I could only stare at the village as my brain desperately tried to find a logical explanation, before settling for a, “Fuck it, I’m outta here.”
“Wha … bu-but, the village … I … How?” I asked in a delicate Shakespearian style, dumbly motioning towards the settlement with my hands. The pony looked at me, then at the small town, before letting out an ‘ah!’ of understanding, rushing towards a bush and unentangled something from it.
Looking closely, I saw that it was a wooden picket with a panel of the same material neatly nailed on it. A sign? The wooden surface was covered in moss; one could read the name ‘Sunny town’ carved in faded golden letters on its surface.
“I forgot to clean around a bit, sorry,” Grayhoof bashfully said before gently nudging me with his muzzle. “We don’t get many visitors here, you know.”
“Come on, let me show you around a bit! Or …. would you prefer to stay here?” he asked, looking at me for confirmation. I nodded, and began following him, still unsure about all ... wait a minute…
“Wait!” I warned, turning around, looking at the spot the filly occupied not two minutes ago. Grayhoof stopped in his tracks and looked at me, confused as he tilted his head to the side.
“What is it? Is there something wrong?” I looked at the grayish stallion.
“I-I saw- ...There!” I pointed at the old stump. “There was a pony! Right there!” I looked at Grayhoof. “I mean there was another pony, standing right here!” I rushed back to it, frantically looking around. “We must find her before something happens to her!”
“Wait, hold on! Another pony?!” he asked, “what did she look like? I don’t think anypony ventured out of the village, but better safe than sorry.”
“Well,” I started, “she was, about … half as tall as you,” I pointed at him while gesturing at his legs. “She had gray fur, a bit lighter than yours, yellow cloudy eyes, and a small, shrilly voice. Do you know of her?” I asked, urgency seeping into my tone.
The pony stayed silent, his face becoming an unreadable mask for a few seconds, his eyes staring into the nothingness as in deep thought. Finally, he closed his eyes and shook his head.
“Sorry, I don’t remember seeing such a pony recently at all.” He turned back, and started to walk away, “ you know, a lot of things can be mistaken for something else with this fog, even more at night. Are you sure of what you saw?”
I stayed silent. I couldn’t have dreamt of our conversation, did I? I looked back at my improvised guide, and caught him looking at the stump… smiling?
“Anyway!” Grayhoof exclaimed, snapping me out of my musings, “Let’s go! Let me show you around and to introduce you to our little hamlet!” he cheered while marching forward.
I looked one more time towards the forest before following him while trying to wrap my head around all of this. Could she have been nothing more than a delusion created by my mind?
We walked on a small dirt path, which quickly changed to a smooth paved road, leading to maybe ten or so small cobblestone houses. Each one had a variety of decorations hanging from the borders of their roofs: be it lamps, small colored flags, or simply carved wooden sculptures on the sides.
The stones that composed the habitations seemed to be fairly recent, as no marks or blackening had happened on them. The rooftops were covered in slates, which would indicate an ocean nearby, considering the origins of the rock. That, or they had commercial relations with other towns.
As we walked further in I noticed something weird in the sky above us. I had looked earlier at the time, and right now, it should be around three and a half in the morning, yet no stars could be seen along with the moon. Low clouds were covering the entirety of the settlement, obscuring the skies even further.
The smells of burning firewood soon greeted us as we arrived at the outskirts of the town. The odor of the dried grass and the night air mixed in a very relaxing scent, which reminded me of the countryside I used to go to when I was on vacation.
I looked at my improvised guide as we toured around the village. His head was bobbing left and right as he hummed a song I did not recognise, smiling all the while. His black mane seemed slightly unkempt, some strands of hair standing out, giving him some sort of lunatic look, which was nicely completed by his carefree attitude.
We soon arrived at a large and well decorated stand which was filled to the brim with pastries, sweets, drinks and other sugar-based goods. A punch bowl was hanging from a large wooden pole, which also served as an attach point for a number a small colorful lamps garlands, which were the only light sources in the village.
“Are we celebrating something?” I asked my guide, who chuckled good naturedly.
“Why, do we need a reason to be happy?” he asked me.
“Uh … I suppose not?” I answered, a bit at a loss for words. ‘Did those ponies organize a full fledged party just for the sake of it?! This place is freaking ElDorado!’ I thought while following Grayhoof towards a group of villagers that had gathered near the table and whose attention was now entirely focused on me.
“Fellas!” he hollered, “look at who I brought here!” The group quickly joined us, rushing and swarming around me and observing my form in unconcealed awe. The ponies looked at me, walking around to take my humanness, I guess. It gave me time to look at the assembled, colorful equines. Some of them seemed wary of my appearance, not that I could blame them. I would freak out if some giant decided to come to my place. Now that I looked at them, I was at least one meter taller than most of them.
Thankfully most of them were simply curious, if not outright welcoming, as they all greeted me in one indiscernible happy exclamation. Soon enough I found myself the target of a hundred questions as the pastel ponies pressed against me from all sides.
“What are you?”
“Where are you from?”
“Do you like schneeballen?”
“You’re so tall!”
“Folks, folks!” my guide and savior arrived and gently separated the ponies from me. “I know you’re all eager to meet this traveler, but, please, show him some personal space,” I chuckled nervously at that.
“It’s okay, I was just a bit surprised is all,” I said, putting my hands up to reassure the ponies around me. A mare came up to me, her fur and her poofy mane both a vibrant green, her eyes the very image of liveliness and curiosity.
“Hi! I’m Three Leaf!” she excitedly said while bouncing up and down in a perfect Pinkie Pie manner before she extended a foreleg towards me. “What’s your name, sir?” asked the carbon copy of our favorite cupcake loving pony.
“Pleased to meet you, Three Leaf. My name is Peter,” I shook her hoof, the hard surface giving an alien feeling when I grasped it. There was no heat coming from the equine appendage, which was surprising since the flesh was mere inches under the hard keratin covering.
As I pondered the potential thermal regulation problems of this pony, another one, a stallion this time, decided to approach me. He had a brown coat, orange mane and tail with a large smile etched on his face, pretty much like the rest of the ponies here.
“Well, a pleasure to meetcha for sure!” he said, giving my hand of brofist. Should I say brohoof? Oh well. “I certainly never saw something looking quite remotely like you. Are you from around here?” he asked the question which was obviously on everypony’s mind as all the ponies nodded in agreement.
“Well,” I started before stopping to rethink my answer. Should I have told them I came from a completely different universe, they would probably think of me as a demented individual. “I come from very far south, and was heading up towards the town of Canterlot in hopes of finding some documentations,” I lied.
“Canter-what?” the pony asked me, genuinely surprised by the name I just gave. What? Isn’t canterlot supposed to be Equestria’s capital city? Maybe it was named differently in this world.
“Uh… A castle on the flank of a mountain, home to the princesses Celestia and Luna?” I questioned. I saw only confusion written on the faces of the audience. I was about to question further when Grayhoof intervened.
“Forgive us, but in Sunny Town the ponies rarely go outside, and the knowledge we have of the outside world is rather … erm … thin,” he admitted, smiling apologetically. “ We have lived here in autarky for several generations. Our fathers and forefathers never judged useful to venture out, since we have everything we needed here.”
To demonstrate, Grayhoof pointed at two fields which were growing several varieties of crops. “The first and most important part of what we eat is produced from the wheat that is planted there.”
He then moved around to expose an orchard, “the fruits are grown on our trees and all the dairy products are replaced by soja based milk and nuts in our recipes.” I noded at that; I knew living in self-sufficiency was hard, and to maintain it for several generations… These ponies were good at what they did, that’s for sure.
Now that I got a good look at them, I remarked that all of them seemed to be Earth ponies, which might have explained their knack for surviving with what their agriculture produced. Even stranger, none of them seemed to have a cutie mark.
All of them seemed to be adults, yet none of them had a cutie mark? Or maybe they just didn’t have any special talents. Weird. I could not bring myself to ask them why. From what I saw in the show, having a cutie mark was one of the most important events in the life of a pony, and asking about their lack of it may be perceived as an insult.
“From what I can see, you and your friends form the ideal community,” I remarked, earning a chuckle from the Grayhoof.
“Indeed. It is a real pleasure to see all those ponies rejoice and party without having to worry about the taxes, other countries and all the possible complex political interactions a ‘normal town’ would usually have.” I nodded at his words.
I heard hoofsteps and looked back to see the same brown pony arrive from behind me.
“Hey Pete,” he started “You mentioned you traveled, is that right?” I nodded. “Why not stay with us tonight? We have spare beds, and I am sure the inside of a house would certainly be better than sleeping outside,” he added. I was surprised by the very generous offer the stallion made. I mean, try to find people who would willingly offer shelter to people they only met.
“The name’s Gladstone by the way,” he said with a shake of my hand. “I would love to hear more about your story. It’s not everyday that we see creatures like you around here.” I nodded and let him walk back to the festivities.
“Well, I think that-” I began, only for a nocturnal bird of prey to screech, effectively reminding me of the time.
“Oh, right, I need to go back. I completely forgot,” I said while turning towards the entrance.
“What? Why would you want to leave?” Grayhoof asked as he walked beside me, trying to block my path.
“I need to collect my bag. I left it back there, with my rations and … well, pretty much everything I have. I need to get them now!” I said, turning to my guide. “Don’t worry, I’ll come back, It will just take me a few minutes,” I said before patting him on the head.
That seemed to calm him down as he visibly relaxed while a smile formed on his lips and he nodded.
“Okay then, I’ll be waiting!” he added as I was leaving the limits of the village.
As suspected, it took me no more than fifteen minutes to go back to my camp. I spotted the bag, and in a swift motion, put the straps around my shoulders. After gathering the cans and the string used for the detection system-I was not going to begin the human pollution on a world that seemed devoid of it-I walked back the foggy road towards Sunny Town.
I quickly checked the remaining bolts in my pouch. Two left. ‘God dammit! I forgot to gather the one I used on the wendigo!’ I fumed as I made my way towards the hamlet once again.
The way back was much easier than the first time as part of the fog had already dissipated. Soon enough I was in sight of the town which had the same ponies waiting near the sign, of which were looking expectantly towards the entrance. ‘Were they waiting for me to come back?’
When they saw me, they all cheered and surrounded me before leading me back to the table which had numerous pastries on it. Looking at the cakes and other baked goods I realized, with a rumbling in my stomach, that I hadn’t eaten in the last eight hours.
After asking for one, which was met with an enthusiastic nod, I took the nearest cupcake-a blue and red striped one-and took a bite of it. The taste of cinnamon instantly assaulted my taste buds, soon followed by the soothing vanilla, and a bit of citrus, which altogether formed a delicate piece of heaven, only to be followed by more as I started to devour the sweet treat.
When I was done with the pastry, I looked up at the ponies who had offered me shelter for the time being.
“I can’t thank you enough for your hospitality,” I said, giving all of them an appreciative nod. I looked around. The gray pony from before walked up to me.
“I know you already had arrangements for sleeping tonight, considering you probably didn’t go on a trip unprepared, but you can have a bed if you want.”
“No thank you, I wanted to go camping tonight. By the way, you’ve done more than enough for me already. I’ll just finish my night under the stars.” I walked back but was interrupted by a blood-freezing scream in the distance. I slowly turned towards the still smiling Grayhoof.
“Now that I think about it, maybe I’ll just take you up on that offer,” he nodded to me.
“Very well. One of the spare beds is in Three Leaf’s house.” he added, starting to walk towards the mentioned house.
“Wait. You said one of the spare beds. Do you have others?” I asked him.
“Well…” he seemed reluctant to continue the discussion, “we have one other bed, but…”
“What is it? Is there something wrong?”
“Not exactly. You see, one of the locals, a mare named Mitta, lost her foal a few years ago.”
“Oh god, that’s horrible. How did it happen?”
“Well, you see, I was on my way to gather some berries from bushes around town. I know that there is a very good spot near that cliff, up there,” he motioned towards a rocky formation protruding from the ground like an iceberg.
“I walk to the base of the cliff and start picking some strawberries up when I hear a loud scream and a crushing sound coming from not twelve meters from me,” I winced as the picture formed in my mind.
“Why did the foal go all the way up there?” I asked my guide.
“Tartarus if I know. Thing is, from that day on, we barely see her at all. If you’ll ask me, I think the death of her daughter broke her. She’s never been the same since then.”
“I can only image how hard it must be for her. Has anyone tried to cheer her up?”
“Of course we tried!” the gray pony spat, surprising me a bit. “We weren’t gonna let her wither on her own!” his face fell, “she wouldn’t let us in. No matter how hard we tried, no matter how long we waited, she never let us try to help her.” I nodded sympathetically.
“You now know why I wanted to make you sleep in Three Leaf’s house,” he said bitterly. I turned to Grayhoof and put my hand on his back.
“I’m sorry, I … I didn’t know,” he stopped walking and looked at me, smiling a bit.
“I know, forgive me for yelling at you. It’s just … I would like for our community to live happily together.” We continued to walk until, suddenly, an idea struck me. I stopped, confusing the pony.
“I understand. Thanks again for letting me stay the night,” anything is better than sleeping in the forest; waiting for the first predator to come bite my buttocks.
“Think nothing of it. It’s always a pleasure to meet new faces, and everypony’s always glad to land a hoof to ponies, or any creature in need,” he smiled at me, before going back to the celebration, leaving me in front of what i assumed was Three Leaf’s porch.
I knocked on the door, and upon receiving no answer, I concluded that Three Leaf wasn’t home. I turned back and started walking to the party.
As I neared the corner, I was felt a tug on my shirt. I thought it was stuck somewhere on the wall, and was about to pull when I was violently pulled back, making me fall on my back. As I regained my bearings, I saw something was approaching my face.
I was startled and crawled away from the thing, desperately trying to distance myself from the … pony? It looked like one of the others, save for its red unkempt mane and its white coat, which had turned grey from the dirt and dust.
“Who are-” I didn’t have time to finish my sentence as the mare-I supposed it was female considering its slender body, if somewhat a bit malnourished-ran up to me and stuff her hoof in my mouth.
“What are you doing here?!” she said in a barely hushed voice. If I was not so surprised by this gesture, I probably would have died from thinking of all the dirty streets and floors her hoof walked on, which was now in my mouth. I pulled her hoof away so I could at least answer.
“What do you mean? I’m staying here for the night,” she looked at me with a look of pure horror plastered on her face.
“Oh no,” she looked at me and then towards the woods. “Go away, Leave!” she yelled at me before she started to walk away.
“Wait! Why should I-”
“Ask them about Ruby! Ask them about the filly!” her voice echoed before she disappeared behind a house.
I stood there, a bit unsure as to what to do after this outburst. That pony seemed completely nuts. I walked back towards the party, instantly noticing the green pony. As I walked towards her our eyes met and she immediately began bouncing towards me.
“Pete! Pete! Hey Pete! Petepetepetepetepete!” she vibrated in front of me as I laughed at her antics.
“Yes?” I asked, watching the green Pinkie Pie’s smile grow.
“Guess what?” she asked.
“I don’t know wh-” I was cut by the intrusive insertion of a sugary treat in my mouth. I coughed as some bits of the cake had lodged themselves down my windpipe.
“I baked you a cake! Are you happy? Huh? Huh?” she bounced up and down, obviously waiting for my answer as I tried to clear my throat of the delicious intruder.
“Yeah, It’s … It’s very good. I-” I couldn’t say anything else as she happily trotted away from me, completely ignoring my input. I shrugged, and looked at Grayhoof, pointing at the Green ponified ball of energy. He shook his head, chuckling at the antics of the local eccentric.
“She’s not bad once you get to know her, you know?” he said as he closed the gap between us.
“I know, it’s just… it’s the second time someone physically assaulted me today.” I cringed while thinking back at the hoof in my mouth; the grayish pony laughed at me before going back to the party.
“Oh, and by the way!” I yelled at him, “do you know a pony named Ruby?”
It was as if someone suddenly pressed an off switch. Most of the ponies stopped their conversations and looked at me, their faces unreadable as multiple expressions flashed through. Grayhoof froze and turned to face me with a haunted look on his features.
“Who told you about Ruby?” he asked while eyeing some ponies in the crowd, who in turn winced under his gaze.
“Well, I was walking to meet you guys when some mare pulled me away and started asking me questions, one of them about a pony named Ruby. Do you know who she is?” The ponies visibly relaxed, and Grayhoof approached me.
“Ruby is …-was-the name of the poor foal I talked to you about earlier. Did the pony who asked those question had a red mane?” I nodded. “It probably was Mitta then. As I told you, since the death of her child, she … well, you saw for yourself,” I stayed silent at that. It could explain her erratic behavior. But, the horror she was displaying when I talked to her … was it only a product of her delusional brain? I sighed. Grayhoof must have seen my hesitation, as he walked up to me and patted me on the side.
“Listen, I’m sorry you had to witness that. I know It’s hard for you to see her in that state, but, trust me, we tried everything we could to help her.” he said. I nodded, more to end my inner debate than to the pony beside me.
“How about I show you to room you’ll be staying in for the night?”
“Sleep does sound nice right now,” I said with a smile to Grayhoof.
I woke up to find myself in the middle of the night as only darkness greeted me from the window of my room. I yawned, then looked at the orange glowing numbers displayed on my watch. Eleven AM? The device must have stopped working; there was no way it could be the sun couldn’t have been up by now. Or maybe … Did something bad happen to Celestia? If she existed at all, that is.
I sat up and made my way back to the living room only to find it empty. I knocked on Three Leaf’s door, but no one answered. I opened the door and looked inside only to find the room vacant. She probably went for a walk, or noticed the anomaly with the sky.
I went outside. If everything inside seemed dark, outside was even worse. No stars were out, nor was either one of the two celestial bodies. I walked around town, trying to spot some ponies, or at least find the missing green Pinkie Pie. I looked around, but I couldn’t find any.
The town was very different once the party was over as no lights were on. Without any source of lighting, the village seemed awfully uninviting. The tables were bare, without any decoration on them.
The houses that were previously full of light and life were completely silent which plunged the whole settlement into a deathly silence. Had I not met all those ponies yesterday, I could swear this town was abandoned.
Everything seemed vastly different at night, too. The stones that looked fairly recent now sported marks of use and erosion. The wood was cracked and decayed on certain parts. Some houses even had their roofs caving in. ‘Did something happen while I was away?’ were my thoughts as I continued to walk around while I desperately tried to spot any sign of life in the ghost town.
I knocked on the nearest door, trying to warn the ponies about the absence of sun. I knocked once… twice… no one answered. Did they go somewhere? I was beginning to feel a bit antsy. I tried another house, only to find it empty. I tried another, but, once again, no one came to answer.
A mist was starting to grow which obscured the village even more as the lightless day began to darken somehow at an alarming rate.
“Grayhoof? Three Leaf? Gladstone?” I yelled, putting my hands around my mouth to amplify the sound. “Anyone?” I desperately asked, the only answer being my own question, brought back with the echo.
‘What happened here?’ I ran around the town, desperate to find a single soul in the hamlet. I was about to abandon the idea and go back to my camp when a flicker of light came from an isolated house outside of town. I ran up to it and knocked on the door, which opened as my fist connected with the wooden surface.
“Is anyone there? Hello?” Nobody answered. I walked in, trying to find a clue to explain the disappearance of the villagers.
Upon entering it, a smell a burning wood rushed into my nostrils. I looked up to find the chimney lit up, which was no doubt the light I spotted from afar. Seeing nopony was inside, I walked up to the hearth, trying to warm myself a bit and to wait for the ponies to come back. They would, wouldn’t they?
As I approached there came an odor within the usual smell of wood. It started off weak, but the more I smelled, the more the odor would intensify. I looked at the fire, wondering what kind of material could produce this smell. Using a nearby brand, I moved the logs of wood around, coughing a bit as some ashes were liberated in the process.
As I was going to put the brand back on its stand, one of the logs moved again due to the heat which revealed a small, white wooden stick. Curious, I moved the branch around, progressively uncovering more and more of the wooden object.
The stick seemed to be attached to yet another white one which was much bigger. Pulling strongly enough, I managed to break the object free. My blood turned to ice when my eyes locked on the thing I had in front of me.
The Femur bone was still attached to the pelvis bone, and the sinew linking the two was still melting from the heat, producing the horrid smell that had caught my attention. Both were small, probably from a foal, or …. or … Oh god no … The door behind me opened; I did not look up from the corpse.
“You … you killed her, didn’t you,” I said with venom to the intruder. My accusation was greeted with silence. That asshole doesn’t even bother to try to defend himself. “Why did you do that...Why would you do that to her?!” I screamed. “She … ! You killed a child, you asshole?!” I yelled as hot tears began to blur my vision.
“I had no choice…” the pony behind me answered. The voice was definitely Grayhoof, only slightly more gravely and baritone. I slowly sat up, with my knuckles going white on the brand in my main hand.
“Bullshit! You always have a choice!”
“You do not understand …” Grayhoof said. “She had the mark … she had to leave …” the mark? “She had it on her flank … she was doomed … and she was going to doom us all …”
They … killed this child … because of her cutie mark?
“You …” I turned myself towards the pony...If one could call what I saw a pony. The equine’s grayish coat had turned a deep black, smeared with dirt and caked with blood on numerous spots. Some parts of its skeleton were visible; the flesh covering its ribcage completely gone.
Some strands of fur and skin were hanging on the bones of its barrel and vertebra. Its Orbits were empty, save for a faint red glow coming from the optic nerve.
I took a step back. “G-Grayhoof?” I asked the mutilated pony.
“We had to make her leave… she could not stay here...” the pony continued its ranting, completely oblivious to me. He began to walk towards me with an agonizingly slow gait, his rawboned head swaying from left to right all the while.
“We could not let her spoil the party … ” Suddenly, the pony stopped, and raised its decomposed head at me, the glow in its eye sockets intensifying, bathing my whole body in blood red.
“And we won’t let you spoil it!” Grayhoof exclaimed with a malevolent smile as he walked again towards me with his jaw hanging slightly limp as he did so.
I was petrified, and took several steps back with the intention to put as much distance as I could between the undead pony and me. On the way back, my foot hit some object, which rolled around a bit and surprised me as it stopped on the side. It was a bleach white skull of an equine, barely bigger than my head.
The fear was instantly replaced by hatred as I remembered what happened in this house. The brand firmly held, I walked towards Grayhoof, and when at striking distance, swung at him with all my might, managing to unhinge the zombie’s head off of his body. Both went limp and fell on the floor, unmoving. Killing someone was one thing, but killing a defenseless child is outright horrible.
“You will not escape….” Grayhoof’s voice thundered, echoing several times through the woods. It was at this precise moment that I realized that I had abused my host’s hospitality and prepared to leave this town with utmost celerity.
I ran back to the house I slept in to gather my bag and crossbow, put both over my back, and started a mad dash towards the exit. I couldn’t have dawdled a moment more at the relatively few … ‘zombies’ chasing me soon became droves that kept appearing from behind the houses, or even from the ground itself, skeletal hooves breaking out of the ground around me. I may at some point let out a very manly scream when one missed me by inches.
In my hurry, I forgot that my phone was precariously placed in the external pocket of my vest, and when putting it on, was quickly rewarded with the sight of my device flying out of it, along with the poison joke I collected earlier.
“Shit!” I turned around only to see an entire mob of undead trampling over my device. ‘I can’t go through all these monsters and survive,’ I thought, and was about to abandon my phone when one of the zombies crushed the flower underfoot and continued to rush towards me, before suddenly stopping. It looked at the hoof which made contact with the plant, the concerned appendage had began reddening at an alarming rate, the color gaining on the pony as small vein-like signs began to spread to the rest of its body from the unfortunate limb.
The pony briefly roared in pain, before bursting in an impressive column of fire. The ravenous brazier soon spread to all of its mates, leaving them no chance to escape as the flames latched onto each zombie like a leech. The inferno quickly consumed the entire mob, leaving small calcined carcasses. I looked wordlessly at the spectacle, before remembering the phone.
I quickly grasped the device, which seemed to be still functioning despite a few dark spots and a slightly melted protective shell. I ran out of the nightmarish town, dodging the few ponies that escaped the fiery rapture.
Once I was out of the hamlet, the zombies stopped attacking me. I slowed down, all the while sucking and gasping for air as my lungs screamed for a respite, and looked back at the deathtrap of a village.
The entire town seemed different now. The house were back to what they originally looked like. The lamps had been litten back up, the tables were full of cakes once again, and the sun’s rays were illuminating the whole town once again. It was as if nothing happened to ‘Sunny town’.
The undead ponies had disappeared. In their stead, the same group of ponies I met before were waving at me, smiles plastered on their faces. One of them, a familiar gray-coated pony waved at me, mouthing ‘see you soon’ as he looked at me.
I ran faster towards my old camp’s location, not halting once before I saw the spot again. Once I was there, I walked to the stump that served me as a pillow, I sat on it while looking at the woods around me. From behind a tree, I saw the yellow-eyed pony that I saw prior last night. She timidly walked up to me; her slightly translucent body now obvious in the clear daylight.
Once she was one foot away from me, we looked into each other’s eyes. She looked away from me, and was about to utter an apology when I scooped her up in my arms and hugged her with all the strength and parental love I could muster. She was surprised at first, trying to break from the embrace, but soon reciprocated, putting her snout on my shoulder, her body shaking a bit as she cried.
We stayed like that for an indefinite amount of time, until she eventually let go of me, a smile on her face. I released my hug, letting her go. She nodded at me, before turning towards the village. I wanted to warn her about going back, but found myself unable to.
Ruby looked at me one last time with her sadness now gone, and a smile of true happiness adorning her face. She closed her eyes and disappeared in warm daylight.
I sat up, feeling a bit lighter than before, and began packing up my stuff before resuming my journey to the north with my backpack secured on my shoulders.
Note to self, find some more bomb-I mean, flowers.