, in the darkness?
Last Call grimaced, then he shook his head quickly before he nervously strode to the edge of the ring of light. He bit his lip for a moment, then he peeked his head forwards ever-so-slightly, and the sensation of leaning out of the lamplight was like plunging his face into cold water, or leaning over the edge of a cliff. It made him nauseated.
He shivered for a moment, but then forced himself to keep moving forward, out of the sanctuary of the light and down the starlit path. The shadows closed themselves greedily all around him as he walked, but he adjusted quickly to the feeling of being engulfed again in the cold and the darkness: it put his mind on overdrive, filled him both with a sense of danger and a strange, giddy feeling of safety. What was he but another moving shadow among a hundred thousand others, after all?
That feeling lasted until he reached the next lamplight, which he lingered at the edge of before nervously stepping into. And again, there was that warmth, and that feeling like his sanity returned... which was a particularly-painful sensation as he was forcefully reminded that no, the darkness here was not his friend, and he was being an idiot and risking his life for...
For her. He was doing it for her. It was insane and stupid and he felt like his mind was going to snap at any moment and he kept seeing things and hearing things but goddammit, it was for her, and that made it all worthwhile... didn't it?
It did. It did, he just had to believe in that.
Last Call took a slow breath, and when he passed out from under the lamp, it felt like less of a wild plunge this time. He made his way slowly down the path, facing the beacon of a lamp ahead-
The light flickered out.
Last Call trembled for a moment, then he checked quickly behind himself, frozen in the middle of the path. A dozen feet away, the lamppost stood resolute, still casting its bright, warm, safe glow, while ahead, there was nothing but deep, twisting shadow and darkness, shapes lit only by the cruel starlight. This was likely the last chance he had to turn around and run home-
Like a coward. Like a nothing. Like the piece of garbage parasite he was struggling so hard not to be.
Last Call trembled and faced forward, then he nervously reached into his saddlebag and dug out his flashlight. He fumbled with it for a moment, folding out the little arm that would let it hold on to the back of his neck so he didn't have to try and stumble along on three hooves.
He slipped it on, then pressed the button on the side, and it cast a faint glow over the ground in front of him. It was a little loose, so if he moved too much, it would likely fall off, but he was planning to take things as slowly and carefully as he could, anyway.
Last Call slowly made his way forward, the flashlight carving a path through the darkness until he reached the lamp that had just gone out. He frowned uneasily as he looked up at it, before he shook his head and reached back into his satchel, pulling out one of the flares. He hesitantly tossed it in his hoof for a moment, then shook his head again and put it back: he thought he could see a glimmer in the distance, and the path here twisted and turned a little, but there were no forks or intersections. He needed to save the flares for where he would need the extra help to find his way back.
The stallion made his way onward, doing his best not to panic at every grumble, every hiss: it was just the wind in the leaves of the trees, or the breeze rustling across the ground, or the movement of insects and small wildlife. Nothing to work himself up over. There was nothing behind him... nothing was trying to hunt him, or hurt him.
What had that shape been, though? Where had everyone gone?
Why the hell was this happening tonight?
Last Call grimaced a bit, but his eyes were focused ahead, on the sign he was approaching: the guidepost was ahead, and it was lit up bright as day by the lights attached to the top of it, a safe haven among the sea of shadows. He felt welcome relief as he approached it, stopping in front of the enormous map to decide where he was going to go: all the excitement of getting out here had made him forget that this wasn't just a simple trail, but there was a multitude of paths...
His eyes travelled across the map: Blue, Orange, Green, Red, Purple, White... how the hell was he supposed to narrow that down? He cursed under his breath, before his eyes shifted to the information at the side of the board, hoping helplessly for any kind of clue.
He was rewarded as he read the brief descriptions of each trail: almost immediately, the words 'traditional walk' and 'annual festival' jumped out at him. Both Blue and Orange trails had been used in the past for night hikes for what he was guessing was the Alignment celebration: they both passed through some of the historical sites that his wife had always been so enthusiastic about.
He remembered both trails: he had grouchily walked them with her, and Orange trail was much harder than the Blue trail, passing up into the cliffs a mile or so away and weaving through the mountains. Apparently natives had lived in the system of caverns up there, and they had found both strange artifacts and ritual sites that the ponies who had inhabited this land had once used.
Blue trail was a long loop through the forest: it was a very simple walk, but a wide one that passed through both an old, semi-restored logging camp and the base of the cliffs. Last Call remembered that had been one of their last walks out in the woods here before everything had gotten so stupid between them...
He shook his head briefly, then studied the map for a moment longer before he said quietly to himself: “Blue trail will let me get a look at everything. And if they are stuck out here, or if someone... someone somehow kidnapped them, that logging site would be a great place to hide out. I think that's the best place to start. And it passes by the base of the cliffs, so... if there was an accident...”
Last Call grimaced a bit, and then he frowned uneasily as something moved at the edge of his vision. He turned, and flinched away when he saw the filly from before was leaning against the edge of the sign, looking up at him with her sad red eyes as she said quietly: “You need to be more careful.”
“Who the hell are you?” Last Call snapped, leaning back slightly, trying to convince himself he wasn't terrified of this phantasm that was-
“Silent Wish.” answered the filly, and Last Call stared blankly at her, and she only smiled a little and shrugged as she asked: “What?”
“I... I guess I didn't expect an answer. You haven't really told me much so far. You've just been giving me all these... crazy, cryptic warnings.” Last Call said finally, before he nervously leaned forward a little, studying the filly as she remained passive, only watching him inquisitively from beneath her large, floppy hat, as the breeze ever-so-gently ruffled her raincoat. “Are you... a ghost?”
That sounded so stupid out loud. And the filly smiled at him, which made him feel even more stupid, before she answered: “I told you before. I'm all that remains. The last of... well, many things, I suppose. I'm only here now because reality is getting thinner and thinner.”
Last Call frowned at this, but Silent Wish only shook her head and held up not a hoof, he saw, but what looked almost like a claw. He paled slightly at the sight of it, barely hearing the filly as she warned: “The thinness in reality goes both ways: it doesn't just let me float to the surface, but the wrong step could drag you down into the depths. The Alignment isn't just about monsters escaping their prison... it's about the world, however temporarily, becoming a place where they can exist.”
“I don't understand.” Last Call said, and Silent Wish smiled sadly at him.
“I have the feeling that you will. And I'm sorry. I wish I could change that.” she said, and then her large ears twitched before her eyes narrowed suddenly, her features tensing before she whispered: “Oh no.”
Last Call frowned uneasily, then he stared in surprise as the filly vanished, even as her voice pleaded: “Hide, you have to hide!”
Last Call winced as he looked wildly back and forth, before he almost flung himself down to the ground and crawled quickly under the guidepost: there was just enough room between the bottom of the sign and the ground that he was able to squeeze under it and flatten himself in the dirt.
He winced and fumbled wildly at his flashlight, clicking it hurriedly off before he froze as he heard something: soft breathing, and a faint brushing through the grasses. He shifted ever-so-slightly, pushing himself a bit deeper under the board as he stared back and forth, but he couldn't see anything past the lamplight except for shifting shadows...
Something was moving out there, though. One, two... three, four steps. Its stride was strange and staggering, and it seemed to be in one place, then another. And there was that breathing: that loud, calm, in-and-out of something taking long, controlled breaths through their mouth.
“I smell you.” said a soft voice: he couldn't tell if it was male or female, but it made his blood run cold as he shivered under the map. “I know where you are.”
It wasn't lying. It wasn't lying, was it?
Last Call swallowed thickly as he grabbed uselessly at his satchel as the thing sauntered to the edge of the lamplight: he could barely make it out, though, nothing but slender, long, disconnected shapes... what the hell was it?
“Won't you come out from under there? Run for me. I'll let you escape if you run for me. You reek of fear and delusion. Run for me.”
Last Call trembled violently as he yanked out a flare, and then he took a slow, shaking breath as the thing began to slip forward, as he saw what looked almost like a moccasin enter the lamplight, attached to a single slender leg as the horrible thing whispered: “Run for me, or I will devour you where you lay.”
Last Call rasped for breath, shaking painfully before he suddenly lunged out from under the sign as he snapped the cap off the flare, thrusting it wildly towards the thing, and for a moment he saw gaping, terrible, hollow black pits widen in surprise before a red explosion filled his vision.
The hideous, furious scream that filled the air drove Last Call into action, the stallion spinning around and bolting in terror down the open path, his eyes wide with fear, the pounding of his heart the only thing louder than the beat of his heart and his hooves against the ground.
He stumble-ran down the path until he tripped over his own hooves, crashing painfully down into the dirt and skidding over the path before he scrabbled wildly at the dirt, yanking himself hurriedly off the trail and into the cover of the bushes. He rattled and crashed through the brambles and shrubbery before he yelped as he stumbled into a dirt, landing with a splash in a narrow creek.
He coughed and spluttered, shoving himself up before he froze as he heard something: a rustling, a hissing. He stood stock-still in the cold, filthy water, his eyes wide, his body shaking as something angry rushed along the path, then suddenly turned and rushed back, loud breaths rasping at the air as if trying to taste it.
Last Call could almost feel the anger of the phantasm as it bolted back and forth along the trail in its mismatched steps, snarling and growling. It was furious, and the stallion could only pray that it would somehow overlook him. But he didn't dare to try and move: it felt like even a ripple would give him away as this thing writhed in widening circles, stomping across both the trail and twisting through the brush on either side, even in its anger a thousand times more stealthy in the forest than Last Call could have ever been.
He wasn't even aware of when it left: only that several minutes had passed, and somehow, he was still alive, and at some point, everything had gone quiet again. There was only the faint rustling in the trees, and the occasional drip of water from his body into the creek, the stallion trembling for a moment before he gave a feeble laugh.
What the hell had that thing been? No, it had been wearing a boot... was there some kind of killer loose in the forest? Someone who knew the woods well, someone who had maybe taken this whole Alignment thing a little too seriously...
Last Call shook his head quickly, then he shivered a bit as he remembered the eyes he had seen. They had been like gaping abysses, swallowing even the sparks of the flare as it had burst into life: he'd never seen any pony with a gaze like that. Not even Toadfall: at least his eyes had ambition, and something more than... hunger.
He forced himself to stride to the edge of the creek, then grimaced as he grabbed uselessly at the embankment: it was too steep and too soft for him to climb up, however, and he gave up after a few moments of doing nothing more productive than getting his hooves muddy and tearing out chunks of weeds.
Last Call shook his head briefly, then he sighed a little as he turned to follow the creek, sloshing uneasily through the water as he nervously shifted a little. He was half-tempted to turn on his flashlight, but if that... that thing was still out there, he knew it would make him an easy target.
After a few minutes of slogging down the creek, the stallion almost bumped into a low bridge that crossed over it, which he was able to carefully hoist himself up and onto. He shook himself out with a grimace, then took a moment just to breathe and listen to the sounds of the forest around him, trying to get his uneven mind steady.
Fatigue ate at his senses and his body, and he was cold and dirty from the muddy water. The adrenaline that had barely kept him alive was gone and had stolen most of his strength with it. He hesitated for a moment, then reached up and tested his flashlight, before grimacing as it flickered violently. He smacked it a few times, but that barely improved the flickering beam: the water had likely damaged it.
He sighed a little, then reached back for his satchel, opening it and rooting through it. The flares were wet, but since they were self-contained, they would still likely work fine. The map he'd brought was a little damp too, but thankfully laminated, so he was able to bring it out and wipe most of the water off it. He paused as he studied it, then put it down on the bridge, shining the flickering flashlight over it as he traced the route from the parks office with his hoof, first to the signpost, then down the fork, until... “There. This is the bridge, and I can get to the Blue trail if I cut across this path and turn right at the next fork.”
He nodded to himself, then shivered as he looked around uneasily when a rustling made his sensitive ears prick up. He quickly turned the light off, then grabbed the map and stuffed it back in his satchel before he scrambled up to his hooves and hurried along the trail.
He could only see a few feet in front of him: the starlight was stronger than he'd remembered, but the trees seemed thicker, the branches stretching out as if they were trying to form a canopy over the trail. He looked uneasily at the sky before his eyes nervously switched back and forth, nearly jumping out of his skin at every rustle of grass, every twitch of the tree branches.
He reached the fork in the path, and swore under his breath as he looked to the right: the path gently sloped down here, but the trees on one side had all grown with a strange bend in them, forming a natural tunnel that was probably quite pretty during the day, but formed ominous claws in the darkness that blocked out all light. It was a dead black tunnel sloping down to a thicker, older part of the forest, and Last Call fidgeted worriedly for a few moments before he finally swore again as he reached up to turn on his flashlight.
It barely cut through the unnatural shadows, but it made the reflective blue tag that marked the trail he was looking for glow where it was placed on one of the trees. The stallion grimaced a bit as he mentally steeled himself, reminding himself this was the path he had chosen, this was the easiest and the best idea he had, and it wasn't like he was going to be any safer in the goddamn mountains, especially if that thing showed up again.
Last Call sighed a little, hesitating for only a moment longer before he started down the path. He looked anxiously back and forth, flickering flashlight swaying back and forth over the trail and every so often illuminating another of the blue tags that marked the path.
He felt like he was being watched, but he didn't dare turn off his light: without it, he'd be blind as well as vulnerable, and at least it gave him a chance to run if he heard something sneaking up on him. All the same, he couldn't keep his eyes forward or focused, stumbling a little as he looked back and forth and checked over his shoulder, breathing hard as he heard a stirring, a rumbling through the forest.
It wasn't that thing that had been stalking him before, though: he instinctively knew that, because that thing had been cold, and awful, and terrible. No, something larger, stupider, was trundling and stumbling through the forest in the distance, and Last Call froze as he rose his head slightly before his eyes widened as a horrifying howl cut through the air.
He immediately grabbed at his flashlight until it went out, staggering quickly to the side of the road before he half-fell behind the bushes and dropped low. He trembled violently as he heard the smashing and crashing through the forest growing louder, hating how dark it was, how the shadows made everything seem frozen even though, only a short distance away now and getting closer by the second, he could hear yelling and howling and screaming and... crying?
He rose his head ever so slightly, before flinching and ducking back in the bushes as something came falling out onto the path with a tremendous thud. His breath caught in his throat even as he fought the urge to raise his head as he recognized that wailing not as the scream of a monster, but the sobbing of... of a pony?
No, it could be a trick. Or by now, all that screaming and crying-
“O-Oh.... oh, thank h-heavens, this... the path. The path!”
He recognized that voice.
“Happenstance?”
There was a little scream, and then the strained, shocked voice of the chubby pony blurted back: “C-Call? Call! Oh no, Call, did he get you too? Call, oh, I can't see a t-t-thing, Call, Call, are you-”
“Shut up!” Call hissed as he scrambled out of the bushes, staggering towards Happenstance, but he grabbed the chubby pony more out of luck than anything else, half-covering his face with one hoof as he whispered: “We're not the only ones out here!”
“I know! I know, that mad pony is out here, and so are the others... t-the ones he hasn't killed, anyway.” Happenstance trembled, then he grabbed at Call wildly, hugging into him and nearly sobbing as he blurted out in a broken voice: “I couldn't do anything! He d-didn't want money or a-anything else I had to offer, he... he... he's mad, Last Call!”
“What happened? Where is she, where's my... my wife?” Last Call asked sharply, shaking Happenstance once, and he felt the stallion flinch before Last Call whispered: “Happenstance, if anything happened to her, I just... I could never...”
“Call, Call... please. Look. I don't know what happened, but we need to go tell Sheriff Steel that... that there's a mad pony out here on the loose! We need to get out of here!” Happenstance whimpered, and Last Call grimaced as he pushed away a little from the chubby stallion, who shook his head vehemently and grabbed hurriedly after Call, as if he sensed- “N-No, you can't just-”
“I can't just leave, Happenstance. Especially knowing that... that...” Last Call took a shaky breath, and then he trembled and shook his head as he fumbled for his flashlight, then clicked it on.
Happenstance squeaked and covered his face fearfully from the flash of bright light, and Last Call grimaced and leaned back, eyes widening slightly in shock at the sight of the chubby stallion: he looked like he'd been beaten, and savagely, at that. Some of the bruising over his stomach looked putrid, and the cuts and scrapes... “God, Happenstance, what the hell happened to you?”
Happenstance laughed weakly, then he slowly lowered his hooves even as he refused to look up at the light... or maybe it was just Last Call's eyes he was avoiding, as he halfheartedly patted on his own flabby belly. “D-Don't... don't you worry, I had plenty of padding to absorb the worst of it. I just... I... I wish I...”
Happenstance silently rubbed a hoof across his eyes as he lowered his head, trying to hide the trails of tears among the bruising over his face, and Last Call softened a little as he adjusted the light, shining it away from the stallion's features and instead over his body as he muttered: “You look like you did plenty already, Happenstance. What happened?”
Last Call glanced back and forth nervously, but even with all the other stupid things he knew he'd done tonight, he couldn't afford to wander into danger without knowing what the hell was out there, and whether or not... “Is... is anyone...”
“Yes. Yes, when I got here, Mr. Toadfall was waiting for me. He said we should take a walk down the trails and of course I was happy to.” That immediately struck Last Call as odd, but he kept silent as Happenstance continued: “A few others came with us, and... but after the first fork, we were attacked by something. I... I don't know what. Everything went fuzzy and the next thing I knew, I was tied up and blindfolded. I think we all were. I could hear Toadfall shouting but then there was this... this awful noise and he stopped... s-stopped...”
Happenstance swallowed thickly, looking away with a tremble before he whispered: “I could see shapes through the blindfold now and then, when we passed by these... these lights. I heard murmuring. Chanting! We were all tied up together, and then this... that brute started jerking us along, away from wherever it was, and...”
He breathed shakily, then shook his head before he closed his eyes, whispering: “I'm sorry. I'm useless. I tried to talk to him and he just... beat me, until I couldn't talk anymore. But someone else managed to slip out of the ropes and hit him over the head with a rock. Whoever it was started freeing the others, but then he was grabbed and...”
Happenstance shuddered, then he almost yelled: “We ran! We all ran, there was nothing we could do! He was like a... a monster, there was-”
“Keep your voice down!” Last Call grabbed Happenstance and shook him once, then he took a slow breath before he asked quietly: “So he took the entire group hostage. Was there anyone else there?”
“Yes. Yes, I know there couldn't have been more than five of us on the walk, but there were at least ten of us all trussed up together. He was incredibly strong, though. He dragged the whole line of us along like foals...” Happenstance trembled and shook his head, before he said almost desperately, even as tears rolled down his cheeks: “That's why we c-couldn't stay and fight, you don't-”
“Okay. Okay, I get it, okay?” Last Call reassured as best he could, wincing as he looked back and forth before he sighed a little, grinding his teeth together uncertainly. So there was some kind of muscle head, maybe some other crazies, and... maybe that's what I saw before. Maybe that's the asshole who jumped me. That has to be it. God, we should go back but... no. I bet that guy who attacked me is probably waiting for me back at the fork. By now he might even know Happenstance and some other ponies escaped, he might have been waiting to catch them...
“Happenstance...” Last Call said slowly, and he hated what he had to do, grimacing a bit as he said quietly: “I need you to hold out here. I know that's a hell of a thing to ask, but we can't-”
“Last Call, what are you talking about? We can't just hide in these woods, those... those monsters will find us!” Happenstance interrupted, staring with horror at the stallion. “Look, we need to head back to town, Sheriff Steel will know just what to do and-”
“No, we can't. I... I can't turn back now, Happenstance. Those ponies... I just have to...” Last Call shivered, then he shook his head and tried a different tack: “There's someone waiting out there to try and pick us off. The best thing we can do is go where they aren't expecting. Look, if there's enough people and we free them all, then we can escape! But...”
“That's crazy, Last Call!” blurted Happenstance, before he winced as his mouth was covered again by the stallion, who glared at him for a few moments before he sighed and lowered his head a little, letting his hoof drop away from the chubby stallion's face.
“Yeah. I know.” Last Call murmured, then he sighed a little and said finally: “I have to keep going forward. Happenstance, I just... I just have to.”
“Well, you... you can't go alone! And I'm...” Happenstance puffed out his cheeks a little, looking almost childishly up at Last Call. “I'm not going to let you go alone, either! Besides, you don't even know where to go, but... I can find my way back, I know I can!”
Last Call stared in disbelief at Happenstance, mouthing slowly, but Happenstance only shook his head vehemently before he said earnestly: “You can't expect me to just... run away now, or hide out here, can you? No, no no no! I have to help, Last Call, even if that means... even if it means going back towards that nightmare! But I c-can't, I just can't in good conscience let you go alone or leave those poor suffering people there!”
Last Call shifted awkwardly, trying to think of how to possibly respond before he sighed a little even as his eyes flicked nervously up. He could have sworn he'd heard something, and the pale illumination of his flashlight was bound to give them away if they stayed here any longer... goddammit. I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. “Just... look, we have to move quickly and quietly, then. And if we get spotted...”
“Don't you worry, Last Call. I'm not afraid.” promised Happenstance, before he shivered a little as he rose his head slightly, and Last Call winced as he heard a very distinct crackling through the distance forest. “M-Maybe you should turn the flashlight off.”
“Then how the hell will we see?” Last Call asked, before he picked himself up and started quickly down the path, the chubby pony yelping and stumbling after him.
Last Call felt maybe the slightest bit more confident, even if he only had found Happenstance... but it meant there were still ponies alive out there, right? And maybe it was just some ass holes, taking this whole Alignment ceremony too far... but what about that filly I keep seeing? And-
“We have to be careful!” Happenstance whispered loudly, and Last Call frowned slightly at the stallion, but Happenstance only shook his head hurriedly. “I know we passed through the logging camp ahead-”
“Then why the hell were you running towards me from the forest?” asked Last Call dubiously, already questioning Happenstance's sense of direction. If he had been blindfolded on top of that, after all...
“No, n-no, I know we must have! I remember the smell, of course!” Happenstance answered quickly, nodding rapidly as he stumbled up beside Last Call. He winced at the glare he received before his eyes widened in understanding, nodding again as he shrank down a little and whispered – although Horses of Heaven, it somehow sounded even more shrill and annoying – to him: “You see, I zigzagged through the forest. I... I don't know quite the route I took or even how long I ran for, I just... I just know...”
Happenstance deflated visibly, shoulders slumping and head drooping as he whispered: “I just know. I'm sure of it, Call. I know you don't think very much of me, but I'm sure of it.”
“I...what?” Last Call asked awkwardly, and he half-forced a smile, but Happenstance only looked at him bitterly.
“Oh, I'm not stupid, Last Call. I'm very well aware I'm nothing but a joke to most ponies.” retorted Happenstance, the chubby stallion looking away before he sighed a little as Last Call stopped, shifting away from the light from the flashlight as he murmured: “It's not that I don't understand, because I am a joke. I've always been a joke. But I... I'm not wrong about this.”
“I never... I didn't mean to say that you were. I just... wasn't sure myself. Happenstance, it's been a crazy night and uh... well...”
“No, no. I'm sorry. It's the wrong time to bring this all up. I just... it's been a long night. A terribly long night.” Happenstance replied with a faint smile over his shoulder, before he shivered a little and looked up as, to Last Call's surprise, they emerged out of the tunnel of trees, the stars once more visible above as the path widened and the forest thinned around them. “I hope we don't get seen...”
Last Call hesitated, then he reached up and turned his flashlight off. Happenstance gave a little whimper of surprise, but then he calmed down when the stallion reached out and grasped him gently by the shoulder, asking as his eyes adjusted: “Do you think you can walk?”
“Yes. Yes, there's no moon, but the stars are enough to see by, I think. Amazing, isn't it? So different out here than the city, where all the light just makes everything all that much... darker.” Happenstance mumbled, as he looked back and forth before he gave a small smile. “It could always be worse, couldn't it?”
“Horses of Heaven, don't say that, Happenstance.” muttered Last Call, and Happenstance laughed a little and mumbled an apology before Last Call shook his head and asked quietly: “Is there anything else that you remember?”
For a few moments, Happenstance was silent, but Last Call decided not to rush him: as bad as his own night had been, he had the feeling that Happenstance had gone through much worse.
And finally, Happenstance answered hesitantly: “Yes. There was... oh, I don't know. It sounds crazy... but I thought... the blindfold came loose for a moment, and I thought I saw a town. Not the village, but a completely different place. Yet it was all... it was like we were underwater. That's impossible, of course, we could all breathe, it wasn't wet, but all the same it was like was like the air was churning, like... like...”
Happenstance struggled for a moment, then he sighed and mumbled: “But it might have just been my mind playing tricks on me for all I know. I've... I've seen... nothing makes sense, why would anyone do this, Last Call?”
“I don't know. Lectern seemed like he was going pretty crazy over this Alignment garbage, and some ponies just... don't need a reason to hurt other ponies.” Last Call grimaced a bit, before he couldn't help but check back over his shoulder. He couldn't see anything, and while there was still that uneasy feeling of being watched, there was much less of being hunted now: it felt like at least for the moment, they had escaped any immediate danger.
Happenstance laughed a little at this, and even through the darkness, Last Call thought he saw the chubby stallion smile faintly. “I've always had trouble believing that was true. I know how naive that sounds, but... even now, I wonder... maybe...”
“What? The guy who beat the hell out of you was trying to protect you?” Last Call asked pessimistically, and Happenstance gave an awkward little chuckle. “I find that pretty hard to believe.”
“I, no, no, I don't mean that, I mean... but we all have to believe we're doing things, even, especially bad things for the greater good, don't-”
Last Call reached up and caught Happenstance by the shoulder, and the two came to a halt as the chubby stallion followed Last Call's gaze to what had caught his attention ahead: faint light in the far distance, like glowing orbs flickering beyond the trees.
They couldn't be at the edge of the forest, though: even the minimal starlight was enough to make the reflective blue tags that mark the trail glint now and then in Last Call's vision, alerting him they were on the right track. So that meant...
“That looks like the old logging camp just ahead... I didn't realize we'd come out so close to it!” Happenstance said, but he sounded almost as dubious as Last Call felt. “Do... those lights, do you think... I know that, well...”
Last Call swallowed the instinct to snap at Happenstance, instead saying as patiently as possible: “Look. We'll just get as close as we can, as close as we feel safe, and see if there's any movement. I... she showed me a way around to the back doors, the employee's only doors, if nothing jumps out at us. From there we should be able to get a sense of the whole camp.”
Happenstance nodded, looking relieved that Last Call had already come up with a plan... if you could even call it that. “Okay! I'll let you lead the way and stay behind you, how about that?”
“Great.” Last Call muttered, and he bit his lip for a moment before taking a slow breath as he started to lead the way forward again, ears pricked and eyes constantly shifting back and forth, every swaying branch a possible threat in the darkness, every rustle making him fear that something unknowable was lurking just ahead.
The light was further away than Last Call had realized: it was a few minutes, not a few seconds, before the trees began to thin out around them and the light began to noticeably brighten their surroundings. It made Last Call that much more tense as he stopped at the edge of the logging camp, nervously lingering behind a boulder as Happenstance crouched more behind him than the rock, making little nervous noises that Call did his best to ignore.
He swept his eyes over the logging camp, but while every single building and lamppost was brightly lit up, it felt desolate. He couldn't hear anything but the sounds of the forest and the shifting trees, and nothing seemed out of place, or different...
No, that wasn't true, he noted: there were a few open doors, and it looked like a pile of wood had been knocked over in the distance. But from here he couldn't really tell much, and Last Call sighed a little before he said finally: “Come on. But be quiet. Something might be in there.”
Happenstance nodded hurriedly, following maybe a little too close as Last Call felt his way carefully through the edges of the woods around the logging camp, careful to stay out of the light until he literally stumbled into the old picnic site he had been looking for.
He lingered for a moment, looking at the shoddy, beaten-up picnic table where he had spent such wonderful time with her, laughing, talking... just together. Pleasant memories, but at the time it had seemed so natural that he'd never imagined they would be among his best, his happiest memories with her...
Happenstance made a little noise behind him, and Last Call grimaced before he mumbled: “Just... getting my bearings. Uh... here.”
He led Happenstance to a narrow trail through the trees that seemed to lead away from the logging camp, but the serpentine trail twisted almost on itself and led around to the back of the fore mare's office, the employee's only door lit by a single flickering lamp. Last Call noted that said door was ajar, but he couldn't hear or see anything else... creepy, though. It's like the front of the camp is lit up, but everything else is dead and dark...
“Happenstance, why don't you stay here, and-”
“Last Call, I... I really don't want to stay in the woods alone. And I can't be any help here... let me at least come inside with you!” Happenstance pleaded immediately, looking fearfully at the stallion, and Last Call grimaced before Happenstance added: “If anything happens, I'll help, I promise that I'll help and-”
“Okay, okay. Keep your voice down. Let's... let's get a look inside.” Last Call said grudgingly, although he admittedly understood Happenstance's fear... and that if he did leave the chubby stallion outside, well, he probably wouldn't be here when he came back. At least inside he had half a chance... assuming we don't run into something in there.
Last Call crept towards the ajar door, then pulled it carefully open so he could peer inside. The short hallway beyond was empty, ending in a closed door, the single light on the wall flickering and casting shadows, the darkness coming and going and only for a moment revealing the filly-
Last Call flinched, but there was nothing there. He grabbed at his flashlight to turn it on, and the dim, waning glow of the light traced back and forth across nothing but garbage and debris before he shivered and muttered: “If that's you again, I wish you wouldn't play these goddamn games with me.”
“What?” Happenstance asked nervously, but Last Call only grimaced as he waved Happenstance's question off before he made his way to the door at the end of the narrow corridor, carefully pushing it open.
He emerged into the employee's lounge: he remembered how much she had complained about the way they had changed everything around here, how little of the original building floor plan remained. She'd always hated it when people changed things for the sake of change, or because it was the easy thing to do; it made him wonder for the hundredth time how the hell they could live together.
He smiled briefly as he drew the flashlight through the room: it was scattered, dirty, but otherwise there were no signs that anything was wrong here. He hesitated for a moment as Happenstance joined him, and then he said finally: “I'm going to check out the rest of the buildings. Stay here, Happenstance. You can lock the doors, that should be enough to keep you safe.”
“I don't know. I want to help you, Last Call!” Happenstance said worriedly, but Last Call only shook his head and gestured around the room.
“Look, if I need your help, I'll come back and get you, but it's better if just one of us looks around for now. Maybe you can take a look through the supply closet or something, or maybe just... rest, Happenstance. You look like hell.”
Happenstance smiled awkwardly as he rubbed at his bruised body, and then he sighed a little before nodding and dropping his head, mumbling: “Alright. Alright, if you insist, Call. I'll stay out of your way. But... just make sure you come back, okay?”
Last Call smiled awkwardly, then he nodded as he headed towards the door leading out of the employees' room, and further into the logging office. He hesitated for a moment, then reached up and turned off his flashlight as he noted the faint glow coming from under the door.
He nervously leaned into the door to push it open a little as Happenstance hurried up behind him, the two peering out into the empty lobby, where only flat signs and displays stood silent sentinel beneath the glow of fluorescent lights. Last Call shifted out of the room, then he nodded once to Happenstance, who made a little nervous noise before he closed the door with a whimper.
Last Call nervously wended his way between the displays to the front doors of the building: he noted that while they had been knocked ajar, someone had chained the handles shut on the inside. He couldn't help but jangle this gently, grimacing a bit at how heavy the iron links were, before he shrugged and turned.
He found his way across the lobby to the 'restored' office that had belonged to the fore mare, although he remembered how every time they had visited here, he'd gotten a lecture from his wife about how there hadn't actually been walls, how the office had been more of a formality than anything else. Even the wood they'd used had been wrong...
Last Call smiled briefly as he pushed open the door to the office, before he stumbled to a stop and stared in shock at the massive hole that had been torn in the wall. No, not torn: torn implied splinters, debris, crudeness. The wall looked more like it had been carefully cut away, with only the faintest of scorching around the edges of the near-perfect oval.
He stared in disbelief, before his eyes shifted towards the desk: part of it had crumbled away to ash, as had any other furniture in the way: the rest of it was still standing, but it varied from blackened and made brittle to what looked like grey dust. Last Call couldn't stop himself from reaching out to touch the desk, and he winced in surprise, almost falling over in shock when most of the furnishing crumbled away with a sound like a sigh, the rest of it toppling with a bang that sent up a cloud of dust.
Last Call coughed a few times and waved a hoof to clear it as he looked worriedly back and forth, but it didn't seem like he'd disturbed anything. After almost a minute, he finally gathered the courage to step across the office and lean out the hole, and his eyes immediately locked on another, similar wound in a building across the lit-up road... the sleeping quarters, he thought.
Last Call hesitated only a moment before he followed his impulse, stumbling out of the hole and running quickly across the road to the dormitory. He slipped past the chained-shut front doors to the wound in the wall, leaning carefully into it, his eyes darting back and forth... but apart from the hole, everything else seemed unmolested, the beds visible in the sleeping room all properly made and neat, the fluorescent lights haphazardly wired across the old rafters glowing brightly...
The stallion slipped through the hole, striding down the centre of the dormitory before he flinched in surprise and stumbled around as a voice chided: “You need to be more careful.”
He blinked and mouthed wordlessly: the filly was sitting on one of the beds, looking at him almost with concern in her red eyes, her messy mane and large, fluffy ears bare of the floppy hat she had been wearing before. Her raincoat shifted as she hugged herself, and Last Call grimaced and nervously stepped back at the sight of those strange, dexterous claws at the end of her forelegs as she murmured: “You're in great danger here, Call. There's something very evil, very close by. If it wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead.”
“So what, it doesn't want to kill me?” asked Last Call pessimistically, before he blurted out: “Why should I trust you? What the hell are you?”
“My answer won't change just because you don't understand it.” Silent Wish replied, and she sighed a little as she looked down at her little claws, flexing them absently: no, now that Last Call could see them a little clearer under the brightness of the light, they were both more and less than claws: furry little fingers, short but shifting, and something about the way the sleeves of her coat bunched and rippled...
He realized he was staring and that Silent Wish was only looking at him patiently now, and the stallion shifted a bit before he said: “I found one of my... one of the ponies that were taken. He said it was a big pony... maybe it's-”
“A thousand people hear the exact same story, and yet we end up with a thousand different interpretations of it.” Silent Wish said, and Last Call frowned a bit, although he understood. He just didn't understand what that had to do with anything.
But Silent Wish answered that question before he could ask it, as she said softly: “There are ponies who worship the Alignment. There are ponies who think the monsters locked away here are gods. There are ponies who believe they will be rewarded...”
“There are ponies who just want to see the world burn.” murmured Last Call, and then he shook his head before he said finally: “Look, all I care about is finding my wife. That's all I want. I don't want to stop these things or get involved-”
“You are involved. By living, by being here, you chose to be involved, Last Call. You don't get to pick and choose: it's one or the other, and your choice has already been made.” Silent Wish answered pointedly, before she grimaced and added, as her eyes shifted nervously to the side: “We don't have time for this, Last Call. Every second we waste arguing is another second that-”
“Bad things could be happening. I know. She always... she always said I had the worst habit of doing... that.” Last Call muttered, before he glanced up as Silent Wish smiled briefly at him. He recognized that expression, and he grimaced at the sympathy before he asked: “What do I do if I'm already screwed?”
“But you're not. The thing watching you is... curious. And it's not hungry, not yet: it's still very tired from the long sleep. You have to use that to your advantage to escape from this place, but... be careful.” Silent Wish looked uneasily around, murmuring: “This is a very bad place. Do you know what happened here?”
“Yeah. A long winter set in, and everyone died.” Last Call answered, and Silent Wish smiled at him faintly.
“Yes, winter came. But no, not everyone died. Some got sick, and some got tired, and then the bad thing came in the middle of the night. It breathed nightmares into the scared ponies and touched the ones who were starting to fall apart. And the maddened, desperate, insane ponies turned on their comrades and killed them, and ate them.” Silent Wish said softly, and Last Call shuddered before his eyes widened in horror as he looked around, and saw ponies, dying, screaming, half-eaten ponies, all writhing in the bed around them for a moment before they vanished into shadow once more. “But we shouldn't speak of such things when reality is already thin.”
“Y-Yes.” Last Call shivered, not knowing what else to say: it wasn't like there was anything he really could, anyway, as he swallowed thickly, looking fearfully back and forth, his mind struggling to catch up to to the present.
Silent Wish studied him, and then she looked up uneasily as the lights above flickered, murmuring: “It's coming. You have to get out of here, Last Call.”
“But where do I go?” Last Call blurted out, and Silent Wish smiled at him faintly.
“It doesn't matter. You'll go where they want you to at this point; you're too far in to turn back now.” Silent Wish answered, and then she simply vanished as the lights flickered again, Last Call cursing before he swore in surprise as the fluorescent bulbs above exploded one after the other.
He stumbled away, dropping his head and covering himself as much as he could as broken glass and diamond dust pelted him, before he lurched into a panicked run, lunging to the end of the dormitory and smashing through a door before he rounded the corner of a U-shaped hall.
He skidded to a halt in front of something that chilled his blood, mouthing wordlessly as he stared for a moment at the horrible thing before his stomach wrenched, and he staggered backwards and vomited loudly. His mind reeled and his legs quaked underneath him as he whimpered helplessly, eyes rolling in his head as the horrific, indescribable mass seemed to only watch him, and yet just being near it hurt, and if he couldn't stop his darting eyes from so much as glancing over it again he felt like his mind would break, like his skin would turn inside-out, like his heart would explode in his chest-
The thing stretched out a bizarre, malformed appendage from its writhing mass and gently touched him, and Last Call froze as the thing in the darkness spoke into his mind in images more than words.
Then it was simply gone, leaving a burning hole through the wall it shambled through in the shape of a perfect oval. Last Call's teeth shattered before he tried to turn, and only managed to slip in his puddle of liquid vomit, sending himself crashing down to the ground.
He laid there on his side for an indeterminate amount of time, just trying to breathe, to shake things off, to think. He curled up like a foal in the darkness, the only light coming from the faint stars outside as he rocked himself slowly on the spot, whimpering a little to himself as his whole body quaked with pain and terror.
But eventually, the fear faded, and the pain cleared his mind, and he was able to shakily drag himself up to his hooves, coughing and wheezing. He shuddered a little, closing his eyes tightly before he moaned and rubbed at his face, then whispered: “Dammit.”
That thing... it had showed him things. Asked him questions his mind had screamed senseless answers to. Told him to do things, but he couldn't remember what those things were. And it had said, in the most casual, offhoof way, that it wasn't going to kill him. He wasn't interesting enough to kill: it was more interesting to the awful thing whether or not he survived the horrors already chasing him, hounding him from every side.
Unless he got boring, it had said. Or unless it felt a whim to.
He was alive because of the whims of a monster he couldn't even look at.
That didn't make sense. Had it been a hallucination? Was he going insane? Things, monsters didn't work like this, and it didn't make sense!”
Last Call whacked himself with a hoof a few times, then he shook his head before he stared at the hole the beast had left in the wall. He reached out, touched the thin, burnt space in that hole, and then he whispered: “Didn't hallucinate that.”
He shivered, then stepped out through the hole, biting his lip. He had to decide what to do. He had to figure out where the hell to go, how to escape the monsters that the awful thing had hinted were already on the hunt for him. He had to-
A pop caught his attention. Last Call looked up, just in time to watch from the alley he had stepped into, as a lamp at the end of the alleyway exploded into pieces. And from the sounds of shattering and the vanishing light along the main road, he knew that one after the other, every light throughout this logging camp had either shattered or gone dark.
He was stranded in the darkness.
And something was coming.