//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: The Peace, and Terror, of Silence // Story: A Grand Journey // by willow_whistle //------------------------------// After finishing their breakfast of oat porridge, which the breezies sweetened with their honey, andPinky heated with her magic, her and Minty Mule sat up, and departed. Zipzee accompanied them through the woods, towards the nearest town, Trottingham. When the large flora and day-long glowing lightning bugs had dissipated, Zipzee said farewell to her new friends, and formally forgave them for putting her in a jar. “You’ve gotta admit,” Minty bleated out giddily, “it was pretty funny.” “Okay, maybe a little!” Zipzee replied, chuckling, and booped Minty’s nose with a tiny hoof. “Well, girls, just keep on this path, and you’ll be in Trottingham before noon!” “Thank you so very much, Zipzee!” Pinky said. “Be safe going home!” She began to say before Zipzee promptly turned around and zoomed back towards Breezy Blossom, faster than she had ever seen a living creature move. “Huh…” “Wow, I guess she really is the fastest flier!” Minty chortled, and began walking, the contents of her wagon thumping and clinking together. This was the only sound, aside from birds and cicadas, that the two heard for quite some time. Silence had always made Minty uncomfortable, and so she decided to talk about anything at all. "Isn't there some sorta legend about Trottingham? Some kinda robin fighting a sheriff?" "I think so, yeah. I wonder how a bird beat up a pony, though." "Maybe the sheriff was a bird too?" "I think the breezies would have told us if the villagers were birds instead of ponies." "The fact that we got directions from BREEZIES is enough on its own for me to think a bird town isn't that far-fetched." "Fair enough" they giggle as they trot along, silence beginning to set in again. Pinkie didn’t often enjoy silence, but right now she was enjoying the sounds of the world around her. She felt so real in a way she didn’t really feel back in Ponyville. She thought about this, until interrupting herself: "Oh, Moondancer in the sky, we forgot to call home and tell Sky and Star what we're doing next." "Could we try talking to them while we walk?" "I can't really operate the ball AND levitate it at the same time, and this path is too bumpy to just put it on the wagon." "We'll just call when we get to Trottingham, then! It'll be okay" “You’re right, I’m overthinking it.” “Do you ever, I dunno…” Pinky asks, just thinking out loud. “I do ever! Just about all the time.” “Pfft!’ Pinky laughs, and snorts as she laughs, leading both of them to laugh more. “I mean, do you ever just like listening to the birds? And, like, the sounds of nature, generally?” “Pinky, if you’d like me to be quiet, you can always just ask.” “Oh, honey, I know that! And thank you. But, no, I don’t need quiet right now, I just want you to try enjoying some quiet yourself. You may even like it.” Minty grumbles to herself a small bit. “Well, I don’t wanna, but I’ll humor you, because I love you.” She playfully sticks out her tongue at Pinky, who giggles softly, finding it hilarious and adorable how little resistance her marefriend put up. Minty tried to focus on emptying her mind, and just listening to the bugs and birdies chirp, and the sound of her hooves on the dirt road through the now-thinning forest, and the jostling of the provisions in her wagon, but just found herself thinking about what she didn’t want to tell Pinky Pie yet. The two keep walking, and just as Minty was able to stop feeling so anxious, and to find comfort in the silence, they saw the tower in the distance. Neither of them could quite stop looking at it as they approached the Town, and the much shorter houses became visible over the hill. Everything was at a complete standstill in the town. It looked like there were ponies in town, out-and-about, but they were just sitting still. The dark stone spire in the middle of the village stuck out of the earth much like a tree, but unlike a tree it seemed to be piercing into the ground, rather than sprouting out of it. Pinky gulped audibly. “That’s… foreboding.” “Yeah, gosh.” The two walked, very cautiously, into the town. They spotted a blue earth pony stallion with a silver mane, seeming to stare at them cheerfully. “Hello, there!” Minty chirped, relieved, but she became even more on-edge than before after the stallion just kept staring at them. Smiling. “Um… hi?” Pinky offered, to no avail. Her and Minty proceeded down the road, past the stallion, who just kept staring straight ahead, smiling. “I sure hope he’s okay.” Minty remarks, and is disturbed to see that there are pegasi, just, stuck in the air. It was as though they were suspended by cables reaching up into the sky, but it was the middle of the day and no cables could be seen. “Me too…” Pinky states, solemnly. She approaches a brown-coated unicorn mare, and taps her on the shoulder. “Hey, madam, Is everything alright?” The mare sat perfectly still, unflinching, while a breeze blew by. Pinky used a front hoof to brush her mane out of her face, and noticed that the mare’s mane wasn’t moved at all. Her eyes widen, just as Minty knocks on a young filly’s head, to no response. “Um, Pinky?” “Yeah, Minty?” “Remember that thing I wasn’t ready to talk about?” “Yeah?” “Well, I’m not ready, but I think you should know anyways.” The two stop walking, and Minty drew in a deep breath as Pinky sat politely to listen. “I think my mom did this, and I think we’ll have to stop her.” “Your mom? I thought your mom was still with the wagon train?” “That’s my step mom, she’s great! But, no, this mom is a real piece o’ work, I can tell ya that much.” She chuffed, and scraped at the ground with a front hoof as if preparing to charge. Her pink eyes flared with newfound determination. “I dunno what dad saw in her, but she left shortly after I came out as… well, ya know.” “Oh, Minty…” She hugs her. “I’m so very sorry that we might have to see her… But, how could she do this??” “She’s a unicorn, a-and…” She tries not to cry, “and she doesn’t think anything is off-limits when it comes to her magic.” Pinky hugs her friend tighter, having realized this implication. “I won’t let her hurt you again, I swear… Whatever it takes.” “Thank you, Pinky… I love you so very much…” She sniffles, and then smiles genuinely. “I love you too.” Pinky replied. “Now let’s go save Trottingham!”