//------------------------------// // Chapter 19: Shadows of the Past // Story: Out of the Old, Into the New // by SentientHydra //------------------------------// The lifter filled in orderly fashion, the click of metal foot, hoof and paw striking the grated surface of the cavernous hold audible even over the whine of idling engines. The group entering was filled with excitement as more of the gigantic interior came to light, a dozen engineers in yellow suits scurrying to and fro, checking machinery and electronics. Even Shinescale, the titanic dragon, looked dwarfed by the beastly lifter's size, his reptilian eyes roving around the cargo chamber with unashamed curiosity. All the group were intrigued by the alien technology, all except the striped one. Who hung far to the rear of the five, but not so far back that he would come within five hoof-paces of the following marine squad and their giant leader. Hekima hung his head with a sullen air, a storm-cloud of repressed rage simmering over his high-ridged helmet. The group ground to a halt when Captain Morgan held his fist up, turning to face the assembled Equinauts “alright, everyone ready to get locked and launched? Once we get the engines flared we'll have maybe a half hour flight before we punch the burners for orbit, so if any of you have questions about me, my species, or anything you want to know please hold them until we get going, there'll be plenty of time to talk, or turn round if someone gets scared.” There was a few shared glances between four of the five, then a general nod and a few noises of assent (plus one screech of mock offence from Guisarme, who firmly asserted that he was no coward). After a long period of silence, the group turned to the zebra, who was standing with legs tense, apparently fighting with his own voice. “I-I” he trotted back, then reared and bolted “I cannot do this!” Head lowered in a desperate charge the ambassador didn't wait for the marines to part and allow him out, instead he leapt like a panicked springbok, clearing their eight foot frames with relative ease even with his suit weighing him down. Outside the lifter the raging stallion tore the helmet from his head and hurled it away, allowing the tears streaming from his eyes to meet the dawning sun and the eyes of the crowd. Then he ran, bulling past where he could and leaping over where he could not, not even allowing his own guards to slow his sprint towards the looming walls of the inner garden. Morgan watched the little horse run with a slight frown “fast little guy, ain't he? Anyone going after him?” Celestia nodded “I must go Captain, Hekima's peace of mind is my responsibility” without another word the alicorn set off at a gallop, through the marine ranks and after the distant zebra. There was silence for a moment after the drum of metal hooves faded into the distance. Then Shinescale turned to Captain Morgan “while we wait for them to return, perhaps you could explain the purpose of this device?” He motioned with a claw to the strange tube assembly on his suit. Morgan smiled “oh that? It's nothing really, just a fire-suppression system we built in.” The dragon paused, then rumbled “I hardly see why...” Celestia didn't have too look hard to find the fleeing zebra, the trail of abandoned suit pieces (all of which were dutifully gathered up in a cloud of magic) led straight to the central fountain, where a white and black shape slumped, a boot still fitted over one leg. “Ambassador Hekima?” The princess queried, stepping carefully closer. The answer came in smooth Zebrican, weighed down with emotion [“I can not face them Celestia. I will not walk into the lair of demons so boldly.”] The white alicorn didn't come near him, keeping a respectable distance from the slumped ambassador. She spoke softly in the Zebrican tongue as she mounted the fountain's rim, shifting around to get comfy in her hard suit [“I understand Hekima, I really do.”] [“You say you understand, how? How can the great Princess Celestia, 'She of the dawn' and 'Sun Incarnate' possibly understand?”] His tone was bitter, bordering on spiteful [“I am scared Princess. Something I doubt you have felt as us mere mortals do.”] The zebra glanced at the god to his right with tears in his eyes, then looked away and snorted, absently kicking the metal boot off his hoof. Celestia caught the boot in her magic cloud, her eyes watching the disparate pieces float in slow orbit around each other [“You are correct Hekima, I have never felt fear as mortals do. I have never been scared for my own life, terror has rarely stopped me from putting myself in harms way”] she spoke softly, manipulating the floating suit to reform it, the now blank white sections lining up to once again resemble a colourless zebra. [“But I do understand the challenge you face Ambassador, I can see how you fight so valiantly against centuries of cultural fear. You struggle against your superstitions even as anger and dread grip your heart.”] Hekima growled angrily, stamping at the ground and pacing away. With his back to the white alicorn he spoke [“they are not superstitions Celestia. The laughing apes are real, very real.”] he whirled to face the god, fast enough to catch the ghost of an incredulous look flitting across her face [“You don't believe me do you? You think me a fool!”] Not giving the alicorn time to respond his tone turned mocking [“'look at the savage zebra' you think, 'let us laugh at his warnings and ignore his advice!' Just because you think yourself more 'civilised' Princess, you find it easy to trivialize my knowledge as superstition and the lies of old mares!”] The white alicorn tried to speak with a placating tone [“please calm yourself Ambassador, I mean no offe-”] but she found herself cut off when Hekima barked [“Shut up! I have had enough of your pandering, if my words will not convince you of the truth, perhaps my memories will!”] Stepping quickly, the striped equine stormed closer, lowering his head [“Look into my mind and I will show you my laughing apes”] Celestia reeled back, here eyes nervous despite her unwavering tone [“mind magic is a dangerous thing Hekima. If it goes wrong...”] she trailed off, letting the implications float in the air. “If it goes wrong, then you have no right to call yourself a god Celestia. I trust you.” the Ambassador spoke in equestrian then, letting iron back his proclamation, his anger burning out into the ashen husk of regret in the face of the alicorn's nervousness. “Despite all I have said Princess, there is nopony on this world better at magic than you. In matters of magic I trust you with all my heart” Celestia bit her lip then, letting her apprehension bubble to the surface while the zebra's eyes closed “If you are sure Hekima, then I will do as you wish.” her horn flared up, skittish hooves brought her off the fountain's rim and closer to the ambassador. Her eyes began to glow with magical intensity, and her supernova horn came down to touch the zebra's brow. The world let out a breath, and then dissolved into blackness. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The forest was dark and dry, the blackness broken every few metres by the white bones of skeleton trees; storm-clouds raged in battle overhead, but no rain fell on the dusty ground, lightning struck every half-minute, blasting the burnt air with flashes of searing scintillation, wind sighed through the trees with a mourning sigh *pock, pock, pock, pock* unshod hooves struck the stones of the well-worn path in practised order, the dry stones echoing loudly in the dense forest. *pock, pock, pock, pock* [“MOTHER! FATHER!”] Hekima's voice was thin and reedy with youth, his vooice barely rising above the rumble of ill-timed thunder. Still he walked, big bright eyes glancing occasionally to the distant horizon and the falling sun. There was nothing but the terror of unknown night filling the colt's mind, his thoughts straying haphazardly over how he came to be lost, how he had ignored his grandmother's warning and left the kijiji, taking a half-spear and thinking himself a mighty warrior. Now the spear was gone and he was lost, with only this old trail to guide him *pock, pock, pock, crunch* The zebra foal stopped here, staring down at the sudden crunch, and the bone beneath his hoof... “AAAAAAGH” his scream split the storm's noise for long moments, growing stronger as the short colt reared back, his eyes finding more bones spread out ahead of him. An entire zebra skeleton lay there on the forest path, splayed out as if fallen while running. The skull was shattered and broken, the fore-leg was split cleanly in half where Hekima had trod on it. Fighting down another scream, and his fear, the little striped horse crept closer to the dry brittle bones and examined them closer. “Who are you?” he whispered, a prayer to the sun-god falling with swiftness born of long practice. Looking with fearful eyes at the sun-bleached bones, Hekima noted the scrapes and cuts along their length, so straight and regular they could only have been made by a knife. The ground under the broken skull still had a divot where a spear struck, a sun blackened arrow was still stuck in the husk of a heart inside an unbroken ribcage. Walking slowly back from the ancient corpse, the foal glanced about at the darkened trees “Who could have done this?” he whispered to himself, young mind going wild with fear and morbid curiosity. As if in answer, there was a giggle from behind the trees. A chuckle from the side as he whirled, eyes searching the black shadows of a growing dusk, finding nothing. [“Who is there?!”] He barked, turning in place with legs tense. His anger drew a burst of hilarity from the hidden watchers, sadistic laughter and malicious guffaws filling the air from all directions. Hekima looked about to yell again, to scream in annoyance and fear at the now silent audience. Then pain exploded from his shoulder, where an arrow had sprouted, and the forest came alive with the sound of laughter. A scream escaped his lips then, the shock numbing the pain and making him stumble back, just in time to see his attacker emerge from the darkness, the sunken eyes on the ape-like head hidden by shadow. A bone-wood bow was clutched in it's thin hands, the long sinewy arms drawing back the string with another barbed arrow already knocked. A zebra-hide cloth hid the thing's loins, tied with a hyena skin belt around the thin waist of the chuckling thing. Hekima saw no more, his terror lending strength to his failing legs, instinct urging him to run, off the path and into the trees. More ape-things dropped from the skeletal branches, crude spears in their claws and grins on their faces, yellow eyes glinting in the failing light. Dodging desperately, weaving around trunks and demons the Zebra colt ran, his lungs burnt from exertion, his shoulder was ablaze with pain as bone scraped on the arrow-head, but still Hekima ran, for to slow down was to let the chasing shadows catch him. A fallen log made him pause, luck alone letting him live as a thick spear buried itself in the wood above. Hekima yelled in shock and changed direction, praying with what little breath he could spare, begging the Sun-goddess to protect him. Even as the hooting demons closed the distance on their gangly legs Hekima sprinted with renewed vigour through the choking dust and scratching thorns of the dead forest. [“HEKIMA!”] The shout came from ahead and left, the bellowing familiar voice raising above the howling wind of the growing storm. Tears came unbidden to the foal's eyes as he charged through the forest, his throat ripping open to shout [“DAD!”] with such ferocity that even the chuckles of his pursuers were cowed for mere moments. The distant gleam of flaming torches burnt away the shadows, the shouts and cries of his uncles, his cousins and his father lent his screaming muscles strength. Shouting above the storm one last time Hekima broke out of the trees, limbs red with scratches, vision blurring with tears and blood-loss. The herd of striped bodies rushed to meet him as he stumbled. Chattering voices blurring into a fuzzy mess of static as darkness fell. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Celestia near stumbled in shock as the memory ended, her horn-glow fading to wisps and nothing and legs trembling in phantom pain. Hekima stood, breath haggard and face twisted in horrid nostalgia. [“When next I woke, I was back in the village, bandaged and cleaned. They were nice enough to me, but I could see that nopony believed it was the laughing apes. They saw the arrow and claimed that I was delirious from my ordeal, that I had been found by a hyena hunting party.”] Celestia was tearing up slightly as she looked at the striped ambassador with new eyes, her gaze peering closely at his shoulder, where a faded scar still showed through the fur. [“I-I am sorry Hekima... I didn't know that...”] The centuries old ruler floundered, no words rising to help her. [“You could not know Celestia. I have told nopony my story since I left my village, even if it is the main reason I left Zebrica”] he laughed hollowly, forcing a smile [“I suppose I should thank them, without their smiling faces haunting my nightmares I might never have seen the wonders of Equestria.”] Celestia sighed, her face falling back to it's old mask of gentle neutrality “I must join you in that Hekima, you have always been a voice of reason.” With an absent flick of her horn, the floating sections of the zebra's suit fell to the ground “I will tell Captain Morgan That you will not be joining us.” She made to walk away. Only to be stopped by Hekima's voice. “No.” The tremble in his tone was gone, faded into steel resolution “I will come.” He walked past the alicorn and picked up the chest of his suit, slipping it on “I will not run from them any longer.” The princess raised an eyebrow “but I thought you didn't trust Captain Morgan?” “I don't. I probably never will.” Hekima stated, placing the boots carefully on “but I have allowed my past to rule me for far too long. I will come aboard, I will hold my tongue as best I can, I will make Zebrica proud.” Celestia's smile grew warmer at the granite surety in the zebra's tone “you already do Hekima. Zebrica has always been proud of you.” Magic flared in her horn, a glowing aura scooping up the back-section of the blank-white suit and passing it to the ambassador, earning a grateful nod. The zebra picked up the final piece with the faintest spectre of a smile on his lip, before the helmet came on to hide it, the striped pattern finally flaring to life on the human-made fabric “besides Princess, no matter how much I prayed back then, the sun-god would never hear me.” He stepped with a clink and clang to the alicorn's side “how can I know fear now, with her walking next to me?” Celestia nodded, leading the way back towards the distant lifter, her hoof-steps clicking on the smooth granite flag-stones.