Just One Day

by CardBearer

Chapter 3: Strife

Lion Heart slowly looked up at the creature, and was forced to take a few steps back due to how massive it was. In fact, the monster did not have any distinguishing features; it was as if he were made of shadows, a humongous silhouette that blotted out the light of the moon yet whose form could not be clearly seen. Only the thing's eyes shone through the darkness, and they were orange and burned like a bonfire. The young pony had never seen anything like it, but he was far from intimidated – in fact, after the voice's taunts, he was itching to prove himself once again.

The monster raised its hand – paw, claw? Impossible to say – and then struck down, trying to crush Lion Heart beneath it. The force of the blow was so immense that the trees of the Everfree Forest bent with its movement. But, as could be expected of something so big, the shadow was slow, and the stallion easily avoided it by running to the side. However, the shockwave produced from the blow sent him sliding on the ground for a long distance, stopping just before the trees. Luckily, he did not hit them, and was able to stay on his hooves. That blow was strong, but with speed like this, the earth pony knew he would be able to win. He grinned as he realized this.

"No problem!" he said, galloping back towards the monster. "We'll see who's a coward when I defeat this thing!"

The monster's hand was still on the ground, like the shadow of a large animal. Decided to end this quickly, Lion Heart tried to jump onto the monster's paw, with the idea that he could climb it... but he fell through, hitting his chin on the ground. He immediately jumped to his feet, and grumbled. So the monster's body was not solid? Yet the trees bent when he moved, and the shockwave was very real. But he could not strike the monster with his hooves? Was this another trick of the Everfree Forest? And how would he defeat something he couldn't even touch?

"Ah, yes, how futile," the voices laughed, causing the stallion to grit his teeth. "You cannot defeat this monster, can you, Lion Heart? At least, not without the way you usually do things; with you, it's always violence and action, isn't it? How futile. Just like that event, so many years ago. So futile...all the pain you caused to her..."

"Shut up!" Lion Heart yelled, not wanting to reminisce on something so awful. The monster raised its hand once again, and the stallion braced himself. This time, he would run to the -

"Oh? Perhaps you've forgotten? Ah...no, I see. You do not WANT to remember. Is it too painful, Lion Heart? Is it too painful to look at the suffering you cause? Is it impossible for you to admit your own weakness, your own mistakes?"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" the earth pony shouted. But he was distracted by the voices, haunted by their taunting, and so he was unable to avoid the monster's next blow, sidestepping only at the last moment. This time, the shock sent hurling through the air, and he hit his head on the trees. He did not scream, but his vision became red from the blow, and he felt his consciousness slip away. No...if he got knocked out now, the monster would kill him...he couldn't...

"Perhaps a reminder is in order."

Even though the young pony struggled, Lion Heart soon fell into a deep slumber. Yet it was not a normal one, as he began to see things that would have been better left buried deep inside his mind.

***

It was a long time ago. Many years had passed since that fateful event, and yet its consequences could be felt to this day.

Lion Heart was just a colt back then. Even at that time, he was a reckless foal, always putting himself into improbable danger for the thrill of it. His parents tried to protect him as best as they could, but an energetic child can find a way to do whatever he wants, and their precautions were sometimes not good enough. Due to one of his dares, he had no mane.

But luckily for him, he had a sister. Her name was Gentle Heart, and she was just a year older than the colt. She had a dazzling blue coat, and she had a long, beautiful black mane. She was very much unlike her brother; she was soft and kind, and preferred to help her parents in any way she could. She often did not see eye to eye with her brother, but none the less, the colt and the filly were brothers and sisters, and loved each others as siblings do.

Just one day, however, was all it took for that situation to change completely.

***

Lion Heart's eyes shot open. The memories were coming back to him now, along with all the feelings he had kept away for all of those years. But he refused to think about Gentle Heart anymore! There was nothing he could have done, and thinking about the past would only hold him back!

"STOP IT!" the stallion yelled. "Don't you dare bring this up again! DON'T YOU DARE!"

Then, the monster slowly picked him up with his huge hand. The earth pony struggled against it and tried to bite him, but to no avail – he still could not strike the shadow. All around him, he heard the laughter of the voices, as they echoed against the trees of the Everfree Forest, and inside his mind.

"Afraid to face the truth, Lion Heart? But we were just getting to the good part!"

***

Lion Heart was playing near the borders of the trees of the Everfree Forest, where his family cut some of their wood. At the time, he was imagining that he was on a grand adventure, with pony pirates and pony magicians and all other kind of crazy stuff! Gentle Heart, on the other hand, was actually working, holding her axe in her mouth and swinging it against a particularly resistant tree. It was a hot day, and she was sweating heavily, but she set down her tool for a second as she watched her little brother making a mess, as usual.

"Lion, what are you doing?" she asked with a sigh, swiping the sweat off her forehead.

The colt was climbing up a tree, his small hooves barely enough to grasp onto the branches. "I'm an adventurer!" he answered. "Yarr! You won't get me, evil siren!"

The filly shook her head and giggled. "What did you call me?!" she yelled back, and chased after the young colt, climbing the tree after him, giggling all the while.

***

"NO!" Lion Heart yelled, as the monster slowly raised him up to eye level.

The stallion had not stopped struggling, doing everything in his power to try and escape the memories. He would never accept it! He had managed to keep those memories under control for so long, he had managed to forget, to keep it away... it was the only way he could live his life normally. But now...it was all coming back to him.

"Please, stop!" he pleaded. "Please! It was... it wasn't my fault! I couldn't have done anything! Please!"

"Oh?" the voices answered, in a sing-song tone. "So you admit that you cannot face what is inside yourself? You admit, then, that you are not as brave as you pretend you are?"

Lion Heart stayed completely silent at that. Was he...really that much of a coward? Perhaps what happened that day had made him this way? Had this really been his fault? Held high up by the shadow monster, and haunted by those mysterious voices that he could not escape, the stallion was completely confused, but he soon realized that he was also feeling an emotion that he had repressed for years; one he had thought he had mastered.

Fear.

But he was Lion Heart! Bravest pony in Ponyville! He could not feel fear, right? Right?!

"Perhaps you need to see the end of the story again, just to make your mind up..."

***

"Can't catch me, Gentle!" the colt laughed, as he settled on a big branch, high up on the tree.

"Get down there, Lion!" his sister said, still climbing after him, but now a bit worried. "You're going to hurt yourself!"

"No!" the young Lion Heart answered, jumping up and down on the branch, which wobbled each time he bounced. "If you want me to stop, come up there then!"

But even a foal can be heavy, and every time he bounced on the branch, it cracked a little.

"Come on, Gentle!" the colt called out. "Come o...whoa!"

At that moment, the branch broke, and Lion Heart fell onto the ground. As he fell, he heard a sickening cracking sound, followed, soon after, by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. Luckily for the colt, however, he fell on his behind, and was simply stunned for a few seconds.

"I'm okay!" he said after he had recovered, before laughing. "That was cool! Wasn't it, Gentle?"

No answer. The colt turned his head left and right, before spotting his sister, laying on the ground just a few feet away from him. She was not moving. Lion Heart stood up, and slowly approached the filly, the realization of what had happened not fully dawning on him yet.

"Gentle Heart...?"

***

Lion Heart stopped to struggle. He stayed perfectly still in the monster's hand, even as the thing opened a gigantic maw – which had seemed to appear out of nowhere – and slowly carried the pony towards it. And yet he stayed completely immobile, his face buried in his hooves. All of the feelings he had kept locked up for so long...they were surfacing back, stronger than ever before.

"Well, well, well," the voices taunted. "So the TRUE nature of the brave Lion Heart is finally revealed, isn't it? This is why you feel so obligated to your parents, isn't it? Because of you, your sister broke her spine. It was your fault, Lion Heart, you saw it with your own eyes; there's no use denying it." The voices laughed. "Oh, the irony! It is because of your own desire for danger that your loved one was hurt! Because she didn't die, did she, Lion Heart? Now she waits in a hospital bed, probably for the rest of her life, as the doctors try to find a way to heal her and allow her to walk once again! But you know, deep within your heart, that it is futile, don't you?"

Lion Heart did not bother to yell back. In fact, he did not bother to do anything at all, as his will had been completely destroyed. Yes...the voices were right. He had tried to suppress it, he had tried to deny it for so long, but they were right. Because of him, his sister would never walk again. Gentle Heart, the kindest and most hard-working pony he had ever known, was virtually dead, condemned to a shell of a life, confined within a wheelchair at best, laying down in an hospital bed at worst. And it was because of him.

If only he hadn't acted like a little idiot, this would've never happened. He had tried to justify it; he was merely a young child, he did not know what he was doing. And it was the truth, but it was no excuse. He had not been punished for it, because even his parents believed in that lie, believed that he had no part in that. But it wasn't the truth, as the voice had said. It was because of him...and ever since that day, he tried to make it up to his parents. He tried to fill the hole left by his sister, but it was an impossible task, and he hid his fears, his tears, with his mask of courage and joy. But he had never forgiven himself – not really.

"So you finally admit it," the voices whispered. "You coward, Lion Heart. Nothing can make up for what you did for your sister. You shall never be forgiven. And your punishment has not yet come. But you shall see..."

Lion Heart was held by the neck over the monster's gaping mouth.

"...what you have caused with your acts."

The monster let go of the stallion.

The earth pony fell for what felt like hours and hours, and in the meanwhile, he could do nothing but wallow, thinking about his mistake again and again. Because of him, his sister could never lead a normal life. Never. It was his fault. Entirely his fault. He was not brave. He was a coward. And he needed to be punished for his actions, punished for the mistake for which there was no redeeming. Perhaps the voices were his benefactor after all, if they could bring that to him? Perhaps he could finally face his fears? Was this the chance that had been given to him?

When he finally landed, it was on a hard, wooden ground. Lion Heart laid there for a while, pondering whether this nightmare would continue if he never opened his eyes. But he finally did, and slowly stood up, looking around. His mouth slowly opened as he recognized the place that he had been sent to.

Why was he back in his parents' house?

Comments

[The Gentlemen]

this...this is brilliant.