The Haunting
Admiral Biscuit
I hadn’t bothered to check the weather schedule—I still thought of it in my head as a prediction, even though it was always what it said it was going to be—and so I hadn’t expected snow.
Either Milfoil didn’t know, either, or didn’t mind snow.
My bet was on the latter.
•••••
We all met at my house so that I could change into appropriate forest exploration clothes, and then we headed into the woods.
We didn’t talk. I didn’t have a lot to say, and I thought that it would be best to leave the old stallion alone with his thoughts. Milfoil was in the lead, and she needed to concentrate on finding her marks—whatever those were. I hadn’t seen anything obvious.
Even though I knew intellectually it wasn’t all that far, it felt like a doomed expedition that had overestimated its abilities. Especially for me—once Haywards Heath disappeared behind a curtain of snow, I realized that if the ponies somehow abandoned me in the woods, I wouldn’t be found. I’d have to shelter up somewhere until the snow stopped. If I was lucky, I’d still be able to see our footprints; if not, I’d have to estimate by the position of the sun and hope that I could find my way back.
Perhaps I could find a tree on a bit of a rise, and climb that high enough to see town.
I did my best to look for landmarks, even though I knew deep inside that it wouldn’t do any good. I wouldn’t recognize them later; wasn’t the fact that I couldn’t lead Milfoil to Windflower’s resting place proof enough of that?
I suppose there was a chance that Windflower would find me.
Hopefully while I was still alive.
•••••
I had one advantage over the ponies—the snow was only up to my thighs in drifts. It was up to their chests, and they either had to bulldoze their way through it or sort of hop up and crash through. And the old stallion . . . I got colder just watching him plow through the snow. Why hadn’t ponies invented some kind of knitted underwear for this exact circumstance?
Every now and then, Milfoil would hesitate, looking for her next trail marker. He’d look around, too, and every now and then he’d spot it before she did.
He wore a small frown and his ears were far more active than hers. I wondered if that was because he couldn’t hear as well any more, or if he was feeling whatever it was in the forest that she hadn’t told me about. Was he looking for it, whatever it was? Surely he felt it. I had the idea that ponies got wiser in the ways of nature as they got older.
“We’re getting close,” Milfoil said. I jerked in alarm—it was the first thing she’d said since we’d left town. “I think from here on out we should be quiet. We don’t want to scare her.”
What would Windflower think? I hadn’t seen her when I’d found her resting place, but she might have been hiding under the log, too frightened to come out. I’d probably sounded like a herd of elephants trampling through the woods, and she would have had plenty of time to hide.
Of course, maybe she didn’t stay there all the time. Maybe she roamed the woods. That was her forest home, but when she wasn’t there she might go around and watch the trees or chase bunnies or who knows what. Maybe she was sometimes out during the day but just couldn’t be seen because it was light out.
I didn’t think that was the case; I could see her just fine when she was in my house, and while lamplight and a fire weren’t as bright as the sun, she didn’t seem any more translucent than when she’d been in my attic.
•••••
I saw it first. Milfoil was still in the lead, but I had the advantage of height.
I almost called out, and then just in time remembered that we were supposed to be silent.
If we’d been closer together, I would have signaled to them that I was going to hold back, but we weren’t.
Part of my hesitation was that I didn’t want to be the one to give us away. I thought that I was likely the most clumsy one when it came to moving through the forest.
Overriding even that was the realization that it wasn’t right to be there with them. It would have been even better if the old stallion had gone alone. That couldn’t be helped; Milfoil knew the way.
She must have thought the same thing, though, because she stopped and when he drew abreast of her, she pointed to the hollow and whispered in his ear, and then she slowly retreated back to where I stood.
We didn’t say anything—we didn’t need to. I sat down on the snow and she sat beside me and we watched Windflower’s great uncle have his heart broken again. I could have told him that it was even worse when there wasn’t any snow on the ground and you could see her bones scattered on the leaves.
•••••
We sat and we waited. I was getting cold but that didn’t bother me at all. Occasionally, a gust of wind would obscure him behind a cloud of snow, and then it would clear again and he was still standing there, head down.
It was practically silent in the woods. The wind blew gently through the trees and very occasionally I heard a distant bird call. I suppose most birds hunker down for snow storms.
As we sat, I began to grow aware of a faint humming noise. It was right on the edge of audibility; whenever I tried to concentrate on it, it vanished again.
It was like a magic eye picture, and I was never very good at those.
I peeled one glove off and put my bare hand on Milfoil’s back. I had to slide it through the snow that had accumulated on top of her coat and I did briefly wonder if I was disturbing the insulating layer of air that was trapped under her coat, but she didn’t move to stop me.
Her skin was warm, warmer than my hand. If I was going to turn into an earth pony, the first thing I wanted was a coat like hers to keep me warm in the winter.
The humming noise got a bit louder, and it also changed slightly. In the past, I would have scoffed at myself for having such a thought, but I knew it was true.
And I also knew it for what it was, and I listened as we waited.
•••••
It never got louder. I wished that it had gotten louder. I wished that I had understood it, although I knew that some understanding might come in time.
More importantly, it didn’t completely disappear when the old stallion finally came back, tears frozen to his cheeks, and it didn’t come back when we got up and I brushed the snow off my butt and legs and then off Milfoil.
The song was still there. It was quiet, it was faint, but it was still there.
Our own passage out of the woods mostly drowned it out. The false wind of our breath, the noise of my clothes, the sound of their hooves and my feet crunching through the snow, all of those things covered it but it was still there and now that I could hear it faintly, I noticed that as we got closer to town, it changed ever so slightly.
This made perfect sense. Haywards Heath had a different song than the forest.
•••••
The light was fading fast when we finally crossed out of the forest and back into town, and there was still plenty to do before Windflower arrived.
Too much to do, and not enough time.
Sometimes that helps push along difficult decisions. Of course, decisions made in haste aren’t always the best ones, but sometimes it works out.
I built up the fire as quickly as I could, while Milfoil talked to the old stallion in the kitchen. They kept their voices low and I tried not to eavesdrop but I couldn’t help overhearing them.
Even if I hadn’t known what she was going to ask me, I would have agreed anyway.
•••••
“I heard it again,” I said quietly.
“Really?”
I nodded. “When we were sitting in the woods.”
“Is that why you put your bare hand on my back?”
“I wasn’t sure at first. It was like a song that I knew but whenever I focused on it, it was gone again. And I thought that maybe you could strengthen it.” Had I known that song once? I’d thought about that on our way back home. It hadn’t felt right to talk on the way back either.
“When I was a kid, I believed in a lot of things that weren’t true. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. And at some point as I grew up, I learned that they weren’t real. I learned that magic wasn’t real. That’s a human lesson, that magic isn’t real.”
“Magic is real.”
“Not for humans. Not magic like you have. Unless—have we blinded ourselves?”
“I don’t know many humans,” Milfoil said. “In fact, you’re the only one that I really know. I’ve seen a few before, and I remember once thinking that they had wide-eyed looks, and I thought it was like a foal who’s trying to figure out the world.”
“I suppose there’s some truth to that,” I said. “When I was a kid, I heard the story of Saul who was on the road to Damascus and the scales fell off his eyes and he saw and I don’t think I ever really understood that before coming to Equestria.”
“Do you understand now?”
“Not exactly,” I admitted. “Hearing about ponies and reading about ponies and then being around ponies, there was a lot of culture shock for me, but humans are pretty good at taking things in stride and we get jaded after a while and just accept the new reality and deal with it the best we can.
“This feels different. Like it’s a whole new part of me that I’m only just discovering, or else it’s something I did know and then forgot about. And I can’t help but wonder what would happen if there was some kind of magic potion that made me suddenly able to see and hear and feel what you do?”
“I don’t know. I think it would be too much, all at once.”
“Yeah.”
•••••
From her kitchen table, I could see my backyard and just a corner of my house. If I’d sat on her side of the table, I might have been able to see more, but even then I wouldn’t have been able to see through the wall.
“I hope we did the right thing,” Milfoil said.
“I think we did.” I didn’t know—neither of us knew. We wouldn't know until tomorrow. “I hope she wasn’t excited for the next chapter of Stranger on a Train.”
Milfoil bopped me lightly with her hoof. “I think it will be the last thing on her mind.”
“Yeah.” I glanced out her kitchen window again. “I think so, too.”
It feels like we're getting close to the end. But I'm still happy to wait and find out without having it spoiled.
I had this weird itch on my right ass cheek.
Finally, after scratching it, I checked Fimfic and poof, this updated.
The itch has left.
It was a sign.
FORTUNATELY AND AMAZINGLY, YOU DIDN'T.
This probably says something about the level of expectation I have for our lovable idiot these days.
9444847
That's the idea, to help them get closer. I don't think that an Earth Pony could actually learn to fly (probably), maybe share cloudwalking. But I was imagining them being able to share the feel of a storm or the connection to the earth. And I'm sure it would give them new insights into their own magic once they have a sense of the larger picture. Unicorns especially.
9444806
Booty Sense confirmed. You can now put on your costume and become Butt Man!
"I'm telling you guys, after being with a pony for a while, I can feel magic. Like actually feel it!"
"Quarantine Team Alpha is a go! Bravo in secondary positions! Charlie and Delta on standby! We have an incursion; this is not a drill!"
I know exactly what he means, catching glimpses and not being able to quite keep it in focus. And it's like seeing somethign that was there the whole time, and still is when you aren't looking at it.
I hope the meeting goes well.
Well you grew up mate. Can't hold Magic and Human maturity in your head at once, 'tis not really compatible. A child's faith, belief without any need or desire for proof, is a magical thing. Alas that the demands of modern life so quickly extinguish that wondering fire.
Different songs, changing tunes.... Wonder what Windflower's song is?
9444812
i agree, just think about the raw strength alone. Like Moud Pie and the time applejack stop'd that huge bolder and just buck'd it away^^
And the pie's use there inner magic to grow Kristalls and gems! if they could not do that the farm would have been picked clean in the first or second generation already.
If Windflowers parents come back due to a letter, then it will be time for fade away, unless she takes Dave and Milfoil to be her new parents for moving?
There is magic on Earth, but the Crab Bucket eventually crushes it in pretty much everyone.
Otherwise, if things get more advanced, why do we have to rediscover advanced lost techniques?
9444806
I can't help but picture non g-rated pinkie sense outputs now.
9444855 Does it star Nicholas Cage as the HiE?
Wait... has anyone done that yet?
9445067 Hence why I entered SCIENCE! The wonder and madness of discovery never ceases!
Also I leaned how to genetically engineer myself into a mutant form! Kewl!
"And that's how I met your mother and got my first level in druid."
In all seriousness, I do wonder about the tribal compatibility. Can any human hang around any pony and get a sense of their particular magic, are there different subsets of humans, or are we all earth people?
Of course, clinical trials probably aren't the best way to answer these questions, with the possible exception of unicorns.
In any case, it will be very interesting to see what effects this visit will have on Windflower.
Or snowshoes. It would have made their life much easier as well as comfier.
9445462
well, humans did accept wolves into early human tribes so you could make a argument about the adaptability of the human mindset. magic is omnipresent here so it could be like a blind man learning to see via sound.
so this is a case of a human learning the rules that govern another species and slowly picking up on the unspoken rules.
9444886 That would actually be a very good short story to write. Learning how to see the things from the other's perspective.
9445462
Depend on how magic work and interact with thing I guess. Could simply be that human are kinda "blank" in term of magic and at such it's easier for it to pass trough them and thus, for them to feel i?t? Since narrator is living almost exclusively with earth ponies we may never know.
9445462
Well the kids in Equestria Girls manifest different magic and or wings, it’s reasonable to assume that humans have an affinity even if they aren’t direct counterparts.
9446298
Ha, I actually did that (The Unicorn and the Thrust Fault) even if it was a really short thing mostly for the purposes of innuendo.
Sweet. More ghostly.
You know, by the end of the story Milfoil better fucking be a MILFoil.
9444803
9444806
It’s your
Pinkie SenseMLD sense tingling!9444834
Milfoil has hopefully been teaching him to be less of an idiot. Or it’s just another skill he’s finally managing to master.
9444886
Yeah, I think you’re right. There was a fic by Arkansaw Pinkerton (Three Magics) that covered how the different tribes felt magic; it was something that Twilight needed to learn, so she got potions that would allow her to experience it. That was a really good fic, honestly, and what inspired me to have the different tribes experience magic differently--something I might not have thought of otherwise.
And you’re right, experiencing what someone else does will also give you insights into yourself, even if there isn’t magic involved.
9444890
I feel like this is something that the ponies would actually want. If humans can feel magic, then they can feel Harmony, and they’d be more allied with the ponies.
9444898
Something half-remembered, or something only seen out of the corner of the eye, maybe a bit of deja-vu thrown in, and then when you finally realize it.
One mundane example, I assumed that all pickup trucks had sliding rear windows--my grandpa’s did. Imagine my surprise when the one I bought didn’t, and then I started looking around and noticing that lots of them didn’t (this was in the 90s, by the way).
9445067
I think that you can, but it’s hard. And I’d imagine that for some people, impossible. Those would be the people that could go to Equestria and never be able to feel the magic at all. To someone who held on to a bit of the magic for all those years, being there for a while might reawaken it from its slumber.
9445078
That’s a good question. Does she even have one any more, or did it fall silent when she died? If so, would she know? Or does she know that something’s missing but doesn’t know what?
9451011
At the very least I imagine there’s an echo.
Which could maybe be what they’re feeling in the woods? Not a corruption, just...there’s a part of the song repeating that was supposed to already be silent. And it’s throwing things off.
9445126
I really liked the headcanon in “It’s a Dangerous Business” that earth ponies could ‘stand fast,’ and when they did, they could not be moved.
Yeah, I’d assume that they put their magic into the ground and it transforms ordinary rocks into gems.
9445146
I don’t know if she would go with her parents if they came back. Maybe she would, but only if they moved back in for realzies. I don’t think she could travel with them.
I’d guess in some cases because there’s a renewed interest in it, and in other cases because a lot of old manuscripts are more available now than they were. And I think that for some people, free time + the internet has rekindled some desire to learn and share about some old techniques.
9445156
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/646/327/d39.png
9445414
If anybody had, it’d be Alexstrazsa.
There is Twilight Sparkle Has Sex With a Lobster Man Starring Nicholas Cage by Chuckward. I feel just reading the title was enough for me, but if you’re feeling brave, go ahead and crack it open.
By living in New Jersey. . .
9445462
A better love story than Twilight.
I think that people more attuned to the earth would do better with earth ponies, and people more attuned to the sky might be able to pick up on some pegasus magic (although I doubt they’d be able to fly). I also think that a child would be quicker to be able to feel and understand it than an adult. I’d say that in general, we’re all earth people.
Yes, it will.
9445531
I think they do have snowshoes. Maybe not, but I thought we saw them in one episode.
9445850
Yes, in a way it would be kind of like that. We are pretty adaptable as a species, although it’s unlikely a few generations of living in Equestria would result in people being able to use casting magic.
In a sense, sort of. But it’s not exactly just picking up on the rules, at least not at this point; it’s more of being able to sense the song. He still doesn’t know how to change it, or what he can change and what he can’t.
[I mean, of course, on a small, productive level. Obviously, if he were to burn down the forest, that would change its song.]
9447628
9450468
You mean she isn’t already?
9451050
That’s very much a possibility. And that would be something that Milfoil might be able to pick up on.
9451077
And now I’m picturing humans shaping the weather from the ground with a big dance ritual thing. Or a soccer game for the changing seasons, defeating the old and bringing the new... :p
Loosely inspired by Green Man rituals and the sun dance rituals the plains Indians did. Maybe that’s how we’d move the Sun without an alicorn if we were trapped on a geocentric world like Equestria.
9450999
I was playing as though the audience was a human official. I mean, if humans are coming back infected with magic, who knows what else they might carry to earth...
Like human-pony hybrid foals!
Le Gaspe!
9451109
We have so many legend about sun or rain dances, it's not all that farfetched. At least it would be nice to have reliable weather peoples able to feel the flow of the sky.
9451078
I cannot remember where I saw snowshoes either, but I'm 99% certain I saw a picture of a pony with it. I have no idea if it was official or no.
9451132
Speaking of, one of my favorite magic tricks...
9451071 Well, the incidental mutations from living in NJ aren't technically 'learned', they just happen.
I believe you're missing an "of" in here.
9451277
That’s a fair point.
9453701
Correction made; thank you!
9451213
Ooh, yeah, that’s a good one.
I’ve been considering for a while a EqG Trixie on Penn and Teller story.
9451109
Human magic . . . it’s possible such a thing might work in a magical world like Equestria. They certainly have some ritualized events, such as the Running of the Leaves and Winter Wrap-Up, which aren’t supposed to use Unicorn magic.
Things might have turned out a bit different if back in pre-unification times it was a different tribe that raised the sun. . . .