//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Fictional // by Meteorite Shower //------------------------------// It was a house. A brick wall surrounded the property, beige as the house itself.  A concrete driveway ran parallel to the entrance gate, leading up to an automatic garage door.  A faint smell of petroleum wafted off the ground in the air. Yeah, this was her home. Standing at the end of the driveway, Meteorite arched an eyebrow in confusion as she glanced about her surroundings and down both stretches of the road.  What was she doing out here?  Was she out here to get the mail?  No… the mailbox was by the gate not down here so… Shaking her head, Meteorite trotted back up the driveway.  A quick glance at the mailbox.  Nope, nothing there so…  Huh. Getting up on her hind legs, Meteorite stuck her tongue out as she poked a hoof through the gaps of the gate and blindly fiddled with the locking mechanism.  Seconds later the gate swung open and Meteorite dropped back down to all fours to walk on through to the front door. Reaching up to the doorknob, Meteorite paused as she stared at her hoof, feeling confused for some reason.  She glanced back at the gate, slowly swinging itself shut, but… There was nothing odd about that, right? Shaking the feeling off, she pushed the front door open and stepped inside.  The linoleum flooring felt weirdly slick under her hooves but… it… must've always had?  Probably.  She couldn't exactly remember. The house was very narrowly built, with the entryway and the adjoining hallway junction at the end being narrow enough for mostly one person, certainly not wide enough for a pony to comfortably turn about in.  Maybe that's why she was feeling an odd sense of dread about this place. She glanced down the left, and most of the hallway.  In the next room over was the games room, where her consoles were, along with the family computer.  Well.  It was just her and her mother; was that enough for it to be considered a 'family' computer?  She'd never really considered the term before. Further down past the games room was her mother's bedroom and her own bedroom past that, round the corner.  She felt a wistful longing that she couldn't exactly pin down why. To her right came the sounds of pots and running water.  Perking up, she cantered over to the right until she reached the open living-slash-kitchen area.  Admittedly, the kitchen didn't take up much space, but it was enough for her mother.  …She supposed.  She'd never really asked… Regardless, in the equally narrow kitchen stood a tall woman with long brown hair, dressed in a faded blue blouse and a dark brown skirt with a white flowery pattern.  Meteorite smiled inwardly as she was comforted by the woman's presence. "Hi mum," Meteorite waved casually. Though busy with a large pot on the stove, her mother turned to face her, smiling lightly. "Hi sweetheart, did you need something?" "No," Meteorite remarked, smiling lopsidedly.  "Just saying hi.  What's for dinner?" "I'm afraid it's casserole." Meteorite grimaced as she stuck out her tongue in disgust.  "Urgh, really?!  Does it have to be?!" "Now I know you don't like it," her mother said sternly, "but sometimes you're going to have to have it." "But muuum," Meteorite whined, "you know I don't like my food touching each other." "It all goes down the same pipe." "But muuuuuuu-" "That's enough," her mother snapped, shooting her a glare.  "You're having casserole, or nothing, understand?" Meteorite hung her head, pouting.  "Yes mum," she mumbled under her breath. "Good," her mother acknowledged, calming back down.  "It won't be ready for a while though." "Mm'kay…" Meteorite muttered, still pouting.  She pawed at the floor with a hoof a few times, before stopping to lift her hoof up to stare at it.  There was… something off about this scenario, and it took her a few moments to figure out what exactly. "Mum?" she called cautiously. "Yes, what is it?" her mother responded, still focusing on preparing dinner. "I… have to tell you something.  I'm a pony." Her mother glanced her way, a wry look on her face.  Sighing lightly, she wiped her hands with a nearby teatowel and walked over to Meteorite, crouching down to her level.  Gently, she cupped her hand around Meteorite's cheek, to which Meteorite leaned into, feeling an odd sensation of longing as she did so. "Yes, I can see that," her mother softly told her. "You're not mad?" Meteorite asked with a hint of concern.  Her mother sighed again, but showed no sign of being upset. "I'm not happy about this, but what's important is that you're safe.  That's the most important thing to me, you know that."  Meteorite smiled goofily as her mother then moved to ruffle her mane slightly.  "Now go on, I'll let you know when dinner's ready." "Okay!" Meteorite happily agreed, feeling relieved.  Without a second thought, she turned about and cantered down the hallway, and around the corner to her bedroom. It wasn't a large room, but it was enough for her.  Though the bed in the middle of the room took her aback slightly, feeling larger than she remembered.  She frowned at the feeling of being smaller, until she realised duh, she was smaller!  She was a pony now, after all! Happy that she sorted that out, Meteorite leapt up onto the bed, making the springs within creak in the process.  Trying to find her footing, she noted a sleepy grey tabby cat peering at her, having just been woken up.  Meteorite gasped with delight. "Sam!" she exclaimed happily, clumsily stepping over to pet the cat on the head, lulling him back to sleep.  "Oh, I've missed you Sammy boy…"  She was slightly confused by her own words.  'Missed him'?  She saw him everyday, didn't she?  What an odd thing to say… Shaking off the unsettling feeling that was growing within, she turned to the corner of her room, where her face brightened.  Walking away from Sam and leaning over the edge of her bed, she swiped at the small entertainment stand that was there until she hit the power button to her old Dreamcast. (old?  Current, surely)  As the CRT TV sparked to life, Meteorite grabbed the controller between her hooves, ready to play. As the startup sound played through her ears, she glanced down at the controller nestled between her hooves.  Something… was wrong here.  How… was she going to play?  It felt fine all the previous times she played, but this time felt weird.  It was like…  like… It was like the controller wasn't even designed to be played with hooves. Tch, Meteorite scoffed, tossing the controller aside.  Typical Sega.  She flopped back on her bed, lying next to Sam.  Looking his way, a mischievous grin formed on her face as she gave him a playful meow. Stirring from his sleep again, Sam blurrily watched as Meteorite got to a sitting position before him and playfully flicked her tail, catching his attention.  He stared at it for a short while before making a lazy attempt to swat the tip with a paw.  Meteorite giggled. "Oh, Sam…  You silly cat," she warmly teased.  "I wish you were still around…" She frowned again, not knowing why she just said that.  She had meant it, obviously, but… it didn't make any sense.  She furrowed her brow in thought as she continued to absently play with Sam, who was now faced with the decision to attack either the tail, the hoof stroking his head, or go back to sleep. "Oh wait, of course, duh!" Meteorite sharply cried, lightly smacking her head with a hoof.  "I had to give you up because I couldn't look after you by myself!" Wait no, that didn't make any sense either.  By herself?  What did she mean by that?  She was always with her mother, so that didn't- She stopped petting Sam as a chill ran down her spine.  The skies outside the window darkened to a deep crimson, seeping into the room to bath everything in red.  She fearfully turned to the doorway of her room, now frightfully aware of how suddenly silent the house was. "M-Mum?" she called out, praying for a response.  When none came, she called again more frantically, and without waiting this time, leapt to the floor out into the hall.  Her hooves slipping on the floor caused her to crash into the wall as she rounded the corner, but refusing to slow down she picked herself up again and dashed down the hallway and stopped at the kitchen. The now fully barren kitchen.  Her panicked eyes swept across the empty living room as well. "MUM?!" she cried out, not knowing where to go, "MUM, WHERE ARE YOU?!" She charged back down the hallway, not even bothering to slow down as she ran head first into the closed door of her mother's bedroom, cracking it wide open as she burst inside. It was empty as well, save for the four indents in the carpet where her mother's bed once stood. "N-No…" Meteorite cried, backing away.  "No… M-Mum…  Mum, where-" The rest of the house was empty as well.  The games room, her room, Sam was now gone too, all of it - empty, except for the scared pony feeling lost within. She found herself in the garage, and to no surprise her mother's car was gone as well.  Weirdly though, the garage door was raised now; something she didn't register as hearing open earlier.  In a daze, she wandered outside, finding herself back where she found herself earlier.  Shielding her eyes with a hoof, she timidly looked at the red sky, shirking away from its imposing shade. She… didn't know what to do now. She was all alone. She had never been alone before; her mother was always there for her.  Protecting her.  Fighting the world for her. She was lost.  Lost in a world she wasn't prepared at all to face. Paralysed by the thought of having to be on her own, Meteorite hadn't noticed she had blindly wandered out in the middle of the street, only being violently alerted by the sudden honking and the roaring engine of a car bearing down on her. She… couldn't move.  She could only stare wide-eyed at her impending death, quite literally caught like a deer in headlights.  Moments away from being run over, she flinched. The impact never came however, and instead Meteorite only felt wind blow by as something else came wooshing past her from the other direction.  Cautiously opening one eye, she saw that the car was gone, replaced by a burst of sparkles, some of which ended up flitting about and dotting her mane.  More predominantly however, stood in-between her and where the car had been was a very tall four-legged dark figure, garbed heavily in a hooded cloak, and facing away from her. Her panic heightened, Meteorite could only watch as the being slowly but deliberately turned their head to face her, staring at her from the dark abyss of the hood with naught but sharp glowing yellow eyes. That was the final straw for Meteorite and, unable to take the stress of everything that just happened, she swayed slightly before keeling over, fainting on the spot. "...Oh.  Oh dear," the figure remarked with a tinge of regret in her voice.  "Perhaps the cloak is overdoing it a little." Cautiously, she poked at the limp body of Meteorite with a dark blue hoof.  "Hm, a Deep Sleep.  She is in for a long rest, it would appear." With the flare of magic from under her hood, a blanket and pillow materialized around the sleeping form of Meteorite, comforting her. "I am sorry I was not here sooner, little one," the figure explained softly, gently petting Meteorite's mane.  "This is a little outside our… 'normal hours'." Taking a moment of solace, she cast a glance at the surroundings.  "Such a strange and nightmarish dreamscape…" she muttered to herself.  With a flick of her horn, the surrounding area became a beautiful blue sky, with birds chirping as they flew past.  Meteorite was still nestled in her deep sleep, but now on a cloud.  She turned over in her sleep, drawing the blanket tightly around her.   "Perhaps this is more to your liking?"  The figure said slyly, now flapping her big blue wings to stay aloft.  There was no answer, obviously, but she was satisfied in a job well done. "Sleep well, my little pony," she said softly, fading from sight.  Only her cloak remained, dropped unceremoniously onto a cloud below. Meteorite slowly came to. She blurrily sat up in her bed, smacking her lips, still processing the fact that she was awake.  She still felt unwell, but… kinda better?  She guessed she really needed that sleep, but noticed it was still dark, and was prepared to snuggle back down under her covers to sleep some more. Wait… wasn't she on the floor before? Confused, she frustratedly tried to speed up the process of her eyes adjusting to the dark when she became aware of something lying at the foot of her bed.  Gripped slightly by panic and fear of the unknown, she scooted herself up slightly while trying to focus only on the heavy lump hanging off her bed. Only then, through the darkness, did she recognise a certain manestyle and colour combo. "Flo?" Meteorite whispered harshly, not exactly knowing what time it was.  She gave Flo a little nudge with a hind leg under the covers, calling her name again. "Mmm?" Flo groaned, stirring as she slowly pushed herself up and away from the bed.  Blinking, she slowly looked towards Meteorite before her eyes went wide with recognition. "Meteorite!" she shrilled, before glancing about and realizing she should probably be quieter.  "Meteorite, are you okay?!" "Uh… yeah, I'm fine?" Meteorite responded unsurely.  "I mean, I'm still blurgh, but yeah, otherwise yeah." Flo shook her head, standing up on all fours.  "Meteorite, you were on the floor!  What happened?!  Did you hit your head?  Are you hurt?" "Oh that.  No, I…" Meteorite hesitated, feeling shameful about her actions.  "I… might've dropped the cream you gave me under the dresser and I couldn't get it?"  She guiltily tapped her hooves together.  "I may have… just decided to lay there and went to sleep." Flo eyed Meteorite with a mixture of confusion and suspicion.  However, after lighting the bedside lantern and peering down under the dresser, there the tube was.  Reaching in, Flo managed to retrieve the tube after a few seconds, putting it on top of the dresser. "Okay but…" Flo began, still not entirely buying the explanation, "we couldn't wake you up.  Not even after I got the boys to lift you back into your bed." Okay, well, that explains how I got back into bed…  "I dunno what to tell ya.  I've always been a heavy sleeper," Meteorite shrugged, before smiling faintly at a memory.  "To be honest, Mum used to get so mad with me sometimes because she'd be literally shaking me, trying to wake me up in the morning and apparently I just refused to." Flo sat down, her shoulders sagging with relief.  "So, you're… fine, then?  You… just… decided to fall asleep on the floor?" "Yeah, sorry.  Didn't mean to worry ya…" The room fell silent, save for the flickering flame of the lantern.  However, Meteorite's train of thought soon drifted as snippets of her dream surfaced in her mind. "You sure you're okay?" Meteorite shook out of her contemplation as she glanced at Flo.  "Yeah!  Yeah, yep.  Why'd you ask?" Flo was looking at her doubtfully.  "You seem a bit… dazed." Meteorite shook her head.  "Nah, I was just…"  She hesitated, for once unsure about dismissively hiding away her troubles.  Her eyes fell upon the spot on her bed where Flo had apparently fallen asleep at.  Had she… been watching over me?  In case I was hurt?  Her gaze drifted to the floor where she had been, and she swallowed. "I had a dream…" she began softly, still looking down.  "About my mum." "That must've been nice," Flo said warmly.  However, when Meteorite didn't respond right away Flo slowly began to suspect that she may have regrettably had said the wrong thing. "Yeah, it was…" Meteorite finally responded, almost breathlessly.  She frowned as she remembered more of the dream.  "At least, the beginning was." "Did… something happen?"  Flo asked cautiously. More silence as Meteorite considered her answer.  She wasn't sure which avenue to go down, either the dream itself or what the dream was so forcefully representing.  She glanced at Flo's troubled face, unsure whether to breach the subject with her or not.  She really did look concerned though… "My mother's… gone," Meteorite reluctantly admitted, electing a sharp intake of breath from Flo.  Admittedly, this did not help the serious tone Meteorite was trying to maintain, and had to fight back the small smile at how cute Flo sounded just now. "It's fine," Meteorite continued, pushing forward.  "She… passed on several years ago.  So, y'know.  I'm over i- well no I'm not," she forcefully interrupted herself, annoyed with her choice of words.  "I doubt I'll ever be, but y'know.  I can't keep mourning, so yeah." Flo's ears flopped slightly.  "It's okay to be sad sometimes." Meteorite stared at her wryly.  Really?  You're telling me that?  "Yeah, I know.  I just…" she lightly rubbed her hooves together, thinking.  "I just miss her, is all." Flo nodded with a sad smile.  Inching closer, she put a hoof on Meteorite's bed, near where she was.  "What was she like?" she asked softly. "Kind, loving, ferociously protective of me; she'd always put me first before everything else…" Meteorite said wistfully, losing herself in her memories, though her smile waned afterwards.  "...I wish I gave her the same kind of respect in return…" "What do you mean?" Meteorite turned her head to face Flo, though she hung it shamefully.  "I… kinda took her for granted.  Like, I loved her, but I just… never once, not once, considered anything she did for me.  Not until it was too late, of course…" she muttered.  "I was a stupid selfish brat." "Hey come on," Flo said soothingly, patting Meteorite through the covers.  "You're being too hard on yourself.  Everypony's has been a little terror as a foal as some point."  When Meteorite gave her an unamused stare, she doubled down.  "I'm serious, Meteorite!  You can't blame a filly for not thinking like a grown mare!  And I'm sure your mother knew you loved her dearly, right?" "Yeah…" Meteorite reluctantly admitted.  "I just wish I had more than just memories of her…" Flo considered this for a moment.  "What about your father?" "What about him?" Meteorite said snippily on instinct, before being aghast at herself.  "Oh, I'm sorry Flo!  I didn't mean to snap at you, I mean, it wasn't even at you, just…!"  Staring into Flo's worried eyes, Meteorite cleared her throat, embarrassed.  "Look, my father…  didn't exactly want to be… part of the family, so he… left." Flo's eyes widened with equal parts confusion and fear as she stared at Meteorite.  "What?" she whispered, barely audible.  "Bu-  But how can-  how can somepony do that?" Oh god, I've broken Flo.  That's what, two for two on breaking a pony's mind now?  Way to go, me.  Wanna try breaking Twilight's mind next, go for that double score? "Flo," Meteorite said assertively.  "Look, I know, it's unthinkable. But… sometimes it happens…  Believe me, it happens." Flo nodded numbly as she stared sadly at Meteorite.  Meteorite noted the look and frowned, shaking her head. "No, no no, don't do that.  Don't feel sorry for me because I didn't have a dad." Flo's eyes misted over with the beginnings of tears.  "But… that means you don't have any parents…" …yes, I kinda pieced that together myself, Flo. "It's fine, Flo.  I'm… used to it," Meteorite told her, not quite believing herself.  Even so, Flo regarded her for a few sombre moments, and Meteorite sighed in annoyance. "Flo, please.  Don't pity me, okay?"  Don't make me regret opening up to you. Flo looked down, upset.  "But… I feel like… I should help… somehow, but I don't know how." That's because there's nothing you can do. "You don't have to do anythi-"  Meteorite paused as something off to the side caught her eye.  "Actually…" she began with a sly smile, "what you could do, is open that tube for me?  Had a heck of a time trying to open it earlier." Flo blinked slowly as she turned to the dresser and the tube of cream she retrieved earlier.  "Oh… sure," she said numbly, picking it up.  Meteorite watched as she somehow effortlessly peeled off the seal.  Frustrations to work out later, though. "One more thing," she continued, waiting until she had Flo's attention before offering a warm smile.  "You can help just by being my friend.  You've… been doing great at that so far." A shaky but sure smile crossed Flo's face, accompanied by a slight blush.  "S-Sure, I… hee, think I can do that." "And uh…" Meteorite continued, still feeling a little ashamed by her past, "I'll be your friend too." Flo beamed happily.  "Don't be silly, Meteorite.  You already are." Later that night, as Flo went back to her own bed to sleep, Meteorite was still awake, thankfully not due to the itchiness as it had finally been soothed by the application of the cream, but rather still thinking about the conversation she and Flo had.  Turning over to her side, she frowned to herself. I… don't like how all that came out, if I'm perfectly honest.  It just sounded all a little… I'unno.  'Tragic-like', I guess?  I mean, it's not, it's just how life has been.  It's just… hasn't been as great as others.  But so what?  Everyone has some troubles in their past, right?  Her brow furrowed as her thoughts turned to her other self.  And you… You better not be trying to pass that off as a tragic backstory!  Because it fucking isn't!  I'm not going to let you pretend I have one!  I'm not that fucking sort of character! She snorted in a huff, indignation still bubbling within. Well, at least I've gotten the energy to be snarky again.  That's something. The next few days passed without further incident, annoyingly so, as Meteorite began to feel much better and more like her usual self on the evening of their weekly day off.  Which, of course, led to Steel instructing her that she ought to be up early the following morning, as she had had quite the number of days off work already. Which Meteorite knew was the responsible thing to do, but come on. Still, she had been cooped up inside for almost a week and was running out of reading material, including Daring Do, so she was kinda eager to get back outside.  Which was exactly where she was now, sitting on the stone step just outside the front door, looking at the evening sky.  It was a multitude of shades in orange, however bleeding heavily into the deeper shades. Red sky… Her mind flittered back to the nightmare she had earlier that week, most details already faded from her memory, but the reddening sky burned in her mind. In any other case, it would've just been written off as a narrative cue, a signal that the dream was turning into something darker.  But Meteorite couldn't shake off the horrible feeling she had every time she thought about it. You… wouldn't have- she thought hesitantly.  You wouldn't… use Mum's coma for a plot contrivance, would you? Due to an unfortunate car accident, her mother had been in a coma for several months.  And several weeks after she had awakened from it, she confessed that her dream within the coma hadn't been pleasant at all.  With a predominant feature being… the red sky. Meteorite swallowed, her mouth still feeling dry. …n-no, I…  I can't believe that.  You wouldn't disrespect her like that.  I know you, you'd never.  I know we still feel bad about the way we were as a kid, so you'd… Meteorite shook her head forcefully, getting rid of her bad thoughts. Okay.  I don't think I can blame you for that.  It must've been my own fucked up head putting that in, so… grats, you're off the hook on this one, I guess. Sighing, she morosely nudged a pebble about with her hoof.  After a while, her mood lifted slightly. I did like the dream I had afterwards though.  Y'know, the one where I was actually flying about the sky?  Dunno if you had a hand in that, but if so, more dreams like that please.  That was actually… pretty nice, for once. She turned her attention back to the skies, and for a few moments, wondered if she'd ever take flight.  She snuffled at the thought, a sadness growing about her. Look at me, acting like I'm actually a real pegasus… She sighed at the abrasive remark and closed her eyes for a while, trying to clear her mind of everything that was bringing her down.  Once she felt her head free of intrusive thoughts, she reopened her eyes and simply gazed at the reddening horizon. "Hmph, shepherd's delight," Meteorite muttered after a while. "Who's delighted?" Meteorite craned her head backwards and out of the corner of her eye spotted Flo in the entranceway, apparently passing by. "Oh, I was just quoting, y'know, that shepherd's delight thing." Flo furrowed her brow as she turned and approached.  "What thing?" Meteorite hesitated briefly.  "You… don't know it?" she asked, to which Flo shook her head.  Meteorite bit her lip as she weighed her options, before deciding it was probably okay mentioning it. "There's… like, a very old saying.  Full thing goes, 'Red sky at night, shepherd's delight.  Red sky at morning, shepherd's warning.'" "Hm," Flo mused for a while as she sat down next to Meteorite, now looking at the sky herself.  Eventually she spoke up again.  "So… what does that mean, with the delight and warning?" Meteorite opened her mouth to respond, but found herself at a loss.  "I… huh.  I actually don't know, to be honest.  It… was just something I heard growing up, but I… never actually looked into what it meant." "Oh," Flo muttered disappointedly.  Meteorite felt bad for not being able to fully explain, but moved on to be further troubled by the slow realisation that she wouldn't be able to double-check or research anything she knew from her prior life.  It left a bitter taste in her mouth. "What do you think it means?" "Hm?" Meteorite uttered as she snapped out of her slump, and glanced at Flo who was still looking at the horizon.  Flo turned to look at her with a faint smile. "Well, if you don't know, what do you think it means?" Meteorite it some consideration while hemming and hawing.  "Uh, I think i-it… uh… I'unno, it means…  I'unno," she eventually got out before shrugging, defeated. "Well, I think it means," Flo said simply, turning back to the darkening sky.  "'Rest easy tonight, and don't worry about tomorrow.'" "That does make sense," Meteorite conceded.  "What about the warning part?" Flo looked back at her, faintly giggling.  "Haven't figured that out yet." Meteorite found herself getting caught up in her friend's jubilant energy and smiled back.  "Maybe it means, 'oh no, panic'." Flo rolled her eyes, though showed no annoyance.  "I doubt it.  Anyway, it's getting dark; dinner will be ready soon," she said, getting to her hooves. Meteorite nodded, getting up as well.  As Flo headed back inside, Meteorite paused to give one last poignant glance at the sky.