//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13: The Mist 
// Story: Chimes In the Dark 
// by Faindragon 
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Chimes In the Dark - Chapter 13: The Mist

NOTE: Grammar not corrected


The chime echoed through the temple, found its way through the hallways and rooms. It reached the throne room, reached the mare sitting upon it. The mare was laughing, a laugh that made ice warm in comparison. She went silent as she heard the chime; the smile on her muzzle reaching her eyes.

She reached out her hoof as the little orb came floating towards her. The orb landed in the offered hoof. It was a small translucent orb that had landed in her hoof. It trembled in her hoof; tried to move away from her. The orb glowed with a soft yellow glow; it was probably the smallest soul she had been taken since she had started with this. Carefully did she place her other hoof over the orb, moving her muzzle closer; whispering to it.
“Easy there Zinky, you have nothing to be afraid of. I won’t hurt you anymore. But I will not lie to you; I enjoyed every second of it. For Equestria did I take this quest, for Equestria have I killed close to fifty other ponies; for Equestria have I suffered. I will not let Equestria fall.”

She nudged the soul; it had stopped its trembling and was now completely still.
“That’s better; you have nothing to fear here Zinky. Now, let me tell you how all this happened, the reasons and circumstances; let me tell you why I did this.”

And she started to talk, explained every reason and every way around. Although she had done this nearly fifty times had it not becoming easier to say it; every pony had reacted differently. And Zinky was the first to make her recoil at the simple thought that emerged from her soul.
“You forgive me? I cannot say how much that means to me Zinky, you are the first one who has done that. You are not only one who have seen my reasons and understood them, but you are the first one who has gone so far as forgiven me. Thank you Zinky.”

She lowered her hoof, placing the soul into the crystal. She didn’t even have to push it; the soul jumped into the crystal by itself. She whispered to the crystal.
“Thank you Zinky.”

She turned around, gently lifted the quill with her magic. The quill made the eleventh line and she couldn’t help the smile that covered her muzzle. It was only a few chimes left and two sacrifices were yet to be made. The mist was next; and after that the very reason why they all had been sacrificed. Then this nightmare would finally be over.

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Notharam didn’t know how long he had been sitting in that position, hooves around Zinkys dead body and tears streaming down his cheeks. He cared about it as much as he cared about the blood that soaked his coat; not at all. And all the time Mistrunner stood there, tears in her eyes; tilting her head as if she listened to something in the distance.

Notharam could hear her mumble for herself. He only caught a few of the words she mumbled.
“No, I will not believe you….. Notharam would never….. that maniac will not…… I will not be…. this is….. for the good of….. why would she let this happen….. Notharam know what?”

He didn’t pay any mind about what she mumbled. All that was for him was the body of the filly in his hooves and the sorrow in his heart.

Mistrunner shook her head and looked at him; the tears in her eyes started to slowly roll down her cheeks. After standing still as a statue for some minutes did she finally walk forward to Notharam; softly nudging him with her muzzle.
“Notharam, Zinky is gone. It is nothing you can do and it was nothing you could do before either. How much I would like Zinky to be alive is it nothing we can do to make that happen. She have gone on, she is in a better place now. She is happy now, happy together with Silverstar. We must start to move again, you have said it before; if we stay for too long in one place will that maniac find us. Do you think that what Zinky wants, that we get killed only because we mourned her? We will have time for the mourning later Notharam, we should focus on surviving for now.”

Notharam looked up from Zinky, looked straight at Mistrunner. Their eyes were locked for more than a minute, dark orange ones meeting pale amber ones, before Notharam looked away. He stroked the little filly’s mane, looking away in the distance. ‘I will kill the maniac for this. She was only a filly; she had long yet to live. I don’t care what that maniac has against me; she have passed a line.’ The weird thing was that he didn’t feel anything at all. He was empty inside, even his sorrow had disappeared. 

He glanced toward Mistrunner who stood looking at him with a worried frown on her muzzle. She was right, it was time to move. He gently freed himself from Zinkys body, carefully laying the body on the stone floor. His coat was blood soaked, it had started to dry and path of fur had adhered together. He stood up, cheeks still wet by the tears that had streamed down them.
“You are right Mist, it is time to move. Zinky is in a better place now; happy together with Silverstar. I will get time to mourn when we are out of here.” He tried to smile towards Mistrunner.

“So it is true then, you know why we are here? You know what this is all about; you know the truth about this place!” Mistrunner said, nearly screaming at the end. The panic was clear in her voice, as was the anger.

Notharam took a step back, confused. ‘I know why we are here nothing more’ he thought, his mind racing.

“Don’t try to hide if from me, Notharam. Your face is as easy to read as an open book. You know something, something you haven’t told me. What is it Notharam? What is it you know?” The panic was now clear in her, her eyes had widened and it was if possible even clearer in her voice.

“Calm down Mist, no need to panic. What are you talking about? What do I know about this place that you do not?” Notharam said, trying to soothe the panicking earth pony.
“They speak to me; whisper in my ear. They speak about the truth, speak about what is happening. They tell me you know why we are here, tell me that Celestia knows that we are here. They told me you know why Celestia allow this. They tell me that you know everything; the reasons behind this. WHY?” Mistrunner nearly screamed now.

Notharam was now sure that Mistrunner heard the walls, just as Emerald said he had. He was sure that they really whispered to her. But he had to be sure.
“Who or what did you say speaks to you? Who or what whispers to you?”

Mistrunner laughed. It was a grim laugh, filled with panic.
"The walls Notharam; they tell me you know everything."

Notharam felt how the panic started to build up inside him as well. How could he possibly explain this? How could he explain in a way that would calm her down?
"What makes you think that I know anything that you don't already know Mist? What makes you believe something that a wall whispers in your ear than what I say?" he asked; trying to buy some time.

Mist smiled that grim smile again. It made him shiver; froze every bone in his body.
"Silverstar, Notharam. That was what made me believe that you were hiding something from me. Or rather, that was mademe know that you hide something."

Realization hit Notharam, could it be? He had to make sure of it first. He looked at Mistrunner.
"How do you mean Mist? What does the name of my now dead wife have with anything to do?"

Mistrunner met his eyes. Her eyes were cold; almost dead.
"You know already Notharam, do you really need me to confirm what you already know? Well then, I will confirm it. You didn't react on me knowing the name of your dead wife. The walls had told me that you had, somehoof, seen her funeral again; that you saw me there looking at you.  If that would have been a lie, that you never had seen that in the view, seen me at the funeral; then you would have reacted. You didn't however, that confirms it for me. What more do you know that you did not told us; that you haven't told me?"

As he has feared; she had been told about the viewings. But it might have given him an opening.
"of course didn't I react for it; my daughter had only just died. How do you believe that I could think about that?" he said; trying to keep the growing panic from his voice.

Mistrunner laughed; a grim and hard laugh.
"Notharam haven't I told you that I can read you like a book? You can't hide the fact that I hit something, that I told you the truth. You didn't react because you already knew that I had the name on your wife." her smile grew even more chilling. "There is no meaning to keep up this charade Notharam. Tell me what have been said to you and we can keep going, make me trust your words once more. How could I otherwise trust you in a situation that could cost us both our lives otherwise?"

Notharam felt that this was a war he could not win; he had never been the one who was skilled in meddling. No, the time had come to put all the card on the table and hope that Mistrunner accepted it. He had to force the words out of him; he really didn’t want to say it. He didn’t want to know how Mistrunner reacted.
“It was in the library, after the incident with the statue. Emerald had started the translation and you were”

He stopped to wipe the sudden tears from his eyes; tears that emerged from the memory of Zinky.
“And you were talking with Zinky. It was then she, the maniac, did… something. The statue in there transformed into a mirror, showing me things from my past. All the time did she whisper to me, telling me that it was my fault that you all were here; telling me that it was for my betrayal that you all were to be sacrificed. She did never tell me how I betrayed her; the only thing she told me was that she had chosen you all as sacrifices only because that you all were connected with me in some way. She then showed me how you all were connected with me. She showed me from the time in the army how I saved Feather Quill; Emeralds daughter. This made her chose both of them as sacrifices; choose them because I saved one of them. And you, Mistrunner… that maniac showed me all the pain I had made you go through. She showed me every time that you had stood and watched me and the ones I was with. In the school when we were fillies, at my and Silverstar’s wedding, at her funeral; she showed me a lot of times as you had stood in the background, looking at me. All those years and I hadn’t seen you once. And Zinky…”

Once again did he stop to wipe his tears.
“And Zinky was the child I had left at Ponyville’s home for homeless fillies and colts’. The child that, when I returned, had been adopted; I couldn’t find her anyway.” He couldn’t make himself speak more.

Mistrunners softened, her features going back more to normal; her panic seemed to have disappear.
“It is okay, Notharam. I won’t blame you. You are not the maniac here; you have lived your life with honor, helping those in need. But why didn’t you tell us? Both Emerald and Zinky died without knowing why.”

“What do you think? I was afraid of that you would see me as insane and abandon me.” Notharam answered.

“I would never have abandoned you Notharam; you should have understood that after you had seen me all those times.” Mistrunner said, nearly whispering.

“I didn’t want to take the chance for that. But I have to ask you one thing Mist. Why didn’t you say anything during those years? All the years you stood aside; you watched me live with Silverstar and you didn’t do anything?” Notharam couldn’t keep the question inside him, he had to know.

Mistrunner smiled at him, before she softly spoke.
“I had two reasons to do what I did. First I wanted to see you happy. And second, Silverstar was my sister. So I had the opportunity to see you both happy.”

Notharam was now confused, all this time had they been related, his wife had been sister with Silverstar?
“But why didn’t Silverstar say anything? Why did I never meet you?”

Mistrunner shrugged before she answered.
“Well, my dad favored her over me; I left my home years before you and Silverstar became beloved. I didn’t think I would survive to meet you in person when I knew that you were Silverstar’s and she promised not to talk to you about me. No, I asked her to promise it; at that time did I only want to see you two happy. I had lived free for some time and just got a job at the library as Emeralds assistant.”

Notharam went silent; he didn’t know what he could say. Mistrunner didn’t seem to want to take up the subject again, so instead she asked him.
“Notharam, the walls told me that you knew something about Celestia, what was that?”

Notharam looked at Mistrunner.
“Do you really want to know? I can nearly promise you that it would be better for you not to know.”

Mistrunner nodded sharply.
“I want to know Notharam. If it has anything to do with this do I want to know it.”

Notharam smiled weakly.
“Well, I will not keep the information from you. Celestia knows about all this and she doesn’t do a thing about it. The only thing she does is to read down who have been sacrificed here. I don’t know why; neither do I want to know actually. The fact that she knows about it and doesn’t do anything is enough to make my blood boil.”

Mistrunner looked taken aback.
“She… knows? She knows and doesn’t do a thing?”

Notharam could only nod.
Mistrunner hurled around, trotted towards the lantern.
“We have stayed in one place for too long Notharam. You have answered my questions and I believe in you as I hope you believe in me. It is time for us to get going.”
She took the lantern between her teeth and started to trot.

Notharam knew that Mistrunner spoke the truth; they had stayed here for way too long. He looked at the corpse of the filly on the floor. Slowly he whispered to himself.
“I swear on everything I am and on my soul that I will avenge you Zinky; I will kill that maniac.”
The light had started to fade.

He heard a scream; a scream that quickly was ended and replaced with a gurgling sound. He whirled around towards the place were Mistrunner had disappeared. His eyes took in every detail in a few seconds. Mistrunner lay on the floor, her throat slit open and the stone floor below her wet by the life-giving liquid that emerged from the wound. Her eyes did slowly lose their steadiness before him; the cold veil of death slowly draping over her eyes.

And above Mistrunner stood another pony; an unicorn mare. Her coat was blacker than night and her mane was the same color as snow in the winter. And beneath the mane was a pair of eyes the deep blue color of a cold winter moon; those eyes. A single wing emerged from her body. But this was not what made Notharam realize who the mare in front of him was; who the maniac was. The thing that made Notharam realize who it was he had in front of him was the cutie mark on her flank.

“You.” He called out.

“Yes Notharam, me. It have been a long times since I last saw you, my dear friend.” The mare answered with the ice cold voice.

And the clock chimed.