CHAPTER 3
Carrot Top awoke with a startled gasp. No, it didn’t sound right. No actual noise left her mouth. She looked around only to see the forest turned grey and white, a flowing patchwork of light and shadow devoid of all colours, the sky above filled with swirls of ethereal wind, like a monochromatic aurora borealis. Looking down, Carrot Top could see her legs glow faint white, as immaterial as everything around her. She turned at the muted shuffling behind her and there was her own mangled body, sprawled on the ground, her killer still crouching over it. As the farmpony watched, the undead grabbed the corpse by the shoulders and turned it over, exposing the unprotected belly. The monster stooped lower, her jaws making a squelching noise as they stretched impossibly wide...
Carrot Top screamed soundlessly and her world turned black again.
***
Carrot Top awoke with a startled gasp. Just like the previous one, it was completely soundless. She jumped to her hooves and looked around, only to find herself in a completely different place. The world was still swirling black, white and grey, but she was no longer anywhere near where she died. She was standing at the base of a steep hill surrounded by the forest. No, not a hill. A burial mound. Carrot Top couldn’t see any entrance or even a stone marker, but somehow she knew; she felt the dead sleeping inside, soundlessly calling to her. The presence was cold, literally cold as the grave, but at the same time strangely soothing. Just a few steps and then no more pain, no more worry, just the tranquillity of oblivion as the world drifts past centuries after centuries...
So, she really was dead. She dropped down on her haunches, her mind just clear enough to notice she wasn’t taking it as hard as she should have. Obviously, there was no blood to run cold in her veins at the thought, no heart to go up to her throat, no tears to shed. She just sat there thinking back to the morning when she left her home to take her first quest, to try to earn some extra money for the farm. It had worked so well for so many others. But all she’d found on her road to adventure was a violent death on her first day out. She thought back to the first time she died, incinerated in the raging inferno that consumed her stall along with the rest of the town, then the soft light of the Royal Sisters bringing her back to the land of the living. But there were no princesses here. Nopony would find her. Her body was partially eaten by her killer, a final insult to add to the fatal injury, and the rest left to scavengers. Soon there would be no sign she ever came to the forest.
Without her, there was no way the farm could stay afloat. She wondered if any of her relatives would keep trying to salvage it or sell it to the Apples. Or perhaps it would just get abandoned, another ruin on the outskirts that adventurers so like to search for abandoned supplies and old mementos...
‘You cannot linger here.’ It wasn’t so much a sound as pure meaning expressing itself in her mind, bypassing the absent ears, a voice that she felt must have been coming from behind her. ‘Either go back or pass on.’
Too numb to be startled, Carrot Top turned around. Behind her, a tall humanoid figure floated in the air, a faintly glowing translucent female wrapped in white cloth, much taller than any human Carrot Top had seen. Wide wings with long strands of light in place of feathers spread around the spirit, not even bothering to flap, more like a badge of office than actual, usable limbs. The woman looked down at the farmpony from under her white hood. ’Your destiny has not ended yet.’
Carrot Top looked up, her ears perking up even as she struggled with the concept. ‘But... I died. How can I be...’ She paused, realising what she had just done. She still couldn’t hear her words, not really. But they were there. She could talk, at least to other spirits.
The hooded figure was quick to answer her question. ’Many die before their time. We correct it. Resurrection magic corrects it. When it is time for you to die, no power will change it, but today you can go back.’
Carrot Top shook her head. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘Wait. It doesn’t work like this. Ponies die when they are killed. You can’t just pop back up...’
‘That is how it should work. That is how it worked when your land was isolated from the madness that gripped the world. But now, you share the fate of the other races,’ answered the spirit.
‘So, we missed out on avoiding death because we kept away from the others?’
The woman’s expression didn’t change, but there was a suggestion of a frown in her response. ‘You did not miss out on avoiding death. You did not die before your time, over and over again. Having your destiny twisted is not something to rejoice in. The forces that should safeguard this reality pull at the strings of fate, fighting for dominance. Time is out of joint. Any day the whole world might collapse into madness. This is not something to be happy with. Now, linger no longer. Pass on or go back.’
‘Go back?’ Carrot top looked towards the forest and instantly knew she had turned in the direction where her body was. ‘Just like that? But my body is... missing... pieces...’ If she still had a stomach, it would twist at the mental image.
The spirit didn’t seem concerned. ‘Irrelevant. As soon as your soul returns, your body will come back to life. Or I can pull it here for you. You are insignificant enough, that it will make no difference in the grand scheme of things.’
That sounded insulting, but Carrot Top had too much to wrap her head around already to start arguing. Struggling to find some balance between a sudden rush of hope and the mind-boggling absurdity of the situation, she considered the proposition,
I don’t know where I am. I am pretty sure I would have remembered seeing this place before. I can feel my... body... that way and quite some distance away, I think. Assuming it wasn’t moved...
‘We are deeper into the forest, aren’t we?’
The winged figure didn’t respond. Carrot Top looked up at the sky, but the strange spirit world had no sun to navigate by. Finally, the farmpony climbed the mound to get a better view. She could barely see above the treetops, but the few mountain tops she glimpsed confirmed her initial deduction.
‘I would have to go back anyway, and here I can meet something like a manticore or a cocatrice. I think I will just walk.’
‘As you wish.’ The spirit nodded, but didn’t move from her spot, watching over the mound as the farmpony started walking between the trees. Soon Carrot Top discovered that she could move faster now, passing through the bushes and over roots, her ghostly hooves moving forward without breaking the thinnest twig. Behind her the presence of the waiting dead slowly faded into the distance. She could see indistinct shapes moving through the forest, reflections of the living things that only became recognizable when she approached very close. Her decision to not raise at the burial mound was soon validated as one such shape was revealed to be a hungry manticore. Carrot Top passed right in front of it, invisible and inaudible, moving towards her destination.
***
Carrot Top slowed down and looked around. There it was. Her body. She hesitated. A part of her wished to stay away, to spare her the sight she knew would haunt her dreams. Cringing, she inched forward. A quick look around didn’t uncover any predators. Were they kept away by the smell of her killer? Or perhaps she was still around there somewhere?
She is much more experienced than me. She must have known I would be back eventually. Could she be waiting here to kill me again? No. What kind of sick monster would do that?
Just then Carrot Top remembered exactly what kind of monster her killer was. Slowly, wary of every moving leaf, she circled the area. Then, praying to the Sisters that her fears be proven wrong, she approached her corpse.
It was still there, just as she had last seen it, except for... Carrot Top squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to take in too many details. She took another step and leaned forward. The feeling was like diving into a lake. She was surrounded by wet darkness and trying to get some sense of direction. Finally, she felt as if something clicked - she was in the right place.. The returning feelings of a living body hit her like a crashing wave, her first breath turned into a gasp of pain.
A moment passed before Carrot Top finally rolled onto her side and looked around. Judging by how far the sun had moved, she must have been dead for hours. The forest was silent, no enemy or predator coming to take advantage of her current state. Which was a very good thing, since she was barely able to get up at the moment.
Looking down, she was relieved to see the spirit had said the truth. She was alive and in one piece, despite all the blood on the grass around her. She could still feel all the places where she had been stabbed, but the wounds weren’t nearly as deep as they should have been. Also, much to her relief, her belly didn’t look like it had been ripped open and most importantly, both her eyes seemed ok.
Having made sure she was alive, Carrot Top looked at her equipment. Her clothes were torn and stained with blood, but to her surprise nothing was missing. It seemed the killer hadn’t even bothered to search her bags. Opening a side pocket, she found a small radish and crushed it between her teeth. The sharp taste helped her wake up. Sitting on her haunches, she then pulled out a roll of bandages.
At least I know how to patch myself up.
It came naturally with working on a farm. The combination of torn, bloodied clothes and bandages made the mare look like a bizarre scarecrow, but at least she wouldn’t be leaving a trail of blood as she went. Now all she needed to do was get up and find the way home. She was in no condition to adventure any more that day.
I came from there... It’s afternoon and the sun is there... Good thing the wood isn’t as dense here. I can actually see the sun. So, the north is that way. This is the easiest way to get home. I just need to keep going in the same direction.
Slowly at first, ignoring her body’s initial protests, Carrot Top started walking. Soon she started to walk faster, still with a bit of a limp but now with some hope of actually getting home before dinner. That is, as long as she doesn’t run into any more trouble on her way. She regularly stopped to listen, careful to balance looking out for signs of trouble with making sure she was still going west. She was quite aware she smelled of blood, for a predator a smell of both food and weakness. But getting lost again would probably mean having to spend the night in the forest. She was sure she didn’t want that.
Something rustled in the bushes ahead and Carrot Top froze. Her aching body and tiredness momentarily forgotten, she reached for her weapon, ready to defend herself. It was too late to back off and look for another way. She had to face it, whatever it …
“Oink?”