After spending the entire day with Pinkie, we decided to call it a day. With a kiss, I bid her farewell and good night. As I figured, that feeling never left me, in fact, it was almost bone-chilling now. As I stood outside my home with Luna’s moon and stars hanging high, that feeling of foreboding was at it’s strongest. I took a deep breath and braced myself for what was to come next and opened the door.
When I walked into the main room, everything was thankfully the same way it was this morning when I left. The only difference, my mother was nowhere to be seen, at least in plain sight. The air did feel and smell different and there was a magic circle drawn out in chalk in the middle of the room.
“Mother, I’m home,” I announced hoping I would get a reply. But none came. “Mother? Are you here?” I asked again hoping for a reply and once again none came.
I shivered, not from being cold but from a natural instinct one gets when something isn’t right. I looked at the circle and examined it closely. I raised a hoof and was slowly lowering it onto one of the lines.
D̴̢̼͔̪̈̓̈́̍̂͗̔̚͜Õ̙͎͚̬̯̱̻̫͚͒͆̒͒̿̕͜ Ñ̷̨̯̞͖̱̻̪͉͆͗͐̀̔͐̾̕͟͝Ơ̢̢͍̯͍͕̮̩̈͌͗̒̓̚͘͝͡T̵̡͚̙͙͓̤͍̆̊̍̀̌͋͛́́ͅ B̸͇͇̠͙̉͒̓͛͌̆̾͘ͅR̡̢̫̦͍͇̣̝͚͊͑̀́́͂Ę͉̻̟̙͂̂̇̔̒͟͠͝A̜̲̠͎͎̘̟̤̘̋̾̿̀͛̀̔͊̾̍͜K̵̨̫̲̯̲̟͂́̽͗͠ T̝͖̥̞̖͓̣͒̔̒̏̂̆͌͟͝H͔̟̦̟̺͖͕͇̼̮̽̈͂̍̌̌̋̀̚Ẹ̴̮̰̘̓̏̈̌̐̈̋̂̓͜͜͡ C̸͎͓͙̖̖̏̎͐͐͒͒̕͜͝I͚̟͉͔͗̏̈́̈̎͌͟R̢̪̗̘̗̉̑͒̉̓̾̕͞C̷̨̬̙͉̟͖͖̦̒͛̿̊̔̊͒͞͡ͅͅL̸̡͕̥̦̩͙̼͑͛̋́͊͂̚͞͝E̋̓̓̕
An altered voice boomed to my right when my hoof was mere inches from the chalked line. The voice sounded like my mother’s. I looked in the direction of the voice and saw my mother standing there.
My eyes must have shown some ounce of terror in them since my mother spoke in her normal voice. “Please, it took me quite a while to draw it out. I apologize if I scared you.” She then walked to a podium book stand with a large book on it.
I was surprised I didn’t see the book sooner. I moved my hoof away from the markings as my mother was still watching me. “If anything you startled me. Why didn’t you answer me when I called you?” I asked my heart still beating from the startle.
“I was… occupied with something that needed my attention.” She hesitated with a small barely noticeable twitch of her left eye. “So tell me how your day with Pinkie went.” She asked seemingly trying to change the subject.
I raised an eyebrow in curiosity and concern. “Well, we hang out at the arcade and played games for an hour-” As I was talking, I was testing a thought I had. I was pretending to step on the chalk line with my hoof while watching my mother for her reaction. Mere inches away from the line, she turned her eyes to me and narrowed them. I retracted my hoof and she turned her eyes back to the book. “-then we played some party games. Turns out there was a party today. Then we had lunch.” I tried again and this time my mother turned her whole head towards me. Once again I retracted my hoof. “Then I had us walk around for a while to try and have Pinkie use some of that excesses energy she’s famous for, before relaxing on the hill overlooking Ponyville.” I finished.
“That sounds lovely.” She was not keeping her attention on the book. “Though if you don’t mind me asking… Why didn’t you want to spend the night with her?” She looked at me to wink at me, trying to imply something. Which I knew what it was.
“Mother!” I blushed from slight embarrassment but she giggled. She’s acting normal at least. “Besides, I told you I would spend the entire day with her and be back before midnight.” Though a small part of me wants to spend the night with Pinkie but not for the reason my mother was getting at.
“Oh, well that’s okay, I guess.” She sounded almost… concerned. “Just try not to mess up the circle okay.” Like that her attention was on the book again.
I took a minute to understand what has happened so far today. My mother was herself but not herself at the same time. I looked around the house to see if anything else was changed and noticed something out the corner of my eye. In the far left corner of the dining room, a trap door was wide open. I walked closer to it and realized it was the trap door to the cellar.
“Mother, why’s the trap door to the cellar open?” I asked.
She looked up at me. “Because I opened it, duh.” She said plainly.
I raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “Wasn’t it sealed?”
“It was. I broke the seal.” She said plainly again.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You do realize, it was Circe would put the seal on it right?”
“I do. What’s the point you’re getting at?” She asked sounding annoyed.
“The point is that she sealed it for a reason. She told me before she left for the Crystal Empire. She also asked me to make sure it was never opened. So why did you break the seal and enter the cellar?” I asked.
“Curiosity got the better of me.” She answered without even needing to think about it.
That was the answer I was expecting. “Well, I’ll check the cellar and make sure nothing else is in there.” I started walking to the opening.
N̛̲̰̫̦͖̠̅̑̑͛̓̐́̚͟͜͠O̰̰̼̪͈̐͋̾̊͋̆̀̽
I stopped in my tracks and looked at my mother. There was no mistaking it, it was her voice but something was different about it. She shook her head slightly. “No, please. There’s no need to. Nothing else is down there.” She said returning to her original tone.
It took a minute to fully compose myself just to understand what I heard. It was clear now, something definitely wasn’t right. Getting over the shock, I calmed myself. “Nothing else? That implies there was something down there, to begin with. What was down there?” I asked.
My mother eyed me for a good minute, possibly trying to come up with an answer. “Just this book.” She finally replied lifting the book on the podium up with her magic.
‘Tome of Ancient Equestrian Magic with Apothecary and Alchemy’ was shown on the front cover. I was familiar with ancient things, some were fascinating things but most had a secret or reason for being lost to history. I was now getting very suspicious of the current situation.
“Andddd that’s it?” I asked relucent to take her reply as a definite answer. I noticed her eyes twitch just slightly from annoyance or slight agitation. I was wondering if I was pushing too far with her, but I pushed that thought aside very easily. I knew my own mother like the back of my hoof. She would never get annoyed by my pestering unless it was getting repetitive or asking for something that wasn’t able to be acquired.
“Yes. That’s it. I assure you, my son. There is nothing else down there worth of value.” She answered with hesitation like she was disliking the idea of lying. I narrowed my eyes at her. She cleared her throat trying to ignore my staring. “Now I must get back to this.” She said again returning to the book.
I wasn’t going to get anywhere it seems. I turned back to the cellar and just stared at it so intensely I got lost in thought. If had kept paying attention to my mother, I would have noticed a face of annoyance and anger, but not for me.
”Okay. There has to be something I can do to get her to talk. Think Sarius, think.” I thought to myself, trying to prob really hard into my brain in an attempt to access nearly long-forgotten memories. My mind wandered from memory to memory, until I remembered a time, long ago where I couldn’t speak cause of my mental problem. And instead, I used sign language which forced my mother and siblings to learn to talk to me.
Because of my hybrid DNA, relearning sign language wasn’t hard. But would my mother remember any of it? I had to try, I needed to know what’s going on with her. I needed to help her and possibly save her. I walked over to her and sat next to her.
“Mom?” I asked, going back to my roots of being a child.
She didn’t lookup. “Hmm?” was her only reply.
“Are you alright?”
She sighed. “Physically I am alright, but mentally I-” She cut herself off. Her eyes, that were half-lidded, shot open.
I waited for half a minute. “Mentally I…”
She looked at me and smiled. “Exhausted. Mentally I’m exhausted, that’s all. But I still need to finish this.” Her smiled reversed when she finished.
I just stared at her. Taking a deep breath, I reached into the knowledge I had in sign language. My front hooves separated into claws with the thumb claws popping out and I began gesturing to my mother.
She tilted her head at me in slight confusion. I was worried this wouldn’t work because she has forgotten. But her eyes lit up from the realization and understanding of my claw movements. I decided to test her.
Do you understand me? Blink once for no, twice for yes.
I gestured.
She blinked twice. I smiled feeling at ease this will work. I continued.
I’m gonna ask you questions with blinks for answers, okay?
She nodded confirming she understood.
Are you really alright? Once for no, twice for yes.
She blinked a single time. My eyebrows raised in concern but I continued.
Does it have something to do with the book? Twice yes, once no.
She blinked twice. I looked at the book and back at her.
Is it cursed? Once for yes, twice for no.
A single blink. I feared as much.
Is there a voice forcing you to do something? Once for no, twice for yes.
I was trying to make her blink a different amount of times for fear whatever was compelling my mother would catch on.
Twice. I sat there thinking for a minute.
Is it speaking to you right now? Once for-
She nodded not letting me finish. I was taken aback by this, not only by her interrupting but by the fact whatever this voice was, is speaking to her right now.
I looked her deep into the eyes and saw she was pleading for my help. She even looked like she was on the verge of crying. It was clear to me now, she wanted me to save her.
Then an unnerving thought popped into my head.
Can it understand me?
The unmoving of her eyes and head made me nervous. After a minute of waiting, I feared the worst when my mother finally shook her head. I breathed a sigh of relief. I gestured to her one more time.
I’ve run out of questions. But be patient. I’ll get us out of this. I Pinkie promise.
I gave the famous Pinkie promise gesture. She smiled at me.
I’ll always protect and save the ones close to me.
I hugged her tightly and she returned it in kind. I broke the embrace and walked to the door. “I just remembered I forgot something, so I’ll be back okay?”
I then gestured a final time.
I’ll send a letter to my sibs to come home. We’ll figure this out together. I love you, Mom.
“I know. You always do, my son.” She smiled very warmly at me and gestured back, as best as she could with hooves.
I love you too, Sarius
I smiled, left the house and galloped to Twilight’s Castle.