Chapter 2 Cutie Mark Stories Go Bad
The march was long. Well, maybe not terribly long in actual time, barely three days, but to Boomer, it felt like an eternity with Pinkie Pie’s constant blabbing or random singing. He let her bounce in the midst of the patrol, and he hung back. But the third night, around the fire, they’d all huddled in close. They knew they were close to where the Nightmare Realm was breaking through. So, of course, they were all jumpy. As a way to break the tension, they told stories.
One of the most common yet wildly different stories that could be shared by any group of ponies, was how they got their cutie marks. Nearly all of them had apparently shared by the time Boomer came back to the fire after setting out guards around their camp.
“Hey Sir, It’s your turn. How did you get your cutie mark?” one of the young ponies called to him as he tried to walk past to his tent.
He could feel his horn heating up, along with his temper. He took several deep breaths and turned back to the group. “I’m afraid I’m too old to worry about remembering what happened when I was a young colt.” And tried to sneak into his tent and a half ounce of privacy.
“That’s hogwash.” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Even Granny Smith remembers how she got her cutie mark, and she’s at least twice as old as you.” But then she turned back to the army ponies around her, still all grins and bubbles, “Besides, I can tell you guys. My dad was there and he told me all about it.”
Boomer froze, half in, half out of his tent. It didn’t matter, he told himself. How he’d gotten his cutie mark was enough of a well know story that she probably would have heard it. It wasn’t anything spectacular he thought, it was what he did with his gift later he wanted nothing to talk about. He turned around in his tent and poked his head back out, laying down; he crossed his fore hooves and rested his head on them. “Go ahead and tell it. I’ll make sure you don’t blow things too badly out of fact.”
Pinkie Pie squealed, clapping her hooves together, then put on a look of dark conspiracy. As she leaned in, even the fire cooperated with her and dimmed so she was barely lit. “I’d asked my dad about how Boomer lost his horn, because I wanted to know why he hides it. And he told me it was from when Boomer first boomed and got his cutie mark.” Boomer snorted but let her continue on. “It was like a bazillion years ago,”
“It was FOURTY!” Boomer cut in.
Pinkie pie looked over at him, “That long? Wow. Dad’s right, you guys are old. Anyway, Boomer was one of the few ponies who hadn’t yet received their cutie mark. I guess a bunch of the bully ponies were teasing him and going on and on about how since he was a unicorn, he was going to do sparkly stuff, or be one of those designer types, or something else suitably girly. Anyway, dad said Boomer got really mad and ran away crying.”
“I wasn’t Crying!” Boomer shouted. Even though he knew he had been. He was breathing hard, trying to keep his temper down, as some of the memories came back.
“Anyway, Boomer ran off. Dad says that he had a real temper on him back then. Although I don’t see how it could be worse than he is now.”
Boomer struggled to control himself. He could feel the heat building in his horn, but breathed it out.
Pinkie Pie continued, “By the time the bullies had caught up with him out in the dark woods, Boomer was banging his head over and over again on a big rock. I guess they’d never seen anyone that mad before, it kind of surprised them. But he just kept banging his head over and over until they all heard it. Boomer’s horn broke. He looked up at them with tears and blood from the stump streaming down his face,”
“Wasn’t crying, you’re making it sound worse than it was.” Boomer interjected. Yeah, even he wasn’t buying that. It had been even worse. He didn’t know how he was going to keep the men’s respect after this.
“All bloody angry and crying, he shouted at them, ‘There! Now I’m not a unicorn anymore!’” Pinkie Pie turned to look at Boomer, “Why would you say that? That could really hurt your mom and dad’s feelings.”
Ouch, that one just hurt.
But she went right back to the story, “Now the bullies were all a bit surprised at that, but then one of them laughed and said, ‘Now you won’t even be able to do girly things! Ha! You’re a nothing!’ Dad cried a bit when he told me that because he had been the one to say it. He gave me a long talk about how bullies hurt people and how awful they are, but I told him I knew, and that I was glad he’d stopped being a bully. But Boomer got even madder. Dad says his eyes and horn started to glow; he floated up a bit, and then he let out a roar like he’d never heard before. Dad says it would have been one of the loudest and scariest things he’d ever heard, if not for what came right after it. Yep, Boomer BOOMED!”
Pinkie Pie made the exploding motions with her arms, and even the fire flared brightly for a second in emphasis. “Everyone was hurled miles away!”
“It was only a few dozen yards.”
“And the blast flattened half the forest!”
“It only knocked over a handful of trees.”
“Even the mighty rock he’d broken his horn on was shattered to rubble.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that one.”
“The bullies ran back to town, only now THEY were the ones crying.”
“And that one too. They were definitely crying.”
“Dad brought grandma and grandpa running back, trying to explain that Boomer had exploded and that he was dead.”
“Yep. As you can plainly see, I died.”
“But when they got to where the blast had been, Boomer was standing there, eyes wide with wonder, staring at the destruction around him.”
“I’ll admit to a few tears of joy over that. It was so gloriously amazing.”
“Only his mane and tail were a little singed. His horn stump had fused shut, not a drop of blood to be seen. And there on his flank, looking just like the mushroom cloud above him, was his cutie mark. Dad apologized and they even became friends through the rest of school, until Boomer left for the army, where he blew stuff up a lot of times for Equestria. Dad says he would have become a general if he could have ever managed to keep his temper. But his biggest blast was the last time the Nightmare Realm invaded. But Dad would never tell me anything more about that.”
Now all the eyes around the fire turned on him. They could sense a major story, and if there was one thing military ponies couldn’t resist, it was a good battle story. Boomer looked around. Even the guards he’s posted had snuck back to the outside edge of the campfire’s light to listen to Pinkies story, and were all eager for this one, especially seeing how relevant it was to their current mission.
Damn it. This is why he didn’t like telling about how he got his mark, it always led to this story.
Pinkie Pie looked over at him, “Dad says you were a hero.”
Boomer didn’t even feel the fiery heat of his temper now. No the heat was gone, but in its place was something much worse, a cold ice. His heart was cold and hard as a winter wind as he walked out of his tent and around to the fire so he was in front of Pinkie Pie. His heart was cold as he looked down at her, as cold as death.
The other ponies backed away from him as he leaned down. Their warriors instincts told them that bad things were about to be unleashed, and they felt sorry for their bright pink companion for whatever was about to come for her in her oblivious joy. She was still smiling, expecting a story. Even the light of the fire fled. Only the dim coals still burned, their sooty red light reflecting in Boomer’s eyes as he finally spoke.
“I’m no hero.” The words were flat, filled with a seething contempt. “You want to know how we beat them last time? You really want to know? Well let me tell you. Oh yes. Everyone talks about how we saved Equestria from the Nightmare Realm. How we saved everyone. None of them know what it cost though. There were a hundred of us that went out. Three of us made it back. THREE!” he shouted. “We weren’t ready for the horrors that came from the Nightmare Realm. We should have called in stronger reinforcements, had more magic ready.” He looked around. “Oh, I can see it already sinking into some of you. If a hundred weren’t enough last time, what are we supposed to do with barely fifteen? Fair question. We can’t fight them. We can’t. Even with every pony in Equestria armed and in formation, we wouldn’t be able to beat them. They fight using everything you’ve ever feared, every single thing that chills your blood and wakes you from your deepest sleep screaming. Only there is no waking up. The nightmare never ends. You either go mad, die of fright, or simply kill yourself. How CAN you fight that.”
Pinkie Pie burst in, “Ooooo! You didn’t say we were going to start with ghost stories. Wow! You tell the best ones.”
The fire was back. He could even feel his horn burning. “These aren’t STORIES! You want to know how we stopped the Nightmare Realm last time? I blew up most everyone who was still there! I killed nearly my entire unit to collapse the rift the Nightmare Realm was coming through! THAT is why YOU are here you PINK TWIT! YOU are here to be sacrificed to close the gate they are trying to open! I’m sure it wasn’t even a moment’s hesitation when the princesses needed to choose who to send. ‘Let’s send Pinkie Pie. No one will miss her and we will be better off without her.’ I’m sure your friends and family have been thrilled these last three days without you causing all your chaos and destruction! You’re a worthless waste of space and breath! Rejoice Pinkie Pie! All of Equestria is going to be better off because YOU will be gone!”
Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail had lost all their spring and bounce and hung flat. Her wide eyes were rimmed with tears, as she looked up at him frozen in horror and shock.
Boomer turned his head away, his rage spent, no longer able to look in those lost eyes. “I am so going to hell.” He whispered to himself. What had started out as the idea of trying to instill a proper respect for what they were going to try and do, and vent some of his frustrations, has spiraled out of control into horror. It was almost like he wasn’t even in control of the words coming out of his own mouth, but spewed forth exactly what would hurt her most.
He raised his head. He had to apologize. He even opened his mouth, but then he felt it. Or moreso, he became aware of what he, what they ALL must be feeling. He froze, then broke through and bellowed, “Nightmare forces! RUUUUNNNNN!”
They all started charging away from the forest that was behind Boomer. He dove over the fire, pushing ponies in the right direction, trying to get his young charges moving away from what would be the end of them all. He trampled his tent, not caring, and was half way across the camp when it dawned on him who he wasn’t seeing fleeing in front of him. Where was Pinkie Pie?
Skidding to a stop, he spun around, racing back towards where she still sat frozen.
But he was too late. He saw the shadow things ooze out of the trees. They had no shape at first, they never did. But as the first one got close to Pinkie Pie, it started to take on the shape of her ultimate nightmare.
He tried to run faster. Tried to reach out and pull her away, but his magic was broken. He could barely lift a cup, let alone a whole pony.
One of the other shadow things hurled something made of darknes at him. It struck him in the head with the force of a mountain, and he went tumbling to the ground.
As the blackness closed in around him, he saw the shadow thing before Pinkie Pie finalize its change into her ultimate nightmare as it picked up her stiff as a board body. It looked just like, him. Figures.