Chapter three: Rest and Recovery... Sorta.
Talisman woke up screaming, the fateful words screamed at him from the half decayed pony head reverberating evilly within his mind and the gruesome sight burned into his skull. He panted heavily and fitfully until he was marginally calm and looked around. The birds that had been watching him were starting to come back now and his brows knitted at the unfamiliar room he was in, let alone the bed. It appeared he was in a cottage of some sort. The room was relatively small, with the majority of the space taken up by two beds. The one he was on was made up of slender beams intricately carved with beautiful roses and birds. The other was much plainer and clearly made to withstand much more weight than that which he rested upon. It was stockier and had no such carvings upon it and was made of a much darker wood than his current resting place.
His observations were interrupted by a rumble from his stomach and he suddenly smelled something that made his mouth water in anticipation. His eyes fell upon a bowl of soup sitting at the bedside. It was still steaming slightly, so it was still at least warm. He fell upon it like a jackal fell upon a half eaten carcass and devoured it, licking his lips afterwards. It was brilliant, a pumpkin soup if he wasn’t mistaken, not that it was easy to mistake pumpkin for something else. Ever. Looking up, he looked for a long moment out to the blue sky. Probably late morning, maybe early afternoon by reckoning.
Shivering at the realisation he’d slept the day through, Talisman made his way out of the room. The house he was in, he noted, wasn’t especially large, even for a two story home. He descended the stair cautiously, afraid that his still unsteady legs would fail him. when he reached the doorway after a considerable amount of trouble, he stumbled through it, his legs suddenly prepared to fail him completely. He came face to face with the young yellow Pegasus he’d identified earlier as Fluttershy. Or, he assumed she was young. She certainly looked no further than out of her teens, although all things considered, he doubted that was the case. Behind her was the large, black stallion who had introduced himself as ‘Demonheart’.
A fitting name… he thought grimly to himself as he pulled himself up to a respectable sitting position, trying not to slump.
“I… thank you.” He managed to stumble out and cursed himself for his body’s weakness. His mind was very sharp, and had not dulled, although it was still remembering the power and malice behind the message left for him by whatever the heck it was within Demonheart, “You didn’t have to take care of me.”
Fluttershy had frozen in place and suddenly blushed and backed up a step or two, mumbling something about it being okay then something else Tal didn’t catch. He smiled at her and began to stumble away when the silky voice of Demonheart slipped it’s velveteen fingers into his ears.
“I wouldn’t do that were I you. Miss Redheart asked us to send you to the Healing Water’s spa when you were awake, y-y’know, to help you recuperate…”
His voice had an undertone of regret and guilt to it, but simply looking at him made Tal flinch and he asked a question he wasn’t quite meaning to voice out loud.
“What the hell are you?” He asked quietly. Demonheart seemed to wilt under the question and Fluttershy bristled. Her voice turned strong and commanding as she spoke.
“He’s a stallion! A beautiful, kind and gentle stallion and you’d do well to remember that!”
Talisman flinched and actually looked ashamed of himself before trotting away, head held low. Demonheart nuzzled Fluttershy gently in thanks, earning himself a pleased murmur from the shy Pegasus.
Talisman had an appointment to keep.
~*~
The Healing Waters spa was a large building, as spas are wont to be. It was very popular with the female population of Ponyville and was run by the twins Aloe and Lotus. Their cousin, Vera, often joined them when she could to help out, but was much shyer than her cousins and often couldn’t work up the courage to do the work required of her. Whilst the spa was most popular with the mares, there were a few stallions here and there that frequented the establishment as much as the mares. Demonheart was one such stallion. In fact, he was on very good terms with Aloe and she went out of her way to make sure she treated him personally every time he came, with or without Fluttershy and Rarity. Whilst it had a reputation of being neat, clean and looking impeccable, the main thing the spa was known for was its results, pure and simple.
Talisman felt the results as he walked out of the beautiful place and took a deep breath of fresh air. He’d been treated by Aloe, since it was Demon who’d set up the appointment and Aloe had insisted that she treated Demon’s ‘friend’ as she insisted he must be. He got the impression several times that she got frequently frustrated with his slender build since she seemed to think that she’d hurt him more than help if she pressed to hard in her massages. A point made abundantly clear when he’d felt a pang of pain (Or at least, more than usual) at one of her rubs when she was distracted by something he said.
They may not look much, but by Celestia, those sisters were stronger than they looked.
Inevitably, he found himself wandering back towards the library. His hooves felt funny and he had to resist the urge to simply melt onto the ground underneath them, finally making it to the library. Twilight was unsurprised to see him and she smiled at him, although he couldn’t tell whether or not she was doing it just to be nice or out of some genuine reason.
“Hey there. Felling alright?”
Talisman nodded before speaking quietly.
“If you wouldn’t mind Miss Sparkle, I would like to read in peace. There’s much for me to consider today and I’d like to get it out of the way.”
This Twilight could understand and her smile grew a little.
“No problem, I’ll make sure to tell Spike not to bother you and I’ll make sure you’re left alone alright?”
Tal nodded to her in thanks before stepping away.
Why lead me here..?
~*~
“But darling,”
“No buts Rarity! I don’t want anything to wear. I’ve never needed anything special to wear to meet Celestia before, I don’t need it now. I don’t care what other ponies think, I meet Celestia as myself, and I don’t really like wearing clothing for anything but really special occasions.”
Rarity pouted.
“Oh but darling,” She wheedled and Twilight shook her head.
“No. Not a chance.”
In the other room, Talisman gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the mares, but it was getting harder. The fact that he was getting occasional flashes of insight as to how Rarity wanted to design said dress didn’t help, and one of the symbols on the stone around his neck, unseen by him, was pulsing with a noxious yellow. He could feel Twilight’s irritation, Rarity’s mounting frustration. It was only a matter of time before the two erupted into a full blown screaming match he believed. Finally having enough, he slammed his book closed and stood up. The sudden noise shut both unicorn mares up and he stormed out of the library, face like a thundercloud, taking his knapsack and few possessions with him. He vaguely heard the sound of Spike calling for Twilight, but aside from that, Talisman was out of the building, and glad to be away from the pair.
“Mares,” He huffed under his breath irritably, “I’ll never understand why they get so frustrated at stupid little things.”
Tal spent the rest of the day on the hills of Sweet Apple Acres, sitting beneath a flowering apple tree, notepad out, pencil in magical grip. Sketched into the notepad was the image of the library as he’d seen it some time back, before he’d even come to Ponyville. He shivered and flipped the page over. Sketched here, in horrific detail, was the roiling cloud of smoke that he’d seen within the mind of Demonheart, skeletal arms outstretched, scraps of decayed flesh hanging off of them and the mostly decayed head, eye hanging out of the socket off of its blood slicked optic nerve. An image he was never likely to forget.
The words reverberated through his head and he sighed softly.
I wouldn’t have been in there in the first place had you not dragged me in. What are you..?
~*~
Night fell, and Talisman found himself before the Library once more. It wasn’t a cold night, but the occasional breeze was chilly. He curled up upon the doorstep to the great tree and yawned mightily before settling his head down on his knapsack (Which was practically empty now) and falling promptly to sleep. It was several hours later when he was awoken by, of all things, sand and dust. It made it into his coat, his eyelashes, and his mouth. He spluttered and spat and rubbed at his eyes frantically, trying to free up his senses and he finally opened his eyes, opening his mouth to scold the pony responsible and his jaw dropped.
The Princess of the Moon, Princess Luna, stood before him, a surprised look adorning her face. Realising he was gawking at her, he dropped into a bow in a hurry, spluttering out his apologies for being in her way and such things. She laughed softly, making him stop mid sentence and look at her. She smiled at him.
“Don’t be absurd. Thou art… Sorry, you are not in my way. I came simply to speak to Twilight Sparkle. You have just as much right to sleep here as you do anywhere else.”
Talisman smiled thankfully and stood up.
This was precisely the moment Twilight decided to open the door.
Very quickly.
The door was flung open and Talisman went from being before Princess Luna to being sandwiched between a door and a hard place. Twilight burst out of the tree and bowed before Luna, who snuffed a laugh. Talisman was so busy feeling sorry for himself and (quite honestly) hurting that he didn’t hear what was said between the pair. He heard Luna thank Twilight.
“Oh, and you may wish to peel thy friend off of the wall. Being struck by a door does not sound like a fair fight.”
Luna opened her wings and lifted off, vanishing into the sky. Frowning in confusion, Twilight pulled the door away from the wall, allowing Talisman to hit the ground in a miserable heap of fresh bruises. Talisman waved her off before she could make any apologies and sat up, arching his back to crack it a few times before sighing.
“It’s fine Miss Sparkle. Not the first time a door has been opened in my face.”
She winced at his casual admission and looked around, anywhere but at him.
“You know… I’m pretty sure there’s a storm scheduled for tonight… You want to come inside? You know, ride it out?”
Twilight cursed herself inwardly. What was she thinking? Bring a stranger into her library? What the hay was wrong with her? Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but feel a warm feeling as he smiled and nodded tiredly.
“I would greatly appreciate it, thank you for your hospitality.”