Mending Light

by Kiromancer

72 - The Monsters of Pasture

Just as Dusky wanted, we departed from Crystalside that morning, making a straight line for a town called Pasture. It barely registered on the map, and from what little Dusky had said, it wasn’t much of a destination in itself. It was where her friend Ivory lived, and that was who Dusky needed to see.

Something beyond either of our understanding was happening to here, and she needed somepony with magic to see it. Somepony she could trust. In Ponyville, that would have been Twilight Sparkle, but this far from home…

It was fortunate that Dusky had friends. Strong friends. She seemed to inspire that with the ponies she allowed to get close to her, myself included. Still, she seemed reluctant to tell me much about Ivory. Something about it was making her nervous, something more than just the thought of introducing two mutual friends to one another and hoping they get along.

The route to Pasture was a few days flight, made with due haste. The nights on the road were tense, as if we could come under attack at any moment. It was when Dusky slept that it was the worst. I’d vowed to stay up and watch her as best I could, insisting when she’d tried to tell me not to. Something was wrong. I was no Princess Luna, but I wouldn’t let her down.

She’d only relented when I’d agreed to sleep in shifts, so that we each got at least some rest. While she slept, I stayed awake and quietly talked into the night, keeping her company in the darkest moments. Dusky slept restlessly in those hours, but she claimed the nightmares weren’t as extreme, or as real. My own sleep was just as restless, worry keeping me from getting any real rest, even if I wasn’t plagued by any kind of nightmares.

Still, Dusky was only getting worse as the lack of good sleep wore her down, and it felt like there was nothing I could do. I only hoped that Ivory would have a solution for whatever was happening, once we found her.

Just one day out, Dusky had insisted we walk rather than fly, just so she could keep a lower profile. The area was hilly, with sharp rocks and rough, difficult to climb reaches that we slowly made our way across. All the while, Dusky kept a lookout ahead, pausing as we crested each rise to scan ahead. Her expression and body language both told me she was all but expecting something to jump out at us at any moment.

She hesitated as we neared the top of one of the hills, pondering a moment before she turned back to give me a sympathetic look. “How are you holding up?”

“Well enough.” I smiled, not sure what else to say. She knew I was tired, but it was nothing compared to her. I was used to long night shifts, even if I hadn’t worked one in awhile.

“The forest should be just over this hill. Once we clear them, keep your voice low.” Her expression dropped slightly. “The people who usually walk these roads aren’t exactly on friendly terms with me.”

I started to ask a question, but closed my mouth. If this was really hostile territory for us, there wasn’t time to get a full explanation. As much as I wanted to know, it could wait until we were safe.

“Sorry, Night.” She sighed, looking guilty “I’ll explain more once we get to Ivory’s hut. It’s about a mile and some change into the forest.”

WIth a nod, I smiled at her once again. I was sure there were good reasons for it all, though I did wish she’d been able to tell me before. Regardless, she knew my response, but I would say it anyway. “I trust you.”

She smiled back tiredly, then turned towards the hill, climbing up the rest of the way. As we reached the top of the hill, Dusky bent down low, crawling forward toward to take cover from the road.

I hesitated behind her, my own skill at sneaking not nearly so good as hers, but I slowly came up alongside her and peered through the bushes. Below the hill was a crossroads. A single main road ran up and away from the hill, while a smaller, less used path was beaten off into the forest. A group of ponies stood at the crossroad, all milling about, speaking amongst themselves.

Dusky watched them, her ears rotating as she tried to listen, and a dark flash crossed her face.

“What is it?”

She shook her head, eyes staying on the ponies gathered near the road. “I can’t be certain. But the mayor does have a reputation of the… unsavory sort.”

“This is a waste of time!” The talking had been indistinct, but suddenly one of the stallions raised his voice, making it quite clear how he felt. “How do we even know she’s coming?”

I crept forward alongside Dusky to listen as best I could.

“Because the Boss said so, duh!” A second voice was clearly just as agitated, his tone making it clear this was not the first time the question had been asked, or answered, with this same response.

A mare wearing a large bandana over her mane, tilted her head. “New Boss or Old Boss?”

“Who do you think?” The second stallion snapped at her, clearly not wanting to deal with any of this. The rest of the ponies in the crowd had all grown quiet as two stallions confronted one another.

“Old Boss is dead,” The dissenter snapped back. “Which is why listening to some hallucination is a waste of time.”

“She ain’t no hallucination.” The stallion taking the lead lowered his voice. He started to glance around, as did several other ponies in the crowd. They looked around nervously, as if their boss was going to be standing behind them, overhearing the whole conversation.

The dissenter stopped pacing, digging in as he turned back to confront the other stallion. “Oh, I’m sorry. Listening to some dumbass dream is a waste of time. Better?”

The mare who’d stepped forward before almost seemed divided, but at last spoke up to support the ringleader. “You wouldn’t say that if you saw it like the rest of us.”

Several ponies in the group nodded in reply, but the dissenter only dug in further. “I would. It is a dream. Not real.”

Dusky shivered besides me. These ponies weren’t here just by chance. They’d had a dream, seemingly real, which had directed them here. The terrifying conclusion was that whatever it was influencing them was almost certainly the same thing afflicting Dusky.

The ringleader frowned. “A dream all of us had. It’s gotta mean something.”

“It means you had a coincidence happen to you. Problem solved.” The dissenter stepped forward confidently towards the crowd of thugs, shaking his head.

That brought more murmurs from the group, the ponies glancing around nervously once again, but the ringleader didn’t let it deter him. “Really? All of us is coincidence.”

“Yes!”

The mare with the bandana eyed the dissenter. “Then why are you here?”

“Because some fools wandered off into the wilderness because of a stupid dream. So here I am.” He threw up his hooves dramatically.

I glanced over at Dusky. She was pale, clearly shaken. Her ears dropped down slowly, and her eyes were darting, as if her enemy could be anywhere, and she had to find it before it found her. She wasn’t quite panicking, but it was as close to it as I’d ever seen her come, the terror of that moment was plain upon her face.

I turned to look at her, keeping my voice low, but firm, to call her back into the moment. “Dusky?”

She focused her eyes on me and began to calm down immediately. With a sigh, she slipped her head forward to nuzzle against me for comfort. “Sorry, Night, I… there’s a lot going on here that I don’t fully understand, but I believe our enemy is somehow aware of our plans and movements.”

“I… yeah. I gathered that much.” I frowned, staring into her eyes. I felt helpless again, but couldn’t let that overwhelm me. I couldn’t let it overwhelm Dusky either, as much as I wished she didn’t have to be the one to face any of this. For now, she was better at planning then I was, and thinking through the problem at hand would help her focus. “What do we do?”

“Hmmm. We’re already in rough shape. We can’t let this draw out. If we try to go around, they might be alerted to our plans.” She glanced towards the crowd. The dissenter was still arguing out the stupidity of all of this with the ringleader. After a moment that stretched out far too long, she sighed and met my eyes again. “This is going to sound crazy, but I think we have to do something that’s difficult to react to. We need to get as close to the road as we can, then bolt for the forest. If we can reach the edge, we should be safe—at least from those thugs. As far as whatever is watching us or how we’re being watched, I can’t say.”

I blinked, suddenly not so sure. This wasn’t quite the plan I’d expected, but maybe she was more tired than I’d believed. “Are you sure? This really isn’t like you.”

“I know. I’d really prefer not to, but my usual methods are compromised. I can’t stubbornly stick to them. I have to adapt. That’s why… this.” She shrugged, not liking it anymore than I did. She pointed a hoof down the side of the hill, a path that wrapped down towards the road.

WIth a deep breath, I nodded, feeling extremely tense. As Dusky began to climb down, I followed. For the first time in a long while, part of me wished I still had Bellerophon's hoofblade, but that thought passed with a shiver.

We climbed down slowly, keeping low in the scarce cover. The hillside was uncomfortably exposed, and the crack of dry grass and snap of loose sticks with every hoofstep put me even further on edge. The journey down the hill couldn’t have taken more than a few minutes, but it felt like it’d taken hours.

My heart was beating fast as we slipped into the thicker brush that bordered the road. It was just as dry and brittle, but it was something. Hearing the dissenter continue to shout down the others was a blessing, because it meant everypony’s attention was held firmly on that conflict and not on the road.

Dusky glanced back at me as she neared the edge of the road. She gave me a short nod that spoke volumes. Be ready. Then she stepped forward onto the road.

“You wanna be a skeptic?” The ringleader called out, sounding frustrated and tired. “Fine! But do it over there. The rest of us have got work to do.”

“Know what? Maybe I will. Just don’t come crying to me when they lock you up in an insane asy—” He turned and stopped, staring at us in the open road. I froze, unable to stop staring back, and a look of disgust crossed his face. “What’re you staring at?”

His sudden shout was unexpected enough that the others, who’d all been turning their attention back to the ringleader, looked towards whatever had drawn the dissenter’s attention. Suddenly, they were all staring at us. And several of them began to grin with a terrifying glee that froze my heart.

The ringleader broke the stalemate. “It’s her! Kill her and we’ll be free!”

“Go! Go! Go!” Dusky shouted and immediately launched forward into a gallop.

I kicked my hind legs against the road as hard as I could, determined to stay close. Flying might have seemed easier, but the sudden hail of stones and blades made it clear that this group was ready for fliers. Instead, I pressed on, keeping my eyes glued on Dusky.

The forest wasn’t too far now, though the distance seemed to be shrinking slower than I’d have liked. I wasn’t sure how we’d be safe, but hopefully Dusky knew this place better than they did and we could lose them amongst the trees. Even just being able to fly up over the canopy, any earth ponies or unicorns wouldn’t be able to track us there.

A sharp pain across my rear leg nearly ended my mad dash. I let out a cry of pain, but managed to keep upright. Dusky turned back, her eyes widening in fear. The damage didn't feel terrible, but the cut was slowing me down. My rear leg wasn’t working as fast or as well as I wanted, and I could see Dusky pulling away ahead of me.

My first thought as adrenaline seemed to slow down time was Run! Save yourself! But I knew she wouldn’t. It was my worst fear. My own weakness would be the thing that would make her surrender to them once again. She’d be captured again, just like Fillydelphia, all because of me.

Dusky pressed harder to reach the forest’s edge, the gap between us widening as I pushed as hard as I could. I’d get there too late. I glanced back, seeing the ponies in pursuit had decided that if they couldn’t reach Dusky, they’d settle for me. They’d overtake me soon.

“H-help!” I heard Dusky shout out, drawing my gaze back to her in panic. If there were more ponies waiting in the forest, we’d been doomed from the outset. My heart started to sink, only to be filled with an even greater dread as I saw three sets of eyes, glowing vaguely in the woods. They turned to regard Dusky, moving in an unnatural unison as she turned and pointed at me. “Friend! Protect!”

The things emerged from the forest as if by Dusky’s command. Ponies. Almost. They were shaped like ponies, but wrong.Their skin was as parched and cracked, open wounds which were long past the point of bleeding out. Their eyes were empty, devoid of any emotion, not love or joy or fear or hate, only a dull purpose. Hair was withered, skull exposed, teeth missing, hooves bent. They were dead, yet still walked. I couldn’t process it, and was still running towards them, knowing the ponies to my back were doing to kill me just as readily as these monstrosities were.

“Bandits! Stop them!” Dusky yelled from the treeline, standing behind the monsters. “Keep coming, Night! They won’t hurt you!”

I glanced at the three things moving towards me with fear and horror and utter, complete confusion, but for now, training and terror worked together to keep my hooves moving forward, and before I knew it, I’d run past the zombies and through the treeline into the forest.

Unable to keep the pace as the trees grew thick around me, I slowed and turned back, panting for breath. Dusky stood at the edge, watching as the thugs attacked the zombies, a well-aimed stone striking one in the head, to no effect.

Dusky chuckled grimly. “You really thought that was going to be effective?”

There was a deathly silence, followed by screams. “Agh! Necromancer! She’s a necromancer! Run!” The pursuit broke off, the unstoppable undead having routed them completely.

Dusky turned back and began to run, waving me after her. I kept up as best I could, the pain in my leg having dulled to a dim throb as adrenaline kept me moving forward. At long last, Dusky came to a stop, her whole body slumping as she let out a deep sigh.

I came up besides her, panting for breath. When I’d finally found my voice, I stammered out in shock. “Wh-what was that?”

“I’m sorry, Night. I should have said something earlier. Ivory has a very… special special talent. But she’s not a bad person. Please trust me on this. The matters are just complicated.” Her words came out jumbled together, the rush from the pursuit fading back into exhaustion.

I stepped up closer and pressed myself against her, opening up my wings to wrap around her neck and drape over her back. My heart was still in my throat, the eyes of the dead ponies coming towards me still boring into my mind. Dusky said it was okay, and everything I’d seen said she knew exactly what was going on here, but that didn’t make it any less horrifying. Still, I put on a brave face. “I believe you. You know that. It’s just… weird, is all.”

Dusky lowered her head and pressed back against me. “Thanks, Night. Once you meet her, it will all become clear.”

I glanced up slowly amidst the darkened forest, fear rising in the pit of my stomach as I wondered just who or what Ivory Hope actually was.

Comments

[Yami Vizzini]

A long-awaited reunion... from a new outside perspective. This should be interesting.

[Kiromancer]

9003476
Not going to lie, writing Night meeting Ivory has been something I've been looking forward to for awhile now, and I'm excited to be able to show how the two will react to one another.

[LordNobady]

My first thought as adrenaline seemed to slow down time was Run! Save yourself![/i ]But I knew she wouldn’t. It was my worst fear. My own weakness would be the thing that would make her surrender to them once again. She’d be captured again, just like Fillydelphia, all because of me.

You seem to have some runaway italics. And zombies.

[Kiromancer]

9163279
Appreciate you letting me know! I can fix one of those problems right here and now... the other problem, well...