//------------------------------// // Walk // Story: Past Days // by Blue Turtle //------------------------------// Walk Chapter II Sunflower was normally used to waking up at dawn, the sun rising and streams of light gently waking up all the ponies in the herd. But now she was in a cavern with no sun as her alarm clock. Crescent told her not to worry about it seeing as most bat ponies don't wake up until evening. "What about you Crescent? Why do you wake up early?" Sunflower asked, sitting across from Crescent. "Weeell..." Crescent sighed, looking away. "I'm not 100% batpony. My dad was a bat pony, but there was someone else. So I'm kinda more of a fruit bat." Crescent confessed. "Crescent it's okay, you don't need to tell me anything you don't want too." Sunflower returned. "Alright... Sunflower, how come you left your herd? You're not that much older than I am and I don't dare go outside without telling anypony" Crescent asked, her ears perking up. "I... uh. I wanted to see the world. I was bored of sitting on the edges of forests." Sunflower replied. "Weird, that's what I want to do when I grew up!" Crescent replied cheerfully, grinning toothily. Sunflower's eyes lit up, a smile tugging the corners of her mouth. "Are we allowed to go outside?" Sunflower got up, walking towards Crescent. "Well yea, I just gotta tell someone" Crescent answered with a huff, scrunching her nose. "Then let's go find him!" Sunflower remarking, throwing her hoof around Crescent's neck. "Sure, but first we gotta clean up." Crescent chimed, pulling away gently to tuck in her blanket. "You guys take your cleanings seriously. Most of the time we roll around in grass or dirt." "Caves are wet so ickies grow pretty fast if we don't stay clean." "That's as good a reason as any." Sunflower said through her the blanket in my mouth, pulling and tucking the blanket into the corners of the bed. Quietly, She and Crescent cleaned their room. Each bed was tucked into the wall, Crescent's being on top because she could fly. The bed part of the bed was fabric with wool inside it, tied with a string so every once in a great while the wool could be changed out. In the corners of the room were small intents which held purple and blue glowing crystals. Sunflower's eyes had a hard time adjusting to the strange new colors, but over night she'd started getting her bearings. "Alright, let's go." Crescent chirped, turning her head to Sunflower. Crescent lead Sunflower out, walking through the main room and into the second carven as she'd named it. "So how'd you guys find this place/ or did you dig it out? I mean there are two housing caverns, one main area and then you have the templey place." Sunflower questioned as Crescent lead her down the spiral staircase to the main area." "Actually, the ancient night queen built this place." Crescent corrected "Night queen?"Sunflower asked again, inquisitive "Yeah, Night Queen. She was the moon goddess, until she uh, died." Crescent said, looking about "If i'm gonna live with you I think it'd be helpful to know more." Sunflower stated, slowing to a stop at the end of the stairs. "Yup! That's why we have learning days. Basically we go to the main floor and one of older bat ponies teach us about history, flying and other tribes. Sometimes we learn how to fight." Crescent said with a soft smile. "That sounds kinda fun, it'd be nice to fight rather than run. Except flying, I guess i'll just sit n' watch you guys." Sunflower shrugged. "There you are!" Nightingale remarked as he flew down. His white wings contrasted against the other bat ponies who were normally dark colors. "Daddy!" Crescent beamed, hugging her father tightly. Her smile wide. "Hiya sweetie, sorry I wasn't here last night. Me and Selene were out and about." Nightingale admitted. "It's okay, I showed Sunflower all around, and she met the Fair Lady." Crescent said through her smile. "That's good, so where were you two heading?" Nightingale asked, smiling back at his daughter "Oh well I was gonna ask you if we could go out and get something to eat." Crescent asked, her tone dipping slightly. "Sure, just be back befor-" Nightingale was interrupted by a certain bat pony. "Nightingale~" A dark pink mare called out. Her reddish pink eyes glowed in the dark and pinned directly on Nightingale. "Oh-Uh gotta go girls." He gave a brief kiss on the forehead to Crescent and flew off to meet up with Selene. "Bye Daddy..." Crescent swallowed hard, turning to Sunflower she flashed a fake smile. Sunflower could tell, the light dimmed in Crescent's eyes. After that, they walked in silence for a while. Crescent's eyes firmly on the ground, while Sunflower frowned every so softly. Her eyelids fell, feeling her heart weighing down. "Crescent, do you wanna see if we can play with the other fillies?" Sunflower asked, trying to change the subject. "Uh...sure. After breakfast." Crescent muttered, not changing her focus. "Okay..." Sunflower sighed, following behind Crescent. Quietly they continued forward, Sunflower getting close to Crescent as the glowing moss and mushroom dispersed and inky blackness filled the cave. "Sorry, sometimes I feel a little sad and I shut down, but I'll try not to do that too much." Crescent said quietly, her tone lightening. "It's fine Crescent, why would I get mad anyway?" Sunflower responded. "Maybe not mad but, When I told some other ponies about it they said I shouldn't complain because other ponies have it worse." Crescent admitted, stopping. "Just because somepony has it worse than you doesn't mean you can't still feel hurt." Sunflower pointed out, looking at where Crescent's voice was coming from. "Bu-" Before Crescent continued Sunflower interrupted her. "I mean, even if somepony was hurting you don't suddenly stop feeling hurt. If I kicked you in the jaw your jaw wouldn't stop being broken just because somepony fell off a cliff. Sure they're in more pain and deserve more attention but that does mean you just stop hurting." Sunflower rambled on, glancing at the floor. "Are you speaking from experience or...?" Crescent asked slowly. "That's just what my Mom told me." Sunflower responded quickly, dancing around the term Mom like it was a candle flame. "Ooooh. Anyway let's go eat!" Crescent chimed, going through the dark cave again, Sunflower keeping right by her side. Crescent kept kept a decent paced trot, Sunflower's long legs however made it easy to keep up. Crescent almost felt jealous for just a moment, but she remembered Sunflower couldn't see at all in the dark. How horrible! It wouldn't be fair if Sunflower, or any other earth pony, didn't have long, strong legs to match Bat Ponies, who not only could fly but also could see in the dark. "It's only fair!" Crescent chirped to herself. "Uh, yeah?" Sunflower agreed, though she wasn't quite sure what Crescent was talking about. Crescent lead Sunflower back up the slowly sloped tunnel and into the damp area. Water dripped down from the cave ceiling somewhere above making the air heavy. Sunflower slowed down, the cave floor was almost slimy and Sunflower felt like she was walking on stilts. Suddenly, Crescent was gone. Sunflower couldn't feel her wing anymore. "Crescent?!" Sunflower cried, looked around frantically. She took trotted forward in the dark. After yelling out for Crescent a few more times, her heart beat faster, breath hastening. "Cresceeeent!" She called out again, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She could've been walking in circle for all she knew. She took a few steps forward, and there was a sudden dip downwards. It was slippery and tried to push herself back up from the sudden dip, but instead she fell forward, the rock too slippery. She went sliding down the rock,screaming all the way, falling onto her side. She scrapped at the rocks, trying to slow down or stop. There was a sudden splash and she hit the water, thrown into water. Everything was murky and dark. The water's icy fingers grabbed at her skin and choked her breath as she went under. Her legs seemed to freeze up. She tried to push herself up but the current was far too much. The cave water stung her lips and her ears and choked her lungs. Suddenly everything grew warm. Her mind felt fuzzy and light. Well, this is a great way to go. Drowning on my way to breakfast. She thought to herself as the current pushed her farther down. Something touched her back, the rocky surface of something. That's when ti struck her. She whirled onto her back. The current tried to push her down but at the bottom she was fine. She opened her eyes and could see something peering back at her. If she could've screamed she would have, It's eyes were glassy and skin grossly slimy. It looked a bit like a pony but with wrinkly transparent slime around it's skin. It's lips were puffy and seemed almost like ragdoll, swaying back and forth. It stared at her blankly. Oh god it's dead. It's a dead pony. She'd noticed as the thing was pretty much decomposing. It's wasn't floating on it's own, the current was keeping it under. No time, I gotta find a way out Her attention turned upwards to the inky darkness. She tried to swim up but was violently forced down. She looked walked along the bottom, barely able to see. Frigid water sapped her strength and she could feel her hooves grow numb. She eventually found a strange rock on the bottom. It was strange. It was layered differently. Rather then being grey this one was various oranges. Moving the stone aside and was pulled down again, into a tunnel. Water rushed forward, pushing her down the tube. "ALL I WANTED WAS BREAKFAAAAAAAST" She yelled as she went whirling down the rocky tube. Water pushed her faster and faster. She went upwards and downwards, water roaring as it threw her further down the shaft. She almost flipped onto her stomach as the shaft made a short curve downwards. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH" Sunflower screamed, getting spat out of the tub and into a pillar. "Oof." She grunted, smacking into the stone pillar, water tumbling out of the hole with her. "What in the name of..." The bat pony said, turning to see Sunflower slide down the pillar. "Child, how did you...?" Eravu requested, flicking her ears. "Crescent and I were going to eat breakfast but I can't see in the dark so I lost her and then I fell into a pool of water and then I almost drowned and there was a dead pony and then there was a weird rock so I pushed the rock and then I went down a tube, THERE WAS A LOOPTY-LOOP, and then I slammed into a stone pillar and now i'm here and I am very confused." Sunflower explained quickly, let out a long breath after her run-on sentence. "Oh, well, we should see if there's some way to fix that.. perhaps in the future you should acquire a lamp of sorts if possible." One of the guards suggested, rushing over to help Sunflower to her hooves, "You... can buy lanterns n stuff here?" Sunflower asked, befuddled. "Perhaps, however you allow me to lead you to your friend. I believe you said you two were going to breakfast, correct?" The bat pony requested quietly. Sunflower nodded and the bat pony handed the spear to another of it's kind, then approached her. Sunflower shook herself, trying to dry off. The bat pony simply shrugged with their eyes and allowed Sunflower to climb on. With that they took off into the cave, flying towards the cave opening. Her carrier dipped and dived and spun around the cave like they'd done it a thousand times before. With a soft whoosh they landed softly at the mouth of the cave. "Thank you." Sunflower mumbled softly. The shadowy bat pony nodded and flew back in without a word. "Uh, why are you wet?" Crescent asked, popping out from behind Sunflower. "GAH! I... fell into a river? Pond? I don't even know. What I do know is that we need to buy a lantern." Sunflower responded with, turning to look at Crescent. "Oh, that might be a problem, but we can try. Right now let's go." Crescent said cheerfully, leading Sunflower into the dark forest. Dappled light fell through the trees falling onto the rooted ground. The tall trees swayed lightly in the breeze. Birds sung their gentle morning calls within the swaying branches, meanwhile some twittered about on the forest floor. "So where exactly do we find breakfast?" Sunflower asked, walking a little ways behind Crescent. "There's this nice hillside ahead, it was pretty close to where we came in actually." Crescent explained. The forest floor was pretty bare, besides the occasional patch of ferns, viburnum or myrtle. The fern's almost furry leaves culminated together, meanwhile the viburnum that grew was more separated. Their round leaves grabbed as much sunlight as possible, meanwhile the large patches of myrtle seemed content with the more shaded areas. "Can we eat these?" Sunflower asked, looking at the patches of plants. "Viburnum and myrtle are okay, but don't eat ferns." Crescent answered, pointing her hoof to the patches of myrtle. "I guess I wouldn't really wanna eat that stuff anyway." Sunflower shrugged. Myrtle was a low growing plant and straining one's neck to eat wasn't her idea of a good breakfast. Crescent lead her through the forests, towering pine trees stood above them, trunks thick with years. The ground was covered in their flat scaly needles. Sunflower could begin to see the trees clear into a hillside, the land elevating to her right. Crescent lead her along , sunlight hitting the hillside as long wiry grass blades started to grow, the tall pine trees parting for deciduous trees, their leafy crowns in the sky. "Whoa." Sunflower said, looking out onto a hilly plains. The hillside in front of her spread out into a vast plains. This was greeny then the one she'd grown up with. "The forests big grazing animals from getting too far in, so elk n stuff don't mow down everything." Crescent explained, answering Sunflower's silent question. Sunflower's jaw fell, eyes wide by the sheer amount of greenery. Crescent smiled widely and turned to Sunflower. "Alright, time to eat. I'll go find some fruit for myself, you just hang out up here." Crescent extended her wings and took off with a jog. Sunflower closed her mouth and turned to the luscious grass all around her. It looked so untouched. Suddenly a thought popped into her head. Maybe if I show the others... The thought came out of left field it seemed. She shook her head. As if She bent down to eat, the grass crunching between her teeth as she ate. She didn't have to focus on eating, in fact she liked to take breakfast time to think. Please. Lead said that if I came back he'd kill me, or have the others do it. Showing them some fancy new eating spot wouldn't help anyone. She thought and thought, feeling her chest closing. Her lungs seemed to seize up on her and everything became slowed. Her stomach twisted, gnarled and twisted like the branches of broken trees. She pulled her head up to look around, flicking her ears. She turned in circles around herself. I'm still on the hillside She thought quietly, blinking twice. She breathed in, letting out a sigh. The panic in her heart eased and she bent down again. Calm returned; the gentle breeze soothing as always. The twittering of birds was quiet. Suddenly there was a pungent odor. It smelled repulsive, like rotting wood and dead fish. Her ears flicked around, swivelling like radars. Her eyes dilated, becoming thin and small in spheres of purple. She'd frozen solid, her mane slowly drifting with the wind, the pink threads washing over one another. Sunflower glanced around slowly, looking towards the forest. The rotting smell stung her nose and eyes, and fought hard not to blink. Everything slowed down again, and her vision became near perfect. A large shadow moved between the dark trees, dappled light failing to show it's identity. It was low to the ground, with high shoulders and no tail. It was huge, of course, but small enough to fit through the trees and stay hidden. She took a few steps backwards, the soft grass muffling her steps to silence. Sunflower kept contact at the beast as much as possible, but wit it moving amongst the dark forest it was near impossible, especially as be backed away. Suddenly the thing reared it's head into the light. It's face was short and circular, with stubby ears and as she could tell beady eyes. Light hit directly onto it's face reveal itself. Bear. The creature brought up so many bad memories. She should have remembered the awful, rotting smell. The smell that carried with it Rainfoot and Clear Sky, or the beady blank stare that bore into Aspirus. Her heart thundered in her chest and she took off over the hill, running as fast as she physically could across the hillside. She flew over it, hooves tumbling against the ground in heavy step. She could hear it's husky growl growing nearer, gaining speed. She could smell it getting closer to; the rotting odor becoming stronger and more powerful. I just can't seem to catch a break Sunflower thought as she galloped along. If she could slip back into the trees she may be safe, however it'd be difficult to turn without the bear being able to catch her. She started to turn in a wide arc, going uphill. The soft grass became more rocky, with tufts of grass taking root this way and that in between the gravel. Her lungs burned but she kept top speed, even as her legs seemed to weigh down. Like leads weights attached themselves to her hooves as she ran. She could hear the bear trailing behind, perhaps not even a yard or two behind her. Suddenly she slowed, turned tight along a curve. The hill side dropped into a valley, nearly straight downwards, and she could hear the tiny pebbles underneath her fly off and down the side of the cliff. She turned her head, the bear chasing after her, growing ever closer. She turned, taking off again, running along the ridge of rocks. She skidded to a stop again, rocks flying out from beneath her feet. Another dead end. Sunflower didn't have enough time to react, the bear stopped swiping at her. She ducked, it's hooks barely sailing over her head. She backed up, her hoof slipping on the edge. The bear landed, it's giant mass smashing into the ground. She jumped to the right of the bear, it snapping it's jaws as she slipped into a run. The bear growled Her lungs burned, her throat felt cold and viscous and her legs felt like weights trying to pull her down. Her heart was racing in her ribcage, blood thundering in her ears. She ran again, this time not along the ridge. She jumped between the rocks keeping herself as agile as the wind. However like unlike wind she was not unbound to the earth. She turned her head, the bear starting to lose steam. It huffed, still running after her but starting to lose interest. However with her head turned she failed to see the large rock outcrop she was about to ram into at full speed. She bounced off the hard surface, moaning in pain. She felt blood trickle down her nose, like warm metal slipping down her face and into her mouth. It tasted gross; coppery and metallic. She turned around and the bear was already upon her. In her dazed state she didn't have time to dodge and the bear swept it's claws across her, sending her flying down the rocks. She rolled downhill, the slas across her collar stinging awfully in pain. The bear's laws cut through her like butter. The tiny mass laid on it's side, the bear making it's way downhill. She struggled to rise up, her shoulder shooting pain upwards. She breathed heavily, backing down, her raspy breath quickening. The bear seemed confused. She'd not only gotten up again but looked at them with defiance. Why didn't you die when I hit you??? "It takes more than one lousy swipe to take me out." She spat out like venom, or more likely the blood that had trickled down into her mouth. Though her knees betrayed her. They shook as she stood, she wasn't sure if she could run fast enough or long enough to get away and now she probably just made it angry. The bear ran again and she threw herself into another run, this time gaining speed downhill. She was basically tripping downhill, however, not exactly awake after not only slamming into the rock at full speed, but also getting knocked down the rocky hillside. This made her run in zig-zags, bouncing from rock to rock trying not to fall over but also run as fast as she could. I am just not having a good week She huffed then slipped down hill, tumbling over herself. The rocky surface underneath her turned to grass as she winced and yelled down hill, going "ow" the entire way down She looked around and the bear was gone, no sight or smell of it. She couldn't even hear it's husky breath anymore. It'd given up, giving her time to lay on the grass wincing and aching. She looked up to the sun, trying to find the time. It's warmth crept down onto her face as she sat in the shadow of a tree. "It's only noon and i've already almost died twice today." After lying there for a while she got back up, walking towards the forest. How the heck was she gonna find Crescent, or get back to the cave? She was partially annoyed seeing as she'd walked nearly all day yesterday and now she was walking again today. The thought made her hooves ache all over again. She thought she should perhaps retrace her steps, but she'd most likely alert the bear again. She thought about which way she'd travelled across the mountain and started walking along the valley, between where the trees started to ascend. and made her way to where she could only guess she'd started. The grass underneath her hooves was soft enough, however she really just did not want to walk. The alabaster filly then fell over, paralyzed. It struck like it always did, randomly. It was like something invisible grabbed her and thrown her onto the ground but she could never know when or why. It just happened. Now she'd much rather walk again. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, breathing hard and fast. Oh gods not again She wanted to scream, but her jaw was only slightly open from when she fell as no sound would come out. Her vision tunneled away, becoming foggy then dark until there was only dark.