LETTERS - CHAPTER FIVE: THE IMMORTAL
There was only cold silence for a moment as the group digested the word. It was a simple word, the meaning clear as mountain stream water, but it was sinking into them like a lava flow, dripping and slow. There were shuddering breaths as Pinkie began to pace nervously, biting her lower lip in an attempt to remain calm.
“I don’t know what we should do now,” Twilight said quietly, stepping to the edge of the tent and pushing her head out to see if there was anything. “It wants us to go, and I’m very inclined to follow its warning.”
“Where did the letters come from?” Fluttershy asked, shaking violently. “I don’t remember when it happened!”
Rainbow Dash turned to her quizzically, “But you talked last night! You were there after you got the letter! You’ve given us multiple mini-speeches to push us on to help Pinkie!”
“What?” Fluttershy asked, her eyes widening. “I never did that! I walked into the forest with you, and suddenly there were letters and a tent and ‘begone!’”
She was whimpering now, her breathing becoming erratic and irregular. Her eyes brimmed with tears and her knees were slowly buckling beneath her.
“How could you forget everything that happened?” Rarity asked, taking concerned looks around the tent.
“Shock?” Twilight asked. “But it doesn’t make much sense.”
“Something is happening,” Pinkie said, sounded only mildly concerned about Fluttershy’s amnesia and more focused on something else. “It probably has to do with me.”
“This is not worth it,” Rarity said, shaking her head slowly. “Why do we have to go here anyway? It’s not like anything will happen if we don’t.”
“I think something will,” Pinkie said, kicking at the dirt lethargically. “I have a feeling that if we don’t go we’ll be forced to. And I don’t want to see if it does happen.”
“Pinkie, you’ve gotten so down lately,” Rainbow Dash said, sighing. “Why should we be doing this if it does this too you? If you are getting this depressed, than we are never gonna make it!”
Pinkie stamped her hoof down and glared at her friends, “We are going to get through this, no matter what! We are the Elements of Harmony! Girls, we have the power to do this!”
There was a moment of silence as they stood in silent understanding the way that best friends do. They all nodded, only spurred on by Pinkie’s words. All of their emotions were in turmoil, only being held in check by each other’s reassurance.
Twilight folded the tent up a few minutes later, and the group stood in a protective circle, watching the dim forest, checking every shadow and crevice.
“Let’s go,” Twilight said, shaking to fix some messed up fur. “The longer we stay, the worse it’s going to get for all of us.”
They all agreed with a simple nod, and they started walking again. Pinkie stayed at the back, looking at the ground beneath her.
- - - - - -
“You refuse to die. Why?”
She backed away, blood pouring from dozens of wounds across her body. Her hooves were torn apart, causing every push back to be agony. Her right foreleg was almost torn off, hanging by a few muscles and parts of the bone.
“I WANT YOU DEAD! WHY DO YOU NOT DIE?!”
The knife plunged into her mouth and went through the back of her throat. She was choking, slowly drowning, but yet not dying. The burning in her lungs was unbearable, but there was nothing she could do. She could only suffer.
“PLEASE! DIE!”
Tears were streaming down her face, as well as her assailant’s, and they both sobbed in their opposing roles of the situation.
“ALL I WANT IS FOR IT TO BE OVER! ALL I HAVE TO DO IS KILL YOU!”
She already saw what the point of her immortality was. As long as she remained alive, it tormented him, and as long as she was alive, she would be beaten and stabbed. It was hell for the both of them, an inescapable prison made by a being stronger than the Princesses or anypony who had ever lived.
“DIE AND LET ME BE FREE!”
- - - - - -
They traveled until the sun began to set again, not speaking and not saying anything. Twilight quickly got the tent ready and they got inside quietly, ready to sleep and escape the horrors of the Everfree.
- - - - - -
Her dreams were full of pain and suffering, watching the fire spread and the metal glitter in the blaze. She was being roasted alive in the heat, screaming and burning and feeling everything become melted from her body.
It was so real, but she knew that it had never happened. She was still lying on the ground, hurt and bleeding, choking on an endless flow of blood and spit. But the dream provided her with relief. She died in the fire, smiling as she did, holding out her hooves to the sky.
She opened her eyes as she woke up, seeing that all of her injuries had healed, leaving her whole and unharmed. But she felt eyes watching her, and hooves moving across her back.
“I love watching you suffer,” the voice said, pressing hard into her spine and causing a small tremor of pain. “I am nearly out of ways for this stupid stallion to harm you, but I have found a way that will keep him occupied for a very long time.”
The hooves moved across her flank and hindlegs, and she knew where it was going. She immediately tried to stand up, but she pushed down by immense strength.
“You will continue to hurt,” it said, opening her legs. “I enjoy watching the pain of others, and this will most certainly be the worst for you. A horrible emotional trauma. It will please me almost as much as the stallion.”
She felt something press against her, warm and stiff. She shuddered and tried to worm away, but the grip held.
“I’m sorry,” he said, no longer the thing from before. “But it wants me to.”
- - - - - -
Fluttershy heard the huff of air before any of the others. She had heard it many times before while tending for the animals, and she knew to run when she did. Her eyes widened, and she jumped up in hysteria.
“Timberwolf!” she yelled frantically, running outside of the tent in a moment of attempted bravery. She saw the glowing eyes in the trees and gulped. She darted back in and watched her friends stumble up in a daze. “Timberwolf!”
“Fluttershy, timberwolves don’t live this deep in the fore–” Twilight began, but was cut off by Rainbow Dash, who had gone to look and came back in hyperventilating and prancing nervously.
“Why don’t you tell that to the ones out there!”
Twilight and the rest of the friends went outside and saw them, slowly stalking up, wary of the new creatures but certainly ready to attack.
“What do we do?” Rarity asked, taking deep breaths.
“We’ll fend them off if they attack,” Applejack said, dragging her strong hindlegs on the ground. “I’ve got my hooves, Rainbow Dash’s got speed, Twilight’s got magic, Rarity’s got something, I’m sure, and Fluttershy has her way with animals. I assume Pinkie’s got something, because she’s Pinkie.”
“So Rarity and Fluttershy are useless?” Rainbow Dash asked, hovering a few feet from the forest floor.”
“I’d love to disagree,” Rarity said, raising a hoof. “But I don’t want to get involved with this.”
It was at that moment the timberwolves attacked, charging from the trees at breakneck speed. Rainbow Dash was quick to slap one down with a speedy flying kick, as was Applejack with a buck and Twilight with a spell.
The other three watched as they destroyed beast after beast, but more kept coming, quickly coming faster than they could deal with. Rarity screamed as one barreled from the opposite side, coming straight for Pinkie. Twilight was firing a spell at another, Applejack was bucking one’s head off, and Rainbow Dash was busy swirling a tornado to gather up a few.
Rarity tried her best to fire a shot at it, but it only grazed a few twigs on the side. It grabbed the stunned Pinkie and bit down hard, crushing through her forelegs and impaling her stomach. She let out a scream of pain.
The others watched in horror as she pried open it’s jaws and fell to the ground. Twilight began firing again, driven by fear and the need for revenge. The rest of them began to pound on the timberwolves until they had gotten the hint and left.
“Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash cried as the last one ran yelping into the darkness.
Pinkie lay on the ground, taking shuddering breaths and trying to hold back tears.
“It’s okay,” she said, trying to stand but having her forelegs collapse beneath her. “I’ll be fine.”
“No you won’t!” Twilight said, trying to cast unsuccessful healing spells on her friend. “You’re dying! You’ll die and then you’ll be dead and we’ll be sad and we’ll be stuck in this forest unsure if we should continue the quest or go home.”
“I’m not going to die,” Pinkie said, pressing her face into Twilight’s. “I don’t die from just a timberwolf. I’ve been through hell and back and survived.”
Twilight backed away, scared by the look of death in Pinkie’s eyes.
“What happened to you, Pinkie?”
- - - - - -
She had been here for two days, constantly being assaulted by the demon, constantly becoming used to the pain and humiliation of what was happening. His breath went against the back of her neck as he went, and she sat there and took it.
She felt horrible letting this happen, but whenever she tried to run, it held her down, raw and bleeding and alone until he came back again to satisfy his amplified desires. The demon made him want nothing more than her body, so she would continue to hurt and suffer.
But he was also alone and hurt. She heard him whisper “I’m sorry” dozens of times every single time he came to take her. He was merely the demon’s tool for causing pain, and she could not bring herself to hate him for that.
As he left, she heard him wailing in happiness. She looked up, expecting to be held down by the grip, but it was gone. She stood, and suddenly she knew why.