//------------------------------// // It Came From Twilight // Story: Ofolrodi // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// A vaporous column of ruby light was rising up from the center of the bloody corpse as Logan approached the shaved equines in the middle of their carving and skinning. "Nice work there, buds," the large Heraldite remarked. He leaned on his axe, admiring the hoofwork of the rugged hunters. "We've known all along that there're creatures lurking underground and beneath the rocks... but we had no clue about how to actually lure them out for slaying." None of the locals looked at him. They continued eviscerating the carcass of the beast and shoving wet heaps of meat into their leather bags. The air turned rank with the raw scent of death. Up above, the ruby light dwindled into the distance, bending Curveside and vanishing amidst the stars. Logan cleared his throat and leaned in. "Let's get to the point. Are you flankholes the 'Dihmers' or not?" A safe distance away, Ariel face-hoofed. Hard. "Big Show..." Logan's brow furrowed as he gnashed his teeth: "We've been humping our butts off in search of you motherbuckers. A bunch of smart spiders called the 'Spindlers' told us that you might be hanging out in this part of the world." He gestured with his hoof. "Yo—is there a big friggin' Ocean around here or not?" One pony droned to the others without taking her deadpan face away from the bloody task at hoof. "It talks." "Yeah." Logan nodded. "It does." His eyes narrowed. "It also farts. So unless you wanna stick around for the paper mill, I suggest you answer our questions and then we'll be outta your hair..." He craned his neck as he studied their pale flesh. "...well, you know what I mean." An older pony with a heavily-scarred face finished dumping a wad of meat into a satchel. "It speaks when it could be hunting," he spoke with a breathy tone, neither pleasant nor hostile. He dug his forelimbs deep into the hollow of the slain beast, pulling at loose intestines and body fat. "There is little time. Soon it incinerates. And then it clamors." "Uhhhhh..." Logan blinked. "...yeah. That's one way to describe it." "Then it moves to where it hunts." A mare hacked a piece of the beast's jawbone loose and used a flap of leathery skin to dry off her stained blade. "It sustains." "It sustains." "It sustains." "It sustains." The others echoed. Logan turned to look at the rest of the Herald. He gestured at the ponies with a dumb expression. Wildcard shrugged back at him. Seraphimus stood in silence, pondering. "Hey... uh... we're not here to interrupt what you're doing or nothing..." Flynn stepped up beside Logan, wincing on account of his freshly-bandaged hoof. "But we're not from around here." "And we're desperate for answers," Logan added. Flynn nodded. "We've been told that the 'Dihmers' are ponies who have lived here for a long time." He pointed at himself and the others. "Well... we're not from around here!" "It talks." "It talks." "It talks—" Flynn raised the tone of his voice: "We're talking because we're trying to tell you guys something!" He pointed nebulously towards Edgeside. "We came from the other side of the world! The side of the world where there is light!" "Penumbra," Twilight Sparkle said. Rainbow Dash glanced at her. "They might recognize that word!" Twilight suggested. "Psssst... hey Flynn," Rainbow spoke. "Try 'Penumbra.'" "Penumbra!" Flynn exclaimed. "You guys heard of that?! 'Penumbra!' 'Paradise!' The Land of Light!" He gestured at himself and the other Heraldites again. "That's where we're from!" The butchering ponies merely chanted: "It talks." "It talks." "It talks—" "Come on!" Flynn growled, his balding head turning red in anger. "Are actually trying to troll us at this point or what—?" "It fails," murmured one pony. The others nodded, continuously digging into their prey. "It fails." "It fails." "What...?" Flynn grimaced in abject confusion. "A-ahem..." Kepler strolled up towards the center of the scene. "Perrhaps a differrent apprroach is in orrderr." Logan nodded. "Knock yourself out, Keps." Flynn shrugged and stepped back. Smiling, Kepler leaned towards the group of hairless ponies. "It is a find catch you have there." He craned his neck. "It sustains?" "It sustains." "It sustains." "It sustains." "Quite." Kepler nodded. "It sustains because it hunts. Yes?" "It hides," an elder said. "Then it feeds. Soon it returns in red." Kepler's eyes scoured the sky. "It... sees." He chose his words carefully. "Does... it have a name?" "It feeds and returns in red." A pony hacked and hacked and finally chopped an arm loose from the dead creature's body. "It sustains." "It has a name," Kepler said, pointing at himself for emphasis. "My name is Keplerr. Keplerr is what I am called." "It fails." "Ach..." Kepler nodded with a smirk. "...but of courrse." "Keps?" Logan looked over. "Have you de-gibbered their gibberish?" "It is not quite gibberrish, my frriend," Kepler said, pacing around the bloody scene. "Rratherr, I do believe they arre employing a severre forrm of passive voice." "Passive voice?" "These ponies..." Kepler pointed. "...they do not speak possessively." "All they're talking about is 'it,'" Flynn said. "Who is 'it'?" "Anything and anyone they need it to be," Kepler explained. "It depends on the situation, perrhaps. It is too soon to tell for cerrtain. Howeverr..." He stroked his hairy chin. "...a pony with a prredilection forr Darrkstinian dialogue may be morre apt to underrstand them. I now have everry rreason to believe that these arre the ponies Chief Engineerr Ranorrt spoke of in his log." "So..." Rainbow Dash stepped up. "They are the 'Dihmers.'" "It would be the most logical conclusion," Kepler said with a nod. Flynn gestured wildly. "Why the Hell won't they just refer to themselves?" "Because they do not have selves," Seraphimus said. The others looked at her. Seraphimus spoke in a dull tone. "Living their entire existence in a place this grim... with no hope for light... with monsters and psychopaths plaguing them from every angle..." She slowly shook her head. "...it's a wonder they've remained sane at all." "So... what...?" Flynn scratched his head, wincing. "...we stumbled upon a society of emo nihilist monks?" "Flynn..." Ariel chided, hovering over towards the gathered group. "...have a little sympathy. Their society's had a lot of shit to deal with." "Fine." Flynn nodded. "We just... gotta figure out how to talk by their standards, I guess." "That..." Kepler fidgeted, glancing at the group of ponies. "... may be exceedingly difficult." "Looked like you were understanding them for a minute there, Keps," Logan said. "Only in the capacity to underrstand theirr possible mindset," Kepler explained. "Theirr lexicon—howeverr—is a differrent matterr." Suddenly, all of the emaciated ponies froze—if only for a brief moment. They swiftly resumed their bloody task. The Herald exchanged glances. Wildcard gestured: "Did anyone else see that?" "Yeah." Logan nodded. "They flinched." Wildcard: "I think it was something Kepler said." "A word they recognized?" Flynn asked. "Quick, Keps!" Ariel leaned in. "Repeat what you just said!" "Ach! You don't rrememberr it?" Ariel shook her head. "I'm too busy being cute." "I only rreferred to theirr..." Kepler's words trailed off. Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight and the rest of her friends. She slowly trotted towards the hairless ponies. "Lexxic. Do you guys know Lexxic?" "It slays." "It slays." "It slays." "Brbrbrbrbrbrrrr..." Rarity shivered, hovering close to Pinkie Pie. "That about says it all..."