//------------------------------// // 1.2 Alone in the Garden // Story: From the Chrysalis // by Extragoto10line //------------------------------// The half moon shows a face of plaintive sweetness Ready and poised to wax or wane; A fire of pale desire in incompleteness, Tending to pleasure or to pain: Lo, while we gaze she rolleth on in fleetness To perfect loss or perfect gain. Half bitterness we know, we know half sweetness; This world is all on wax, on wane: When shall completeness round time's incompleteness, Fulfilling joy, fulfilling pain? Lo, while we ask, life rolleth on in fleetness To finished loss or finished gain. -Christina Rossetti (A Face of Plaintive Sweetness) Lillith arrived at her cottage and home around nightfall. She stared up at the glowing orb looking down upon her. Since the ponies of Dragonfly had turned their back upon her the moon and it's sky had been her one companion, the stars her only confidants. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath through her nose and smelled the welcoming scents around her cottage. The heavy scent of freshly toiled soil and fertilizer. The faint electric smell of a rainstorm brewing on the wind. The trees added themselves to the overall aroma to create a scent that had no name other than 'home.' But under it all was the scent she loved the most, that of her precious flowers and their berries. Her personal flower, the Nightshade with it's soft, almost sickly sweetness floating on the air. The Belladonna with it's acrid bitterness that to any other pony would be distasteful, but to Lillith it made her think of dark nights under the moonlight tilling with her hooves buried in soil. Lillith's ears flicked forward when an owl hooted in a nearby tree. She could hear smaller critters running along the forest floor as they scrambled to get home before the larger predators came out. Fainter still were the sounds of Dragonfly Village as it's occupants made their way home and to bed. Dragonfly Village was an almost strictly Flutterpony village. Flutterponies were an oddity in pony breeds. Like Earth ponies Flutterponies had extremely dexterous hooves, like the Pegasus they had wings although their wings were thin like a dragonfly and would not carry them far. Like Unicorns they could sense magic but Flutterponies could not control it. They could not coerce magical energy to do as they bid it but they could nudge it like a mare nudging her newborn foal to walk. They could help a plant grow, help the sick, calm animals. “Empathetic Magics” some pony a while back had called it, someone or another 'The Bearded.' Lillith had no talent with animals or other ponies but she excelled in making her plants grow. She quickly turned them into tonics, teas, and other things before their precious petals and berries could spoil. She didn't sell much but she could occasionally trade with a passing Griffin. It wasn't a regular source of income but it made her happy to think that her work wasn't going to waste. I just wish somepony would pass this way more often. I'm almost out of room in my workroom. Taking in one last deep breath, letting the scents envelope her as she listened to the sounds of the night that surrounded her. With a contended sigh she went up to her door and went inside. ----------------------------------------------- Steam rolled over the edges of her soup pot as she added a few more vegetables to her stew. A little celery, some crystal corn, a tomato and some flour to thicken it up. Lunch would take a while to brew and after Lillith had a bowl she would keep the pot warm for dinner. Because of her different schedule her breakfasts were usually in the evening, the lunches just after the moonrise, and her dinners before dawn could stretch over the hills. This among many things made it hard for her to be among the ponies but it suited her well. The best time for her to work on her plants was under the moonlight and she wouldn't trade her flowers for a thousand friends and their sun based schedules. Besides. Celestia's sun is over rated. How many ponies really appreciate Luna's night? She added a pepper to her boiling mixture. It looked like it would be a chilly night and Lillith would need the warmth when she worked in the garden. Turning away from the pot she checked the miniature pies baking in her oven. On her previous trip to town she had been unable to acquire cherries and she was anxious to taste one of her favorite fruits again. A faint smile crept at the corners of her eyes as she remembered scampering around her mother's legs trying to see just what her mother put into the oh-so-delicious pies. Her mother's smile as she told her, “Just cherries and love, my little pony. Just cherries and love. Everything is better with love.” She would nuzzle her mother's side and sit happily awaiting the cherry 'love' pies. Her mother making a joke and Lillith laughing and giggling like a young, happy, filly should. Lillith shook her head. Love. If I lived from love alone I'd starve to death. Closing her eyes she forced herself to breath steadily to control the tide of emotion threatening to drown her in the pain of her parents deaths. It had been years but even now remembering how happy they had been together dug into a still healing wound on her heart. Once she felt she was no longer in danger of falling to the ground and weeping like a foal she opened her eyes and steadily looked around her kitchen. No, nothing will ever be like that again. Turning back to her stew she tried to focus on something, anything, to keep her memories from haunting and tormenting her mind while the occasional tear added it's salt to her cooking. ------------------------------------------ Her lunch devoured and her cherry pie savored with bittersweet thoughts she cleaned her kitchen before heading to her garden. Her parents had insisted on indoor plumbing for both their homes, an expensive fixture but one they felt marked civilized homes. Lillith was forever grateful that she would never have to haul water from a stream that would no doubt have many ponies mulling around the edges, chatting with their neighbors as they gathered their own water. Dishes done and dinner brewing she gathered her supplies and went out to her garden. The night air slapped her in the face and she drew in a breath. There was something different on the wind, something she couldn't quite identify but definitely something she had not felt in all the nights she had spent in her garden. Nothing horribly concerning but she made a mental note to keep an eye out in case a new predator had decided to make her woods their new home. Lillith made her way to her kitchen garden and began her work on her vegetables and herbs. With the merchants in town always overcharging her she had begged the last passing Griffin to get her seeds in another town and bring them back to her. After offering an obscene amount of bits the Griffin had agreed and returned within a week with a large sack of various seeds. Now she began the process of planting them and would with a little luck be able to reduce her trips into Dragonfly even further. Throwing herself into her gardening as she dug her hooves into the soil. Nothing made her happier than to put hours into her garden, digging fine rows of all her plants. Plants covered all of her land, whether is was this newer garden for food or her flower gardens, plants were everywhere. She grew flowers under each window while others hung above in suspended pots. Having finished planting her new seeds she moved to the flower beds. She carefully checked and tended to each flower, thoughtfully going over their leaves and petals looking for any signs of sickness. She was always careful, not only for her precious flowers but also for herself. While she knew what potential her flowers had she also knew that in their barest forms they could be dangerous if she did not take caution with them. If she were to somehow poison herself by one of her little flowers she knew no one would notice, possibly for months. Her flowers would then most likely be dug up and burned, while everypony made comments of how they had warned her away from those deadly flowers. I'll be careful. I wouldn't want to give them the satisfaction of finding me dead. She harvested a few flowers, a few berries, and when she had determined she had checked every single plant in her garden she looked up and discovered she had been working for quite some time. If the moon was correct it was not even 3 hours till dawn. Lillith grabbed her basket and headed inside to wash up. Having a white coat was not beneficial to her gardening but there was little she could do about it except scrub when she needed it. Inside and freshly cleaned she decided her harvest could wait for a little bit so that she could have her dinner. Another round of stew, a cucumber salad, and another cherry pie down she made her way to the workroom centered at the back of her cottage. Carefully handling the petals and berries she had collected she made a few tonics that no doubt would sit on her shelves for months before the chance Griffin would pass. Still, she enjoyed her work and contentedly set about it. Pausing for a brief moment while some petals seeped in a special liquid mixture, Lillith looked out her small workroom window to gaze at the moon. The beauty of it never ceased, the brilliant orb of light that Lillith looked to so often. Under it's gaze she had toiled in her garden, she had cooked her meals, she had shed tears for parents she had lost too soon in her young life. She had sobbed to the stars the injustices of life, of her loneliness, of her troubles. She never got a reply nor did she expect one. Just knowing they were there to listen to her when she needed them was enough. As she stared out the window taking in the beauty of the night Lillith saw movement in the woods. Remembering that strange sense from before she focused her eyes on the movement, curious but not yet afraid. What she saw surprised her. Five pitch black ponies with wings that must have been damaged in the woods were slowly making their way towards Dragonfly Village. They looked to be Flutterponies, too small to be adults but too large to be foals. Their wings looked shredded and there were shadows on their bodies where Lillith guessed might be scrapes and wounds. For all that they appeared to be gravely hurt they neither limped nor slowed, going at the same steady and stealthy pace towards the village. Lillith blew out her candle and closed her eyes to better adjust to the dark. When she opened her eyes they had moved closer to her cottage and she could see them much more clearly. Definitely Flutterpony wings, no feathers so they're not Pegasi. They're wings look horrible, what kind of accident could have caused all of that shredding? Wait. Is that...? Is that a horn?! Upon closer inspection Lillith confirmed that the ponies so slowly making their way through her back yard did indeed have wings and a horn. Their eyes glowed in the dim light like those of a cat but she could not make out details as to color or shape. But it was what she saw just under those eyes that made her blood turn cold. Are those fangs?