//------------------------------// // Petals Fall // Story: Mortem Obire // by The Ancestor //------------------------------// "And that's why I'll be taking the rest of the week off!" Pipp chirped with a small smile, her eyes focused phone's display, watching her own image being broadcasted to thousands of ponies. "But don't you worry Pippsqueaks, after my week-long spa de-stress vacation, I'll be back with more quality content for all of you!" Her smile grew ever wider as she prepared to finish her nightly stream. Her eyes scanned over the blurry chat, messages moving faster than she could read them, leaving her with disjointed snippets of sentenses that were nigh impossible to stitch together. Still, the words that did reach her through the lightning-fast typing of thousands of hooves, once again managed to soothe her. "Thanks for all of your kind words, Pippsqueaks, but I'm afraid it's tiome for me to go. Stay dazzling!" She said, fixing her mane and giving her viewers a coy smile before ending her stream. Pipp let out a ragged breath of relief, her expression changing faster than the chat. The pegasus flopped unceremoniously on the bed, letting her phone land on the pillow beside her, its display illuminating the ceiling of her room. She closed her eyes, the ever-present exhaustion that's been with her for the past week making itself known once again. It never really went away, only subduing somewhat when she engaged with her followers, which she enjoyed doing, thankfully. Still, even the most steadfast of ponies could only go so long on nightly streams and sub-par sleep during daytime, all the while having to pretty herself up in the evenings. Pipp sighed as the chilly air caressed her face, looking longingly at the half-opened window of her room. The stars were really beautiful that night, nary a light obscured by a cloud, a bright, full moon the crowning jewel on the black canvas. Nights like these tempted her to take Zipp's advice and stick to her flight workout routine, instead of her random, impulse-driven visits to the training grounds. Maybe tomorrow was the day? She squinted at her phone's clock and sighed. Maybe today was the day? She new Zipp would never turn her down, especially when she was asking for help, and yet, for some unfathomable reason, she was scared. Scared that she wasn't going to make it, that she's never going to learn how to fly, that she's going to disappoint everypony. The training strings hanging from her ceiling mocked her silently. She rubbed her forehead, her chest rising wearily. This wasn't going the way she wanted it to, that was sure. Perhaps a shower could help? The thought of warm watter running down her mane raised her spirits, prompting the mare to crawl off her bed, heading into the bathroom for some much needed relaxation. Her clip-clops reverberated off the tile floor of her private bathroom, the sound of water hitting the bathtub replacing it once Pipp pulled the curtain aside. The hot watter felt nice against her mane, trickling down her neck and body, and pooling around her hooves before disappearing down the drain. She grabbed a bottle of flower scented shampoo and pour a hoofful ont her mane, her eyes closed as she did so on an autopilot. She massaged the liquid into her scalp, feeling it bubble in her hooves, the smell of a flower meadow filling her nostrils as she took a deep breath. Her smile fell as her hooves hit the bottom of the bathtub, the steaming hot water relaxing her body, not mind. Pipp squeezed her eyes as hard as she could, sitting down and rubbing the shampoo into her mane, desperately trying to get rid of the dirty feeling that's been plaguing her for the past week. She'd given up on trying to wash it off four days ago, when even a twelve-hour bathtub session proved useless in alleviating her problem. She thought about asking ponies around her for help, of course, but each time she was about to appoach somepony for assistance, and thought about turning her thoughts into sentences, her worries seemed so silly and unimportant, nevermind foalish, she wavered in her approach in sheer embarrasment. What could she, a mare born into royalty, a mare who had everything given to her on a silver platter, know about adversity? What would a maid or a guard think about her when she'd come to cry into their shoulder about her insignificant little troubles? She could always got to mom or Zipp, of course... But is that any better? Queen Haven's been awfully busy, what with all the extra ponypower she had to divert towards the expedition and the archiving effort, she'd certainly best her time elsewhere than on comforting an adult, And ZIpp... She's already troubled her enough, she's got more imporant stuff than foalsitting a grown-up mare. She sighed, washing off the shampoo, her efforts to clean up once again ending up useless. Still, the sound and feel of water all around her was soothing enough to lull her into a temporary trance. The blissful condition did not last, however, as the comforting position let her mind wander, something she hoped to avoid ever since her trip to the castle. Her spine tingled as her thoughts went somewhere she didn't want them to, but as is common knowledge, some trains of thought are impossible to stop. Her minds eye painted eerie pictures of an empy dark castle, once full of life and joy, now epty and abandoned, hollow of life and purpose. Its immense library no doubt full of knowledge, but what good did that knowledge do to its previous inhabitants? Not much, judging by the journal Sunny read. Her peronal experience wasn't much better, thruth be told. Her memories were blurry after their gathering in the library, but she distictly remembers feeling... scared. The last clear memory in her mind was asking Zipp to escort her to the bathroom, but after that? Every attempt at fetching a concrete memory out of her mind felt like trying to grab a polished marble out of a sea of silly putty. She still had some recollection of the events, mainly consisting of feeling of utter dread and helplessness, but she couldn't put her hoof on what exactly caused these feelings. Her sister was less than helping in resolving the mystery, saying that Pipp "screamed bloody murder" before fainting. A shiver went down her spine, as she felt the back of her head tingle and grow heavy, an uncomfortable feeling of being watched making itself known. Her breath hitched as she regained herself after a momentary slip of composure, her thoughts returning to the problem at hoof, mainly to the fact that she's been standing in her bathtub for what felt like half an hour, and her legs were getting sore. She carefully pulled the curtain aside, breathing a sigh of relief once she was assured the coast was clear. Turning the faucet and throwing a towel onto her mane, drying it to the best of her abilities. A familiar sound of notification lured her into the bedroom, her attention centered ont the brightly lit screen of her phone. Pipp squinted at the bright light, distinguishing a few lines of text repeating over and over, filling the entire chatbox. copEK@:see you Pipp quirked an eyebrow, her eyes darting to her own visage, reflected on the screen through her phone's camera. "Oh! Did I forget to turn the stream off?" She wondered aloud, looking quizzaly at the chat, the stream's single viewer typing away. copEK@:oh copEK@:ur back copEK@:finally copEK@:i've been trying to tell you for like half an hour "Really? I could've sworn I turned it off before-" Pipp caught herself before she let slip something a tad too personal, coughing into her hoof. "Nevermind, thanks for pointing it out!" She said, offering her concerned viewer a small smile before clicking on the 'end stream' pop-up. She furrowed her brow as she tapped the screen continuously, to no avail. copEK@:uh copEK@:u alright? Pipp looked at herself as she read the comment, noticing her tongue sticking out a little from exertion. A faint blush creeped onto her cheeks as she regained her composure, clearing her throat. "It's nothing, copE, I'm just having troubles with ending the stream, is all." copEK@:really? "Yeah, the button doesn't work, looks like." She said with a huff, an irritated expression on her face. copEK@:yeah, the platform's been a little wonky this past week copEK@:hey copEK@:i think i can help you end it copEK@:if you want me to, i mean "That'd be much appreciated." Pipp said with a tired smile, the headache she's been experienceing beginning to rear its ugly head again. copEK@:ok copEK@:have you tried turning ur phone off? "Oh." Pipp mouthed, struggling not to facehoof at her own stupidity. Even a foal could guess that, and yet here she is, embarrasing herself in front of everypony! Well, one pony, so at least it wasn't a city-wide shame, for what it was worth. Pipp held the button on the side of her phone, expecting to see a familiar 'turn off?' pop-up, but after a few minutes of strenuous application of pressure, nothing happened. The mare clicked the button a number of times in quick succession, recieving no responce from the device. "That's weird..." She murmured, looking at her phone in concern. "It didn't even go into sleep mode..." copEK@:lol copEK@:can't even turn off the phone right copEK@:some royalty you are Pipp huffed indignantly, frowning before opening her mouth to speak. "Hey, who do you think-" Her tirade turned out to be dead on arrival, as a loud thwack agaist her window shcked her enough to yelp, jumping a little and falling onto the bed. Her heart raced a mile a minute as she looked at the window wide-eyed, a shadowy limb tapping on the glassy surface. Hooves shaking, the mare turned on her phone's flashlight, turning it to illuminate the darkness outside. A sigh of relief escaped her weary lips as an old dry branch came into view, a few small leaves sprouting from its tip. Pipp turned to look at the chat, a noise notification grabbing her attention. copEK@:are you alright? copEK@:you look like you've seen a ghost. "I was just-" She sighed, shaking her head. "It's nothing. Now, if you don't know how to help, I'm just going to put the phone camera-down under my pillow, and go to sleep." She huffed, slowly lowering her phone onto the bed, yet a fast-paced series of notifications urged her to reconsider. copEK@:wait copEK@:no copEK@:don't do it copEK@:i can help you end it copEK@:have you tried searching for answers on the net? "I-" She began, trailing off as she thought hard about it. Why didn't she do it earlier? She opened another tab in her browser, tapping something along the lines of 'can't end stream help' into the search engine. Tapping search resulted in confusion, as a small circle went round and round, seconds stretching into minutes before it returned a 'no connection' error. "What the..." Pipp mumbled, trying again and getting similar results. copEK@:What's wrong? copEK@:Can't find anything online? Before Pipp could open her mouth to answer, another message came through. copEK@:Fine, I'll send you a link. copEK@: [HYPERLINK BLOCKED] copEK@:Right, can't do that here. copEK@:But I can do this copEK@: i copEK@: m copEK@: g copEK@: u copEK@: r copEK@: . copEK@: c copEK@: o copEK@: m copEK@: / copEK@: x copEK@: s copEK@: J copEK@: u copEK@: o copEK@: k copEK@: b copEK@: Try this one. Its your only way out. Pipp's attempts to follow her viewer's advice were met with little to no success, the same 'no connection' error rearing its ugly head once again. "Wait..." No connection? copEK@:No connection, huh? copEK@:Alright, let's try this the old way. copEK@:This might take some time. copEK@:But this'll work, I guarantee it. A series of fast-paced knocks came from the door. knock knock knock knock knock Pipp gasped at the sudden noise invading the utter silence of the room, her eyes glued to the wooden barrier between her and the rest of the world. "Pipp, are you alright?" The sound of Zipp's voice cut through the suffocating stillnes of the bedroom, a ray of hope in Pipp's dimly lit existence. The pegasus rushed to the closed door, a wide smile on her face. "Zipp, it's you!" She all but yelled, her hooves reaching for the doorknob. "Come in, you won't believe what's been going on!" "Okay then, opEn the door." Pipp's hoof froze mere inches away from the doorknob, a sinking feeling in her stomach as she backpedalled away from the door. Something was wrong with her sister's voice, like somepony cut up the words she was saying and then spliced the individual letters to make new ones. A shudder rocked Pipp's body as she heard the voice once more. "Pipp, opEn the door. I need to get in. "W-what?" Pipp mumbled, her rump hitting the floor as she sat there, dumbfounded. "W-what is going on?" She looked at her phone, her lone viewer still typing. "Pipp." The voice had the same quality as before, the word sounding like it was ripped out from another sentence. "Pi-i-i-i-pp." knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock "Go away!" Pipp yelled, tears welling up in her eyes. knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock Pipp's phone buzzed as a new message appeared in her chat, the mare turning sharply to look for any help her sole viewer could provide, the knocking remaining a persistent background noise. copEK@: Pipp could hear her own heartbeat in her ears, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face as she looked at the picture. "W-why would you send me this? How can you send me this?" copEK@::) Pipp felt her blood run cold when a sickeningly jolly laugh came from behind the door, mocking in its stark contrast to Pipp's situation. "Who are you?!" She exclaimed, her gaze shifting from the door to her phone, her eyes fixated on the latter as her sole viewer began typing. copEK@: I am the product of your choices. The sole observer of your end. Pipp yelped in fear as she heard a whisper from behind her door, yet she heard every word as clearly as if the speaker was next to her ear, mirroring the text on her phone. Her gaze affixed to the door, her entire body shaking, Pipp listed to every word coming from the other side. "I-I don't understand..." She mumbled to herself, tears welling up in her eyes as anxiety weighed on her like a mountain. copEK@:You never understood. And how could you? Born to a life of self-indulgence, your fate was sealed at the moment of your conception. "G-go away..." Pipp pleaded, her voice barely above the whisper. copEK@:You've built your life upon the foundation of lies, each part of yourself artificial. Vanity was your guide, deception was your ally. "N-no! You're wrong!' Pipp yelled, tears staining her fur as her faith in her own rebbutal waivered. copEK@:Years upon years of lies, thousands under your spell. What has this life lead you to? "S-stop... Please..." Pipp begged, weeping into her pillow. copEK@:A shepherd without its flock. Alone. Abandoned. Without a purpose. "P-please, make it stop..." Pipp croaked between sobs. copEK@: You were given a way out. A choice. The first choice of your life. The last choice. The only choice. Pipp heard a noise of something stretching next to her, but remained motionless. copEK@: Open your eyes. Pipp obeyed, her eyes red and puffy as she turned to the source of the noise she heard earlier, seconds stretching into centuries. Shrouded in darkness, only the barest silhouette of a knot was visible, but for Pipp that was enough.