//------------------------------// // Sounds of Silence // Story: A Dream // by totallynotabrony //------------------------------// It’s a curious feeling, not knowing who you’re strangling.  Usually it’s pretty obvious. The two-toned green mare gagging in front of me, though, was a stranger.  Well, Sunset probably had a good reason for telling me to choke her. “Who’s this?” I asked as the group started to load aboard Tin Mare for the ride to the Peaks of Peril so we could terminate the tentacle tunnels. “I think her name’s Wallflower Blush or something,” said Sunset, strangling someone of her own.  “She’s pretty forgettable.” “I guess so.”  It was a little strange how easy it was to carry on a conversation while choking Wallflower.  Convenient. Nice of her. I still wasn’t sure how Sunset was choking the spirit of the Tree of Harmony who looked exactly like a sparkly alicorn Twilight Sparkle, but that was neither here nor there. “Well, what are we going to do with them?” Sunset said.  I glanced over at her. My eyes also fell on the others, who were mostly loaded aboard Tin Mare for the trip to the Peaks of Peril.   “I could probably find someone to take over here,” Sunset said. “Or we could just kill them,” I said.  I glanced down. “I don’t even know who this is.  “Wa...w...something with a W?” “She really is forgettable,” said Sunset.  “Yeah, okay.” Sunset and I kicked our choke-ees forward.  Both of us put on our sunglasses and pulled out matching Desert Eagles like that one scene in Space Jam that parodied Pulp Fiction. Walking aboard Tin Mare three seconds later, Twilight said, “What were those gunshots?” “Nobody I know,” I said.  Tin Mare closed the tailgate and my autodarkening sunglasses turned clear.  She lifted off. I briefly pondered the long term effects of killing the spirit of the Tree of Harmony who looked exactly like a sparkly alicorn Twilight Sparkle.  Eh. “Does anypony know why they call them the Peaks of Peril?” Applejack asked as we flew. “It’s probably just a name,” said Rainbow. “Like how Cloudsdale is made of clouds and the Crystal Empire is made of crystal?” said Fluttershy. “Well, peaks can’t be made of peril, so we’re good from a material standpoint,” I said.  “But also, nobody said we couldn’t be the ones bringing the peril.” “Hella,” said Tin Mare. “But seriously,” I said, “Do we know anything about the Peaks of Peril?  I’ve never heard of this place before.” Maybe it was created in the universe swap or something. “The book I was reading about the Pillars of Equestria had something on it,” said Twilight.  “There was an ancient shield with a mural painted on it.  It said a group called the kirin, known for their kindness and truth-speaking, used to live at the Peaks.  Unfortunately, other creatures also lived there. The nirik, fearsome beasts of pure fire. I thought it was kind of interesting that the words ‘kirin’ and ‘nirik’ are the reverse of each other.” We discussed it for a little longer, but didn't come up with any solid facts. Tin Mare eventually announced, “We are now arriving at the Peaks of Peril.” She went into a shallow turn.  The screen mounted at the front of the cargo compartment turned on, showing the feed from her camera pod.  There were peaks, certainly, but I didn’t see many signs of life. Or peril. “Is there someone around we can ask?” said Twilight. “The end of the line train station is nearby.”  Tin Mare came in for a landing. A seventeen ton VTOL landing at a train station wasn’t exactly normal.  The station pony wasn’t normal either, so it was okay. Well, not really.  He screamed. Not really because of anything I could see, he was just that kind of guy, I guess. “I'm not used to seeing anypony coming to the end of the line.  The final destination. The last stop!” He cackled. “What’s out there?” I said, pointing to the peaks. “Nothing but uncharted terrain and wild beasts out that way.”  Again, maniacal laughter. “Not the kirin?  Have you ever heard of them?” “Well now, that’s a name I haven’t heard in many years.  Of course, if you have the time, I could tell you.” I was beginning to think he used creepy giggles instead of periods. “No, we don’t.  Just tell us.” “They live up in them there peaks.” “I thought you just said there was nothing but uncharted terrain and wild beasts.” “And that don’t change nothing.”  Longest and creepiest laugh yet. I shot him in the face. The others didn’t take it well. “What? He was clearly suffering from dementia/mad cow disease/annoying.  I was doing him, and the world, a service.” “But-but…!” Twilight protested, eyes wide. Fizzy’s head popped up among the crowd.  “He was actually just lonely and had been here by himself so long that he’d forgotten how to talk sociably which made him really awkward and nervous around guests, and that makes it even better.” Ignoring him, I went on.  “And, he did confirm the kirin are here.  Not that it matters because we came after the tentacle vines, but whatever.”  I gestured as I headed back to Tin Mare. “Let’s go.” Reluctantly, they did.  Probably because they wanted to be left here with a dead body even less. Sunset gave me a look as once again we were last to board.  “You’re in unusual spirits today.” “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about making some...adjustments around here.  Bullshit like kirin and whatever else keeps coming up that I’ve never heard of before so I think I’m going to do another reset and get the universe back to how it was.  Well, not how it was, how it was before Gabby.” “Let me know if I can help.” I nodded.  “Sure. In the meantime, everything is going to get wiped away, so do what you feel.”  I shook the gun for emphasis. Tin Mare came in for a hover over a small clearing in the peaks.  “Heat signatures indicate a possible village here.” “Cool.  Put out the fast ropes.” The tailgate opened.  The girls, at least those without wings, slid down.  Not only would anyone have learned this after hanging out with me long enough, but they probably preferred it to being close to me. I was last to drop in.  Alighting from the rope, I dusted myself off and looked around. There were a bunch of almost-ponies.  They kind of looked like unicorns, except their manes sort of wrapped around their necks like lions, their horns split in two at the tip, and they had scales on their noses and backs.  Cloven hooves, too. Weird. “So, how did we not know that an entirely new species was living inside Equestria?” I said.  “What’s next, reindeer?” “Does anypony notice something...strange?” said Applejack. I looked around at the circle of kirin around us.  They all wore the same dull expression. None of them had said anything.  They didn’t even react to Tin Mare hovering overhead. “Yes,” I replied, “but you’ll have to be more specific.” “They’re so quiet,” said Pinkie.  She went and screamed in face of one of the kirin.  “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and I like to party!” Silence was the only response.  Pinkie deflated. “Do they not understand?” said Rarity.  She raised her voice to the group. “Do you speak Ponish?” “I didn’t know you spoke foreign languages,” I said. “What are you talking about?” said Rarity.  “Ponish isn’t foreign, it’s what we’re speaking right now.” “Pretty sure we’re not.  I didn’t grow up speaking Ponish in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.” “Well, it isn’t like we’re speaking whatever language you know,” said Rainbow. “As metaphysically fascinating as it would be to discuss this, and as mindblowing as it is that this hasn’t come up before, we have bigger problems.”  I gestured to the silent kirin. “Parlez-vous Français?” No responses.  “Well, I’m out of ideas.  Twilight, what do you speak?” “Math.” “Not what I was expecting you to say, but also kind of what I was expecting you to say.” I sighed.  “Are there any of you that talk at all?” Finally, a reaction.  All the kirin pointed towards a faint trail leading away from the village. Well, all right.  The group of us headed that way.  Tin Mare flew after us. After just a few minutes, we came upon a lone kirin who was white, green, and auburn.  She talked. A lot. “Hi, I’m Autumn Blaze.  So nice to see all of you!  You’ve just arrived, and perhaps you’re tired or hungry or reflective and want to sleep and eat and journal?  Which you should do, of course! But first— Oh! Oh, what joy to talk with another creature! It’s been so long!  You must tell me everything about you! There’s so much to say, so much to do! Oh, look at me. I’m going on, and you haven’t seen— I mean, have you seen—? W-What am I saying?  Of course you haven’t. So just— I— yeah— I will j— Follow me!” I kind of wished she wouldn’t talk so much.  But I couldn’t tell her that, because she took off through the forest. “She’s approaching a cliff,” Tin Mare reported. We followed her to a clearing where a ramshackle house was built at the edge of a tall precipice.  It looked out over a valley that I could see at a distance was currently covered in tentacle vines. “Oh, well, I guess it isn’t what it used to be, but what is life but change?” said Autumn Blaze.  “The way the light used to shimmer off everything, like, like it all suddenly woke up the moment you saw it.  And you realized maybe the water and the mountains and the forest and the... yes, the rainbow and the stars and the sky are all looking back at you thinking the same thing?  That we are a part of the everything. That maybe there’s just one thing and we are all it.” “I bet you don’t have many friends,” I said. “I-well…ever since the vow of silence-” she stuttered. “Okay, that explains it,” I said.  “But we didn’t need to explain it because you got us off track.  We’re here to exterminate those tentacle vines and we would have been able to do it a lot faster if you weren’t such a blabbermouth.” Autumn blinked.  “I, uh, well, I kind of have to be because I don’t know how else to express myself and I have to do it alone now that the other kirin asked me to leave.” “Why did they do that?” Twilight asked. “We don’t have time for this,” I said. “Well, if you’re so good at killing things, surely it won’t be difficult to take care of those vines,” said Autumn. My eyes narrowed.  It’s not often that my reputation precedes me but my recon hadn’t given me an idea of who I was talking to.  “How did you know?” “Well, just look at this cutie mark,” she said, putting her hooves around my posterior.  “Flanks don’t lie. That looks just like a coffin and some kind of stakelike weapon. “Oh!  Are you a vampire hunter?” Sunset’s gun clunked into the back of Autumn’s head.  “Let go of his butt.” “Okay, alright,” Autumn stepped back, waving a hoof.  She grinned. “No guarantees on my shadow, though. Have you named your shadow?  Mine’s called Silhouette Gloom of the Sundown Lands.” Her shadow, falling across me, continued to caress my ass. “Sunset, choke that bitch.” Sunset did.  I’m glad she understood that I meant the shadow.  I wanted Autumn’s throat clear to answer a few questions. Autumn looked a little shaken at having her shadow torn away from her to be throttled.  I quickly gave her something else to think about, though. She opened her mouth as I approached, but I quickly cut in.  “Don’t talk, just listen. I don’t give a single shit about you, the village you were kicked out of, or your race that I just met for the first time.  I have the means and will to erase all of you from existence on a whim. Wouldn’t be the first time. I’m here to do a specific mission and your own survival depends on what you do next.  I just have one question for you, and I want a short, straight answer. What do you know about those tentacle vines?” “They just appeared out of some tunnels,” she said.  “They smelled bad, so I didn’t go near. They didn’t seem very friendly anyway.” “What did they smell like?” “F-fecal material.” “Oh dear,” Rarity muttered. I glanced at her.  “That’s hardly the worst thing you’ve heard in the last five minutes.” “No, it’s just...I have a bad feeling about this.” “Does a tentacle monster smelling like shit suddenly make it more dire?” Autumn started to say something, but Tin Mare talked over her.  “She may be referring to the eldritch monster that occupied a garbage dump.” “Yes, that,” said Rarity. Autumn again tried to cut in, but I interrupted her.   “So the tentacles vines run through the underground tunnels and may somehow be connected to your shitty garbage dump?” I said.  I considered that. “So if we start the fire here, it’ll burn all the way up Cthulhu's ass?” Autumn opened her mouth, but Twilight beat her to next to talk.  “Is starting a fire that could go anywhere underground a good idea?” “Fair point.  But it could eventually just evolve into a thing the local population just gets used to.  In the future, they’ll ask, ‘who started this fire?’ and no one will know. They certainly won’t accuse us, but if they do, we'll be like 'we didn't start the fire.'” “I’m not sure I believe that.” I shrugged.  “Maud, do these tunnels go anywhere near underground coal veins?” “No.” “Good.” Autumn started to speak again, but by this point I was already moving towards burning everything down, so I started giving directions.  “Tin Mare, get the napalm. Everyone else, at least make an attempt to ensure nothing else catches on fire.” “Like, uh, Autumn Blaze?” said Applejack. I turned.  Autumn Blaze had caught on fire. “Good effort, Applejack.  That’s exactly the kind of thing that gives us plausible deniability.” “She turned into a nirik!” said Twilight. The fire had kind of strange black, red, and blue tones, but what was even stranger was Autumn was apparently unaffected except being angry.  Her voice was all distorted and weird. “I kept trying to to speak to you, my new friends, but if this is how you treat others, the cruel irony of letting my keep my words but dismissing and ignoring everything I say, then you will pay for actually managing to increase my social isolation!” She threw a fireball.  I ducked, and then threw one right back.  It hit her square in the face and she stumbled backwards, screaming, and fell over the edge of the cliff. At least we killed two birds with one stone there and the whole valley went up in flames, including our actual intended target of the tentacle vines. As an afterthought, Sunset kicked Silhouette Gloom of the Sundown Lands over the edge, too.  As it turns out, shadows are pretty flammable. I dusted off my hooves.  “Okay, let’s go kick some eldritch ass.” “You keep saying that, but we haven’t done it yet,” Twilight pointed out. “Well, I must admit some reluctance due to boredom at something I’ve done before, but that only increased when I found out it was shitty.” “Partially why I didn’t take care of it myself,” Rarity grumbled. “Despite the Foundation's insistence.” I sighed.  “Well, let’s get started.” On the way there, I got into my set of power armor with the good environmental seals.  I figured if it could protect me on the seafloor, it would probably be okay in a garbage dump with shit everywhere. Fortunately, when we arrived, the fire had already got there and shit was burning.  Not the shit burning part, that smelled terrible, but at least we didn’t have to get our hands dirty in a literal sense. As we sat there at the edge of the garbage dump watching eldritch things burn and everyone but me coughing at the shit smoke in the air, I heard someone gasping louder than the others, and Sunburst crawled over the edge of the pit. He was covered in shit.  Honestly, I guess I would have been surprised if he hadn’t been.  I was kind of surprised he was alive at all. Oh right, we forgot to rescue him so I wouldn’t owe him a favor anymore. Shit. He looked up at me.  “You owe me a favor. I want you to tell me what you did with Starlight Glimmer.” I turned my head away, my autodarkening sunglasses that I was wearing beneath the power armor helmet reacting to the sun that filtered through the smokey air.  I searched for a distraction, but couldn’t find one. And then, by pure coincidence, a portal opened next to us. Twilight Sparkle stepped through.  She immediately fell to the ground, gagging on shitty air. Perfect.