Stygian hasn't been feeling himself lately. Perhaps it's the thousand-year leap in time. Perhaps it's the forceful reformation courtesy of the elements of harmony. Perhaps it's the strange dreams keeping him up at night.
When he finds an unlikely reminder of his old life in Twilight's pet owl, he hopes perhaps all the strangeness will come to an end. But when tragedy strikes at the heart of the Ponyville pet scene and the creatures in his dreams take familiar forms, Stygian will be forced to answer a dangerous question.
How far would you go to help a friend?
Chapters (5)
I thought Owlicious or however it's spelled was a guy. And didn't Twilight move out of the castle?
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He is male. Not sure why the author went female here, but it is rather distracting.
10156552 10111967 Oh jeez... all this time I honestly thought Owlowiscious was a girl
Thanks for catching that!
In the first chapter, you spelled Vanhoover with an H instead of a V.
How did you make me smile serenely when the twist in the story is that yes, the pet did actually die?
I'm not smart enough to figure out the significance of his dreams, if any, though. Was Owlowicious reaching across time from before he went to limbo?
10323917 I'm glad you liked it! And yes, you are absolutely correct. Owlowicious called to him through his dreams. In my made-up magical system, limbo exists out of time, so if you're in limbo you aren't necessarily bound by the same linear constraints of time.
Poor Twilight, all around. Finding out, probably in the far future, that Owlicious is gone and never actually making peace or cured of cancer.
I hope Stygian does something that got through to her before his time comes.
This was a superb, well crafted, sucker punch to the gut. It hurt, but in a very good way. Grief, pain, acceptance, these are powerful subjects that you not only handled well, but in a poignant and relatable manner. It made me *feel* something, and actually brought me to tears.
I applaud your work.