Slience
“Happy Nightmare Night everyone!”
Said a young woman to her five friends as they met up in Sugarcube Corner. The five had been regarded as Equestria’s greatest heroes, having saved it a number of times before. The elements of harmony and friendship were bestowed onto all of them, each element representing a trait of their own. The six of them all dress for one of the most celebrated holidays of the year; Nightmare Night.
Twilight was dressed in a school-girl costume this year, deciding that she should try something different this Nightmare Night instead of her usual costume of Starswirl the Bearded.
“Yeah, happy Nightmare Night.” Rainbow Dash said, as she was dressed in a simple costume of a black hoodie that came down to her legs. She also had her face painted white to represent a skull, and she was carrying around a fake Grim Reaper scythe.
“Well, how is everyone doing this fine night?” Applejack said, she too was trying something new as she wore an outlaw outfit, the same ones you would see in an old western movie.
“I’m doing quite well, thank you.” Rarity said. Being a dressmaker, Rarity had made her own costume. She was playing the sexy maid routine to get some of the attention of the men that lived in the small town.
“Well, I scored a lot of candy today! This should be enough to last me the rest of the night!” Pinkie was in a baker’s outfit wearing a chef's hat and an apron with the words ‘Kiss The Cook’ written on it.
Meanwhile Fluttershy was wearing a bunny costume, finally deciding that she should participate in this year’s festivals. “Yeah...tonight has been really fun.”
All of the friends went about talking about their night, going trick or treating, helping run the games that were set up for all of the little kids to play, or playing tricks and pulling pranks on the townsfolk. As the group of young women were talking to one another, none of them took note of the tall, teenage, dragon-blood walking up behind them. He saw the perfect opportunity for some revenge on a certain rainbow-haired sky-bond woman for a prank she had pulled earlier, involving whipped cream and a few firecrackers.
The dragon-blood silently lurked behind some bushes waiting for the right moment to strike. When the girl turned to talk to Pinkie Pie, the dragon-blood saw his chance to surprise the sky-bond. He jumped from the bushes and rushed the unsuspecting group of women at full speed, sights set on the rainbow-haired girl.
The girls didn’t have any time to react to the sudden shadowy purple and green blur, cutting right through them heading towards Rainbow Dash. The dragon-blood got to her before she could turn around, her arms were raised above her head and restrained by a pair of strong rough hands. Turning her head to get a look at her attacker, only to see that it was her boyfriend; Spike Dragul.
“Grrr! Spike, let me go!” Rainbow shouted, trying her hardest to break free from Spike’s impressive grip.
“Not until I hear an apology.” Spike said with a calm, deep voice, his grip never wavering.
“Oh come on! That’s not fair, it’s Nightmare Night! How can you not expected that to happen?” Rainbow shouted, her voice cracking a little as she increased her efforts to break Spike’s grip
“That’s not an apology~” Spike sang as he started to make the girl move side to side. Applejack and the other girls were on the ground laughing at Rainbow’s inability to break free from Spike’s grip.
“Now Rainbow, you know it’s only fair that you at least say ‘sorry’.” Applejack tried to reason with the restrained girl.
“Who’s side are you on AJ?” Rainbow shouted at the farm-girl.
“The side that isn’t being man-handled by their boyfriend.” Applejack joked, only causing Rainbow to huff in irritation.
“Fine, I’m sorry! Now, can you let me go so I can beat you?” Rainbow sarcastically apologized.
“Hummm...that’s tempting, but I want to hear a real apology. Come on, it can’t be that hard, can it?” Spike asked, not letting the girl go.
“Grrr...You are so dead tonight.” Rainbow threatened underneath her breath. “Spike, I am sorry for setting off a whip cream firecracker near you and your friends.”
“And…” Spike led on, slightly loosening his grip.
“And making you change your ‘awesome’ costume.” Rainbow said catching the hint. Upon hearing the rest of the apology Spike did as promise and let Rainbow’s arms back down to her sides. As she was going to turn around to slap the green out of his hair, Rainbow was pulled into a deep kiss by Spike.
“Happy Nightmare Night.” He said in a low, deep voice that Rainbow loved.
A loud ‘ahem’ caught the two’s attention to the other members of the dragon-blood’s harem. “Now, don’t you go forgetting about me.” Applejack said as she pulled Spike into a deep kiss. Ending the kiss, Applejack giggled at the blushing dragon-blood.
“So...ummm...h-how is everyone’s night going for them?” Spike asked trying to get rid of the bright blush that was adorning his face.
“Well, it just got more interesting, that’s for sure.” Twilight said with a disappointed tone in her voice towards the two women.
“Oh come on Twi, there’s nothing wrong with a little public affection. Isn’t that right Applejack?” Rainbow asked, reminding the two about that time in the alleyway a few weeks ago, causing the two to uncontrollably blush.
“A-ah don’t know what your talking about Rainbow…” Applejack shuddered out.
“Oh I think you know what I’m talking about.” Rainbow said as she was slowly walking towards the blushing farm-girl.
“Okay Rainbow, that’s enough, save some of that for later, okay?” Spike said assertively, stopping Rainbow’s advancing. “So, does anyone have any other plans for the night?” Spike asked, changing the subject.
“Well we were actually going to start looking for you. I got this letter from Luna saying that we should meet her in the forest. Something about meeting an old friend of hers, and I thought that you would like to met him too.” Twilight said revealing a letter that she got from Luna earlier that night.
“Why didn’t Luna send through me, wouldn’t that have been easier?” Spike asked puzzled.
“l don’t know, but we should get going. The letter said that we’d meet in a clearing in the forest not to far in.” Twilight said.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going.” Rainbow said as she began walking down the road towards the Everfree forest, the others soon followed after. Walking through the Everfree forest during the day is one thing, but at night, it become a whole new type of monster. Luna’s moon shining brightly in the night sky, the stars twinkling like small embers of a fire. The moon and night sky was the only thing watching over the girls and Spike as they all could faintly hear whispers in the forest, most likely from the predators that lurked through the forest.
The sound of a breaking twig causing Fluttershy to jump and hide behind Pinkie. Rolling their eyes, the rest of the group continued through the forest. They quickly came up to a clearing with a small campfire lighting two figures that sat in front of it. Moving closer, Twilight quickly recognized one of the figures to be Luna dressed as the Dark Phantom costume that Rarity made for her.
“Luna!” Twilight called out to the goddess, making her look up towards the group.
“Ah, Twilight, girls, and Spike. It’s so nice to see all of you come here on such a short notice.” Luna greeted the girls and Spike. “I would like you all to met an old friend of mine, Thorn Inferno.” Luna introduce the other figure. As he stood and removed his hood, revealing his face to the group.
Thorn’s hair was long and its’ color was a fiery blood red with azure streaks going along the length of it. His eyes were glowing crimson-red, giving off a powerful presence to him. He was also fairly tall, and by Applejack’s guess, he could be taller than Big Mac. Despite him being one of Luna’s oldest friends, he looked no older than his mid-twenties.
“It's a pleasure to meet all of you fine young women, and with a young dragon-blood as well. Luna has told me a lot about you all.” Thorn said in a deep voice. “As Luna has said my name is Thorn Inferno, and I’m a dragon-blood as well.”
“Yes, I was just telling Thorn about the adventures you all go on, and all of the times you’ve saved Equestria.” Luna said.
“Yup, we’ve done all kinds of things to save Equestria! Fluttershy even reformed the god of chaos, Discord.” Pinkie Pie said happily, excited to have a new friend.
“Really now? The last time I saw old Discord he was Celestia’s garden gnome.” Thorn said, surprised that anyone could convince Discord to act for the force of good. “I’ll have to see him sometime, he owes me a punch or two.”
“Well, that can wait for another time. Now is the time to celebrate Nightmare Night with friends. So, grab a log and take a seat, Thorn says he has a story for all of us.” Luna said as she took her seat. Spike, Rainbow, and Applejack sat next to each other, Rarity and Twilight sat on tree stumps that Thorn had set up earlier. After Thorn given up his seat for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, everyone was seated.
“Okay now for the story.” Thorn started in a low, throaty, voice, much deeper than before. “This Nightmare Night tale is one made for an empty world. One where silence reigns supreme, where sound is evil and can not be trusted. Where silence is truth, law, and is all existing.” Thorn said, starting to set up the mood for the story, his voice growing deeper with every sentence.
“Follow me into the quiet and empty world of silence..”
Silence.
It’s the thing that most fear. It’s something most run from, finding comfort in sound. We all can not go a day without hearing the birds singing, children laughing in the streets, or even your own voice.
Even in this world the sun still rises every day, its’ light shining down on the land, finding its’ way into the home of an alone man. Stirring awake by the sun’s unforgiving light, the man, looking outside to see that it was just early drawn, climbed out of his large, king-size bed to begin his morning routine. Walking into his bathroom, he turned the sink on to brush his teeth, turning off the lights and walking to the kitchen to fix some breakfast before work. He turned on the stove to cook some eggs, silently thinking to himself; deciding on what he was going to do after work.
Not paying attention to what he was doing, he grabbed the pan, still red-hot from the stove’s heat. Searing pain caused the man to drop the pan. As it fell to the hard-wood floor the iron-clad pan landed on his right foot, causing only more pain. The man grabbed his foot hopping, he opened his mouth to scream from the pain in his foot, but only found silence.
Silence.
Not a sound could be heard from the man. He racked his brain, looking hard for any answer that would yield some light on the situation, but nothing came. He thought back to last night’s performance, thinking that he simply overused his voice, and now he was paying the price for it. Limping towards his bathroom the man checked his medicine cabinet in search of anything that would help to treat his silent voice.
The man opened the cabinet pushing a few medicine bottles, Band-Aid boxes, and other items aside, yet his search was all for not, as he didn’t find anything that would be of any use to him. Silently sighing in defeat, the man closed the cabinet doors, the pain in his foot already forgotten.
Walking back into his kitchen to clean the mess of the morning up, the man began the tedious task of cleaning. After he had completely cleaned the eggs up, the man thought it would be best if he just went to the doctors to see if there was anything wrong with him.
Grabbing his coat off of the coat-hanger at the front door, the man walked outside of his home to seek help with his voice. To the man’s surprise, the town he called home was empty. Not a single soul could be seen walking through the streets. Shrugging it off as everyone was still in bed or already at work, the man made his way through the fog covered streets.
No matter how many times the man told himself that there’s was nothing wrong and that he had nothing to worry about, the man would get a chill that ran its’ way down his spine, threatening to freeze him where he stood. Pushing the unsettling feeling aside, the man ventured onward through the thick fog, his destination logged in his mind.
The unnerving feeling found its’ way back into the man’s head, causing a slight paranoia to edge its’ way into his head. Slowing his breathing, the man tried to calm himself, thinking that it was the fog that was getting to him. Closing his eyes to do the usual breathing techniques that he would do before a big show, the man breathed in and out slowly, stopping all non-basic thoughts. When the man opened his eyes, he saw steam fly out of his mouth, most likely the cause of the cooling fog.
Satisfied that he was calm enough, the man continued forward with the feeling completely gone. Resuming his walk through the town, the man made his way to his doctor’s office. Walking up to the door and knocking on it three times, the man simply let himself in, seeing that he would be unable to respond. The man found that the door to the office was unlocked, he opened the door to the doctor’s office.
Walking inside, the man was confused by the sight that was in front of him. The lights were off, and the office was abandoned, not a soul was in sight.
Silence.
Walking through the building in hopes of finding an answer to the mysterious vacant office, the man checked every room, even the patient's rooms. Nothing. Empty rooms were the only thing the man found, not even a janitor could be seen. Giving up his search of the office building, the man walked back out to the ever growing fog. While walking back to his house, the man couldn’t help but think that there was something very wrong. By this time of day he would have at least seen someone out, going about their own business. Empty streets were the only answer to his silent call.
Sound.
Quiet whispers rung out from all around the lone man. He whipped his head around, looking for the source of the sound, but as quickly as it came, the sound was gone. He hesitantly gave up on the search for the source of the sound.
Tap.
The man heard a tapping noise this time. He Looked around, trying to locate the place where the sound was emitting from, but his search ended with nothing. Silently sighing at his own slight paranoia, the man closed his eyes and began the same breathing techniques from before.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The man’s eyes shot open at the sound of the tapping noise. His breath imprisoned in his lungs. The man screamed in his head to keep calm, telling himself it was just some kid pulling a prank on him, but a sickening feeling told him otherwise.
Tap, tap. Tap, tap.
The sound was getting closer and as much as the man wanted to find someone, something, the sickening feeling told him to run, to run as fast as he could and to scream at the top of his lungs for help. Cry out to the world so as to remind himself that he still existed. Fear, stress, and confusion clouding the man’s thoughts. He took off into a direction away from the tapping sound.
Running as fast as his legs would carry him, the man bolted down the empty fog covered streets. His mind telling him to scream for help, pleading for anyone to save him from the emptiness he was feeling, and the tapping sound that was growing ever so closer.
Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap.
The world around the man became a blur, fog was the covering his vision. He wanted out. He wanted to just go home a lock himself in his room until someone came to get him. He was tired. He was tired of running, tired of not being able to speak, of this fog that seemed to have no end. Shutting his eyes to block out the damned sight of the fog, the man didn’t see a wall quickly approaching.
Slamming face first into the brick wall, the man fell to the cool, hard ground. Groaning in pain from the collision, the man started to lose consciousness, darkness covering his vision.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Sound.
That sound.
Forcing himself to get off of the dirt ground. Willing his body to move, to get away from that sound. Slowly getting back on his feet, the man shook his head, trying to be rid of the blasting headache. Looking down, the man saw a drop of crimson falling from his nose. Frantically looking around, the man took off once again, ripping through the everlasting fog.
He didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t care, all that mattered is that he was away from the sound. However, his efforts were for not. He didn’t even make, from what he could tell, three blocks down the street before his legs gave out. He was sent tumbling face first onto the cold and unforgiving ground.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
The man just laid there on the ground, unable and unwilling to move. He silently cried out at his own weakness, and failures. He didn’t know what was going to happen, but the sickening feeling was enough to tell him that it was not going to end well.
Tap, tap, tap.
He didn’t have the chance to apologized to all of the people he stepped on while he was becoming a performer. The good-byes left unsaid, the regret of not ending things that he should have.
Tap, tap.
Fear. Fear for his life, for all he’s known, all he’s worked on, years of practicing, and for all the time spent making a name for himself. All of it was useless, unneeded, now.
Tap.
Silence.
Nothing, only silence. The end of all things, the thing that ends all of exists. Now, silence was his savior, sparing him from the unavoidable fate that was in store for him. Unsteadily and carefully raising his head off of the ground, the man slowly took a moment to breath a sigh of relief. His head still throbbed in pain, but he no longer cared. Getting to his knees, the man started to silently laugh. If one could hear his laughter, he would have sounded like a psychopath that just escaped the mental hospital.
Tap.
Sound.
The man’s laughter immediately stopped at the stomach-churning tapping sound. The same sound that’s driven the man to the brink of insanity. The man didn’t dare to move or even breath, in hopes that whatever was causing the sound would go away, or simply pass him.
This proved to not be the case. Quiet whispers ringed out from the fog, all voices of the same townsfolk that he would see on a daily basis, all whispering the same thing over and over.
“Don’t run, the silence will chase you. Give in allow it to take you.”
The phrase was repeated again and again while the tapping sound grew louder and louder. The man finally had the will to move once again. He turned to run, but a force knocked him down back to the ground.
Opening one of his eyes to take a look at the mass that was in his path, the man saw a black hooded female with snow-white hair and pale-white skin. The female reached out a hand. offering it to the frightened man, there was something about the female that seemed eternal. Hesitantly, the man took the pale-girl’s hand, a sudden warmth washed over the man as if all of his troubles could be forgotten, and he would be set free from this world.
“Come now, it is time for you to go and be at peace.”
Sound.
The pale-girl’s voice was soft and soothing. The man closed his eyes, allowing whatever force the girl had command over to take him away from that quiet and lone place.
“The end.” Thorn said, finishing the story. He took a look around to find that most of the girls were hiding behind each other, Fluttershy looked like she was about to faint. “So...umm...what do you all think?”
“Well it was entertaining and a little dark, don’t you think darling?” Rarity said being as honest as possible.
“But the whole point of Nightmare Night is to tell dark stories to one another.” Thorn said, defending himself.
“Haha! I-I wa-wasn’t scared at a-all.” Rainbow said trying, and failing, to sound tough.
“Then why are you holding onto that poor dragon-boy for dear life?” Thorn joked.
“N-no reason.” Rainbow said as she let go of Spike’s arm.
“Well, I really enjoyed it Thorn, I’m sure that the girls will get the meaning of the story after they go home and think about it a little. Come on, we still need to see my sister, it’s been far too long since you two have spoken.” Luna said as she got up from the log she was sharing with Thorn.
“Right, well, its been nice meeting you all and I hope to see you all soon.” Thorn said his farewells to the girls and Spike.
“I bid thou a farewell, and a happy Nightmare Night.” Luna wave off the group as she and Thorn spread their wings, beginning their flight towards the castle.
Watching the two quickly disappeared from sight, the girls and Spike started to make their way out of the Everfree and to their respective homes, excluding Spike, Rainbow, and Applejack who all began to walk towards Spike’s apartment for a night of fun. As all of them left they could faintly hear Luna and Thorn saying in unison:
“Happy Nightmare Night to all!”