//------------------------------//
// The Morning Thereafter 
// Story: The Man of Lost Time 
// by Shroomkin 
//------------------------------//



Chapter 5: The Morning Thereafter







The soothing winds that whistle drew my attention. No longer was I inside a house that creaks, but rather in an open field of rice. Where the green pastures were ever more present, as the cattle freely grazed at the lush green grass without a care in the world. This was no longer Ponyville, this was my home. A land so rich and pure, yet tainted by war and grief and of sorrow. Such is the way of my homeland. I knew these streets, I knew these houses. I knew these people. yet why are their faces so hollow? Why must they frown as such? 

For the first time in so long, I was human once again. I felt my face, my hands, and my long and unkempt hair. No longer was it tied as it flowed freely in the wind. It was calming, breathtaking even. I was back home! But, it felt off. I saw it burn with my own two eyes. Was that a dream? Was I, all this time, thinking of a drastic and brutal dream? A work of a demon? Then why must I feel like so? Why do I feel guilty upon cutting a mare so kind to me? She does not exist, does she? Was my whole life but a fragment of my imagination? 

I got my answers when I stepped forth upon the yard of my old home. And there I saw, standing in the doorway, my family. My father, one who I saw die at the hands of my enemy, was standing ever so stiffly at the doorway. My mother, who drowned as she fell in the river amidst the chaos, was right by his side. My siblings, who ran and cried and burned to death, were all standing in front of them. They were all looking at me. I wept at the sight. They were alive. 

I was about to run to them, but the sound of my father's voice stopped me at my tracks. "You," he shouted. "You are not worthy to be in our presence, boy." I was shocked, fuming even. His words were harsh, yet knowing him, perhaps there was something that I did wrong. It hurts, but after a while, all will settle, like a ripple amongst a lake. What shook me to my core was the stern voice of my mother. "You left us alone," she said as she stepped forth. I didn't leave them, did I? "You left us alone, you ungrateful child!" My mother, the once kind woman, shouted with such despair and sorrow and anger. It brought me to my knees. What was happening? "Traitor! Bastard!" My siblings said afterwards. "Why did you leave us, brother?" My younger sister asked, yet I have no voice to answer. What were they talking about? Then, the sound of screaming distracted me as I gazed around me. No longer was it the quiet and peaceful village, but the dreaded war-torn village.

I then found myself surrounded by flames. The sickening hues of orange and red, the shadows it casted over my family as I watched them burn in front of me. "Why did you leave us?" They said. "You were supposed to protect us!" The roars of the flame echoed in my ears as I stumbled backwards. The villagers, they were rotten and burned; their skin melted and their bones were visible. "You are a disgrace!" One of them called out as they lunged their uchigatana at me. 

"Traitor!" 

"You left us to die here!" 

"Failure!" 

"You should've died here!" 

"You have tarnished the name of the Akamine clan!" 

They rallied and attacked me, throwing stones at me, stabbing me with their blades as my blood flowed constantly in the road. I screamed and begged for mercy, but they never gave me their mercy. They continued on and on and on. But the worst pain of them all was when I saw my mother. My kind and gentle mother, who would hug me and comfort me when I had a troubling day, drew forth her own blade and stabbed me in the heart as she knelt down and faced me. Her hair was wet, she coughed out black water every time she spoke, her eyes were dull and leaking the same black water. "You have no family here," she said as she continuously stabbed me. I screamed louder and louder, "No more!" I begged. But the pain wouldn't stop. I saw my siblings, now burnt corpses missing limbs, throwing daggers at me. My own father chopped off my arm as I cried. And then it stopped. 

And all I saw in front of me was a woman holding a baby in her arms. "No," I muttered. It was her. It was Akane. But something was terribly wrong. A sword was buried deep within her chest, a hole next to it. Her beautiful eyes were black, and her mouth was overflowing with blood. "No more! Please!" I begged and cried. I heard laughter and crying as I looked around. I saw the bandits that killed her, the baby was skinned alive. 

And I saw my villagers once more. "No one can save you," they all chanted. The whispers grew louder, the sounds of crying and screaming grew louder. It was all too much to bear. "Someone, anyone, please! Please end this nightmare!!" I said to myself as I clutched my ears, weeping and begging for it all to stop. 

And then, the unthinkable happened. A bright and soothing light emerged from the heavens, and all I could hear was the loud and commanding voice of a woman. "BEGONE!" the voice commanded, and all turned to white, and in the process, slowly dimming unto darkness.





I awoke from such a nightmare sweating and crying, screaming as I clutched my ears. I panted heavily, my voice was raspy. I was shaking, and in the midst of chaos, I stumbled. The sudden pain upon my head made me regain a bit of consciousness as I stopped my screaming. And it was then that I saw three colorful blobs in front of me. But they were not blobs. 

If I recall correctly, they called themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders. A weird name for a growing clan, but a fitting name nevertheless. There they stood, visibly shaking, the unicorn was even crying. I rubbed my eyes, trying to make sense of it all. The ringing stopped soon after, and in my alert state, I saw that there was a bowl on the floor, its contents spilled. Some of it was stuck in a wall. I turned to see them as they tried in their panic state to open the door. It was then that the door opened, revealing none other than Lady- no, Applejack (as she wanted to be called). "What in tarnation- What the hay happened here?!" 

The three fillies then spoke all at the same time. Luckily the red stallion, Big Mac, came by and took the young fillies away. I couldn't see his expression, but I am pretty sure he was angry at me. I do not know. I have hurt their friend in front of me, so I do know of their ire. 

"Rioto, what the hay happened?" Applejack said as she came closer to me. She was furious, or so I believe. I've scared her sister, of course she would be. 

All these thoughts lingering in my mind as I failed to notice that she was talking to me. What is happening, what happened to that... that nightmare?! "RIOTO!" She finally screamed as she clutched at my shoulders, or rather, my withers. She was speaking, shouting my name for quite some time. I snapped back to reality as I looked at her. It was not anger that I saw in those green eyes, but worry. I placed my hooves upon my face as I rubbed my eyes. "I- I just... I had... a nightmare..." I said, weakly.

"Rioto... would ya mind tellin' me, sugarcube?" She said gently as she sat beside me. I scoffed, trying to act brave, but I couldn't do it. I looked at the ground, the silence ever so damning. "It's... I had a nightmare about my family..." 

"What happened?" She asked cautiously while rubbing my back. "It was... they were... they said horrid and terrible things..."

"Oh... Ah'm sure that they wouldn't mean it-" she said as I interrupted. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!! I... They..." I sighed. 

"Have you experienced loss?" I asked. The silence was, in what they call, awkward. "Yes," she silently said. "Did ya dream about losing them?" 

"No... I," I said as I rubbed my arm. "I lost them... I lost them all." 

The silence lingered for quite some time as she finally spoke. 

"Do ya wanna talk about it?" 

"Yes..." And so I did talk about them. I mustered my courage to talk about them. I talked about how great my family was, of how my mother was kind and caring. Of how she took care of me, of how she told stories every night whenever I could not sleep. Of how she sang songs to my siblings. I talked about my father, of how he was brave and honest, the strongest of our kin. Of how our training started, of how proud he was of me. I told her about my siblings, of how we would play after my father's training. Of how we would wander through the village with no care in the world. 

And then I told her of what happened. I saw how my father was killed in combat, of how my enemies burned each and every house they could see. I told her of how my mother drowned, of how my siblings burned to death. I told her of the war that happened, that claimed the lives of my friends and their families. I told her of my losses. 

And the silence was damning. 

And I told her of what happened in the nightmare, of how I was berated and torn apart continuously. Of the things my own family said. 

And I told her about Akane... Of how I loved her dearly... and how she perished, leading me in this place. And in my ramblings, I didn't hear a new set of hooves approaching at the door. I was weak, and frankly, I wasn't paying attention.

And the silence that followed was brutal. 

"Why didn't I die?" I asked through the tears. She was shocked, and she, too, was in tears. She hugged me, now knowing more about me. She didn't have words to comfort me. All she ever did was to hug me and bring me close to her. How could she, after hearing something like that? After hearing what I have been through? "Ah'm... Ah'm sorry, sugarcube..." It was all she said.

"Ah really am sorry, sugarcube..."

And then I wept upon her chest. I never really noticed the stallion and the elder mare outside the doorway, but I think they've heard. All I ever heard were their hooves as they got farther and farther away from the door. A burden I had kept for so long, now flowing as free as the wind, and with it came tears of the man who tried to hide it.