//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: The Fog Cries Out... // Story: Silent Ponyville: Duet Of Sorrow // by KillerSteel //------------------------------// The sound of drawers being ripped out of their housings fills the kitchen as Rainbow tears the place apart looking for some form of medical supplies. She doesn’t know why she’s so frantically trying to help this hedgehog, especially considering he’s caused her so much trouble before coming here, but the impulse is fuelling her veins and stopping her logic from meaning much, as she pulls apart another cupboard. “Gah, nothing here either!” She quickly looks around the room, searching for anything she might’ve missed. Two doors under the sink still remained attached to their hinges, and Rainbow immediately pulls these off in order to look behind them. The hinges were weak and rusty with age, a pile of aged cupboard doors and drawers behind Rainbow a notice of all the cabinets she already looked in. Rainbow’s eyes light up as she finds a small, white box with a red cross on its cover, and a little brown bottle next to it, that same red cross on it. She pulls both out, taking the box with her out to Sehn, leaving the bottle to grab later. The wall next to her seems to be covered with cuts and scratches, but only one knife is still in the wall, no knives lying on the floor under it. “Here, got it!” Sehn looks up, the blood from his hand painting a clear trail down to his head on the wall from where he was holding his hand against the wall. “Finally, my arm was falling asleep…put it down here.” He points next to himself, his eyes looking weary. “Lost a bit more blood during your rampage through the kitchen…not feeling too good.” He blinks a few times slowly before reaching over to the kit and popping it open, pulling out a roll of gauze and some disinfectant spray. He removes his glove and sprays the disinfectant into both sides of the wound, hissing in pain as the alcoholic solution burns away whatever may have found its way into the hole. He then wraps the hand in several turns of gauze, biting off the end and shoving the loose bandage into the wrap so it stays tight. He flexes his hand, and looks over to the window, expecting another knife to fly in. “Guess number 37 isn’t gonna come flying in…” He mumbles to himself, before looking over at the wall, Rainbow following his gaze. The wall is full of scratches and holes, but nothing seems to be stuck in the wall or lying before it. The sound of buzzing finally catches his attention, and he looks over at the table. Rainbow finally notices as well, and she shivers slightly as she looks over at the walkie talkie. “Oh…listen, we’ve got to move away from the door, now. Get behind the couch over there!” She kicks Sehn lightly in the side, trying to get him to move, as she runs over to the table and packs everything up in the bag, quickly tying the knife sheath to her leg. She leaps behind the couch and crouches down, Sehn running over to join her in their makeshift cover. The buzzing, becoming louder with every second, is the only sound that fills the room, besides the breathing of Rainbow and Sehn. Panic begins to course through her mind, but she steels herself against the fear, trying to stop the shaking in her legs. Both Sehn and Rainbow peek over the top of the couch, looking around for anything that may come into the room. The sound of hooves hitting dirt can be heard as something makes its way to the window. The shadow pokes its head in, looking around, and Rainbow moves back down below the couch, grabbing the knife with her mouth. Sehn ducks down as well, looking at his hand, flexing it. He seems to be thinking quite hard, as if trying to make something happen with his mind, but nothing occurs. “Tsk…” He says with a grimace, looking over at Rainbow. “Listen, if anything comes in here, you’re the one who’s going to have to fight it. I’ll play decoy for you.” He whispers to her. Rainbow shudders, the thought of having to fight one of these things seemed otherworldly to her. She takes a deep breath before nodding, drawing the blade from its sheath. Sehn looks back over the couch, Rainbow moving up with him. The shadow seems to have left the window, and the sound of wings flapping can be heard. A few seconds later and the quiet, low explosion of a far-away sonic boom enters the room, shaking the book cases slightly. The two behind the couch share a relieved sigh, and come out from behind it, moving up to the front door. “How do we check if there’s anything outside…fog’s pretty thick, the only reason I could stop that knife from stabbing me in the face was because I saw its shadow…good thing I had my hand over the top of the window.” Sehn says to no one in particular, flexing his wounded right hand. “Those knives flew in pretty fast…do we have anything we could use?” Rainbow asks, muffled by the knife in her mouth, leaned against the wall behind Sehn. “Not sure. I doubt that whatever’s out there can see us very clearly…maybe it’s just throwing those knives at whatever moves in the window.” Sehn scratches his chin, thinking. “What about the books?” Rainbow speaks up, moving over to the pile of books by the table while placing the knife back in its holster. She takes one off the top and brings it back. “Not a bad idea. Give me it.” Sehn says, holding out his hand as Rainbow drops the book into it. He slides past the door and holds the book up to the window. He waits several minutes, nothing flying into the book or through the window. He peeks up into the window, trying to instigate a response from whoever was trying to kill him. He raises his face fully into view of the window, nothing sharp or shiny flying at him from the fog beyond. “All clear.” He says, standing upright with a sigh. He looks at the shattered remains of the window, before turning back to the door. “There’s nothing outside, just a whole lot of fog.” “Well, at least nothing sharp is going to fly at us now.” Rainbow heads over to the table, noticing the radio has gone quiet. “…Huh…so this thing works just like the music box before?” She mumbles, picking up the walkie talkie and looking it over, “Better this than nothing.” She says to herself as she starts packing everything up. Rainbow adjusts the strap of the sheath on her leg, it a bit too tight from her franticly putting it on earlier. She moves back from the table and takes a few practice draws with it to make sure she’s quick enough to react to anything coming at her, and afterwards puts the saddlebag onto her back, tying the strap around her stomach. “You said you’ve done this before, right?” Sehn asks, staring out the window as Rainbow turns to him. “Yeah, I have. Came here with two of my friends, one of them having the terrible nightmares.” She replies, shivering as memories of that horrid time roll back into the front of her mind. “So what’d you all do first?” Sehn asks, waving his hand behind him, as if to grab something. “Pinkie Pie said we should head to Fluttershy’s home, since it was the first place she thought of when she was here.” Rainbow says, shoving Sehn out of the way of the window so she can look outside. The scene is just as bleak as before. Brown fog rolls across the street, blocking out almost all of what you’d regularily see staring out the library’s window. A bush sticks up in front of the window, but even that is blurred slightly by the fog. The sound of a sonic boom finds its way into Rainbow’s ears, and she looks up to the sky. “You hear that?” She asks, not turning to Sehn. “Yeah. Is it that shadow we saw?” Sehn asks back. “If it is, then it’s a powerful flyer. I’m the only thing in general I know about that can go at the speed of sound.” “You’d be surprised…anyway, where should we go?” “My house, I guess. It’s North from here, about a hundred meters up.” Rainbow starts moving over to the door. “A hundred meters up? Wait, you live in the air?” Sehn asks, following Rainbow. “Yeah? I’m a Pegasus, aren’t I? I’ve got a cloud house in town.” She rolls her eyes and pushes the door open. Sehn follows behind her, his loud boots overshadowing her own footsteps. They both look around at the dim scene before them, Sehn far more amazed than Rainbow. The pathway out to the street is half smothered in brown fog, their visibility cut to only three or so feet in front of them. “Well, at least it’s bright enough to walk…” Sehn says, walking out in front of Rainbow, hands in his pockets. “Did you grab the medical supplies?” He turns, tilting his head up slightly. “Oh shoot, forgot.” Rainbow curses herself, turning back to the door, before being stopped by a pat on the shoulder from Sehn. “I got it.” Sehn says with a wave of his hand, walking back into the library. Rainbow turns back around, and sits down on the dirt path. She looks up at the sky, listening for another sonic boom. There were already two that went off, so why not a third? And punctually, another sonic boom is indeed heard. She continues waiting and listening. A while later, another sonic boom echoes out from the distance. “What’re you doing?” Rainbow turns to Sehn, the medkit in his hand. “Found a weird brown bottle in that disaster zone you caused in the kitchen. Says ‘Health Drink’ on it…looks kinda funky though.” Sehn makes a grimace, looking at the bottle in his other hand. “It’ll be useful. I’m listening to those sonic booms…I think there’s a pattern to it.” Rainbow turns back, one more sonic boom ending her sentence. “Hmm…” she starts counting in her head. Her mental counter reaches 22 before another sonic boom occurs. She starts again, and once more, at number 22, the sonic boom returns. “22 seconds between each explosion. Hm.” Rainbow and Sehn say at the same time, causing them to look at each other. “Wait, you were counting too?” Rainbow asks. “Seemed obvious what you were doing. Question is why?” Sehn asks, coming down to a knee so he look Rainbow more straight in the face. He opens one of the pouches on Rainbow’s saddle bag, placing the items inside while checking the contents. “Kind of taking this from my experience, but a sonic boom is air not being able to keep up with a body moving through it, right?” “Correct. It’s the sound that can’t keep up though, and the pressure wave that creates the ‘boom’ that you hear is being left behind by that body.” “Right, so it’s still a wave of air, isn’t it?” “Yeah.” Sehn finishes packing and checking the bag, standing up and moving over to her side. “Well, I’m doing the count so I can see if I can cover a distance while flying.” “Seems strange. Sonic booms are just sounds…the pressure wave isn’t all that strong, is it?” “Try going fast enough for the Sonic Rainboom. If you mess up, the cone of air around you just bounces you back like a big rubber band.” “Huh…you think whatever the heck is up there is trying to do that?” The two turn to eachother, Sehn raising an eyebrow. “I can’t tell. Usually you have to start at a very high height, and then speed straight towards the ground. But I’m the only one who can actually do that stunt…whatever’s making those sonic booms has to at least be as strong as me.” Rainbow says, stroking her chin in thought. “May as well start walking, and we at least have a pattern now. Which way to your house?” Sehn asks, heading down the path, Rainbow following close behind. “I’ll have to look at the buildings, get my bearings. We should be able to just take a right at the end of the path and keep going straight. Follow me.” Rainbow says, moving quickly down the path, Sehn jogging to keep up. “The trip might take a bit though, so I have a few questions.” “Fire away.” Sehn says, moving up beside her. “How do you know me?” “Ah, yeah. Honestly, hell of a long story, and half of it likely wouldn’t make much sense to you. If you knew me off the spot when we met in the orchard, this’d all be clear in your head though…” Sehn sighs, “Where to start…?” “Start with how you know me. Short version.” “I know you because we served in the army together.” Rainbow skids to a stop from the comment, Sehn jogging a couple meters ahead of her before stopping and walking back. “Say WHAT?!” She shouts, complete confusion on her face. “I-I’ve never served in the army before!” Sehn tilts his head, moving up closer so he’s fully in view. He raises an eyebrow. “Yes you have. I wouldn’t be saying it if you hadn’t. I wouldn’t even be here if I didn’t know you.” “That’s crazy! Why would I forget something that huge?! I’ve never even considered joining the Royal Guard!” Rainbow shouts, this new fact trying to ram itself into her thought process without much success. “Because you…weren’t in the Royal Guard? We did serve in the army together, but I think you’d remember me, without a doubt, if I were serving in Celestia’s personal army.” “Hey, where do you get off just calling the Princess ‘Celestia’?” “Oh, right, monarch. Ahem…” Sehn clears his throat, then repeats in a rather high-class, low tone. “Her HIGHNESS, Princess Celestia.” He finishes by jamming his hands in his pockets, and letting out a “Pbbth”. “Well aren’t you rude?” Confusion melts away from Rainbow’s face, being replaced with anger. “Sorry, having a military structure to your society just kind of numbs you to respecting a single leader. PRINCESS Celestia does deserve a lot of respect with how she’s handled Equestria, definitely.” Sehn turns around and starts walking off, Rainbow moving up next to him. “You really aren’t from around here, are you?” She asks, both of them moving at a slow walk through the fog. They both look around at the surrounding buildings before Sehn answers. “I’m from out of country, yeah. To be perfectly accurate, my full name and title is Captain Sehn Darksol of the Hemoran National Guard.” “C-Captain?” Rainbow looks up at him, raising her eyebrows. “Aye, Captain. Leader of whole battallions, brain behind some operations. We usually leave the creation of the orders up to the Majors and those above them, but I come in sometimes to offer tactical advice.” Sehn shrugs, “The job ain’t so bad. Get to order a lot of people around, and everyone has to salute you before doing whatever you say.” He smirks, enjoying the feeling of power. “But that doesn’t really explain how you know me. I’ve rarely been outside of Ponyville and Cloudsdale, let alone Equestria itself.” “That…is a rather tough tale to tell.” Sehn sighs, kicking a rock. One click, two clicks…but then nothing. Sehn stops, furrowing his brow. “Something up?” Rainbow asks, walking forward further, before one of her hoofs drops off into empty space. She gasps before opening her wings and blowing herself back, looking at where her hoof slipped off. Both Sehn and Rainbow stare wide-eyed at the abyss in front of them, fog falling off the cliff into the dark ravine like a waterfall. “Now THAT was close.” Sehn remarks, whistling a single note. “Yeah…good thing I can fly.” Rainbow says, looking at her wings with a sigh of relief. “Still…I remember this happening before. Where are we?” “Not sure. I can see a couple weird looking trees across the ravine though.” Sehn says, putting a hand over the top of his eyes so he can shade his vision, though it doesn’t get very far beyond the blurry shadows through the fog. “…Everfree Forest…brrr.” Rainbow shivers, “yeah, I know where to go now.” The sonic booms have been occurring all during the walk, but seemed to be drowned out by the chat. One more sonic boom comes down on the pair, Sehn getting shoved to his knees as he hears it with a grunt. “Oof!” He slams his hands into the ground to stop his face from coming to the same fate as his palms. “What the heck was that?!” Rainbow gets shoved down as well, hitting the ground on her belly with a thud. “Gah! Ahh, it’s like I thought!” “Wait, you predicted THAT?” Sehn looks over at her, Rainbow returning the look. “Yeah, it’s like with my Sonic Rainboom. Get going fast enough and the air becomes a wall that you have to break down. When the stunt is done right…” She gets back to her feet, Sehn just pushing himself up into a kneeling position, “the air is pushed out of the way in an explosion, and the shockwave created is strong enough to shatter bedrock.” “I’m well aware.” Sehn replies, sighing. “Too well aware…” “Say what?” “Nothing. Where’s your home again?” “Should be over by Fluttershy’s…which would be over this ravine.” Rainbow looks over the blank abyss before her, trying to see any silhouette of her home beyond the cliff. “I don’t think it’d be out there.” Sehn says, folding his arms. “What makes you say that?” Rainbow looks over with a raised eyebrow. “Why would we have a destination we both can’t get to?” “Sure, we were both having nightmares, but aren’t I the patient?” “Just doesn’t make sense that your house would be across a 50 foot ravine, with a sonic boom happening overhead every 22 seconds that forces you to the ground.” Another explosion echoes out over the pair, Sehn and Rainbow grunting under the force of the pressure wave. “You saying I couldn’t get across the ravine in under 22 seconds?” “I’m saying I couldn’t. Can’t you clear two miles in fifteen seconds?” “Easy!” Rainbow says with a prideful smile. “Yeah. No wings. Impossible to get across for me. I bet it’d be impossible for you if you had to carry me as well.” Sehn remarks with a grimace, and he looks up. Rainbow looks at his face as he tilts his head slightly and raises an eyebrow. “Hey uh…what’s that up there?” He asks as he points upwards, Rainbow following the finger. Up above them, about a hundred meters, is a small white dot, clear as day in the fog. “That’s…my house.” Rainbow says, surprise in her voice. “But, why is it here?” “Beats me, but you can’t spit on a blessing, Rainbow. How’re we getting up there?” Sehn asks, turning to Rainbow. “Well, obviously I’m flying. Don’t you have your own wings?” She leans back slightly, looking at Sehn’s back. “Wings? Well…not usually…I don’t think I can get them either.” Sehn grimaces, looking at his back. “Well I can’t CARRY you up there. It’s too high and too much for my wings. I may be the best flyer in Equestria, but I can’t go carrying a heavy Hemoran a hundred meters straight up.” Rainbow says with a shrug. “Hmmm…know where we can get some kind of flying machine?” Sehn asks, turning his sight back to the sky. “Yep, and I know just who to ask.” Rainbow says with a smile before smacking Sehn in the leg and running off down the road, Sehn in close pursuit.