//------------------------------//
// One Step Closer 
// Story: Note of Silence 
// by Quicksear 
//------------------------------//

“The closing night brought back memories of that dream. The silence deafened me until I heard, or rather just barely felt, a light beat playing over and over again. It overlaid its own soundless rhythm, calming me. It almost made me smile before I realized that it wasn't what I’d hoped, but what I feared.”
Snkch - static
"This is a special announcement from K-Kolt Radio: we are interrupting our regular airing to keep you informed of a growing situation in the western Everfree district south of Canterlot..." 


*****


The ground shook, the trees trembled, the birds took flight, and Tech Beat stared at me, shocked to silence.

For half a second, I felt powerful. And then it was over. 

Time was so relative for that half a second that stretched on forever. No sooner had I said my new name, a power filled me, or at least the air around me, and I’d almost felt as if I had my magic back. But no sooner had I heard it, felt it, fallen into it, the sound around me ceased, and I fell to my knees, gasping.

Tech Beat watched me fall. He didn’t react at first, staring at me uncomprehendingly til the glassiness faded from his eyes. There, standing in between the thinning trees, we stared at each other, him in awe, me in confusion. 

“Well...that was something,” he breathed. 

I shook my head, backing up, “Wait, what wa-”

A scream cut the air in the distance. Tech flicked his head around, “We have to go.”

I fell in to his right as we continued charging through the trees. I felt a pit in my stomach, hollow, almost like I was sick, but different. I was distracted, though, when I felt a pulse in the ground beneath my hooves, in time with Tech’s hoofbeats. I noticed his scowl strengthen along with the Quake as we burst from the treeline and into view of the town. 

Elderberry stared up at the building before her. The tall, grey-faced building loomed near the treeline, small windows and a pair of small back doors shut against the forest. It took me a moment to realize, but I was staring at the back wall of the Hoofington Clinic.

“Berry,” hissed Tech, sliding to her side. “Where’s Riff? He was right behind you!”

“Trees,” Elderberry muttered. “Shadows and safety.”

Tech and I shared a look. Then both our gazes snapped to the building as a loud, soundless chattering filled the air. 

“Building,” Berry whispered. “Lights a traps.”

“Ugh, we don’t have time for this!” Tech struck a hoof to the ground. a shockwave rumbled off through the ground. I heard a scream on the other side of the building.

“The building’s evacuating,” I realized. “Whatever happened was big. The guard will be here in minutes.”

Tech took another half-step, raring to go, but cautious. “But...we need to go in, find this bug! We can all hear it! But we don’t know why yet!”

Where Changelings go, Taken disappear.

“There’s a Taken pony in there.” I stepped up to Tech’s side as he watched me. Looking at the featureless grey wall looming above us, I felt conviction growing in my breast. I stomped a hoof to the earth, and a terrible low bass line echoed out around me. 

“We need to go in now.”


*****


“We don’t know what we’re getting into...dammit, we need Riff for this!”

“It’s white halls and empty spaces inside. I think we’re good.”

Tech shot me a look and snorted. “I say we just wait a few more minutes. Then…”

“Looks like Elderberry disagrees with you.” I nodded at the other mare just a second before she kicked the left back door. Tech swore as she vanished within in a flash of neon light. 

Well then…

I walked up to the remaining door. The clicking from the building doubled. It wore on my mind, beating me down. For half a second, I started to turn away.

See how weak you are when it comes to a head? You’re a failure. 

I kept turning. I snarled, crouched low, and coiled my muscles. Tech was looking at me worriedly, but I grinned back at him. I felt the energy run through my limbs as the bassline rippled outwards again, silencing the Voice in my head.

How much power do you have over me now that I took your name away?

I bucked that door clean off of its hinges.

The buzzing trebled, but I didn’t let it beat me down. Instead, I spun and pushed it back with sheer force of will. I gritted my teeth and planted my hooves, focusing on nothing other than not giving in. 

You won’t beat me!

The Sound swelled around me, blocking everything else out. I drove it forward, pulling the sound into a tighter and tighter field, pushing it forward through the doorway. The sound was forceful, threatening in my ears. It was so constricted, I could see the hazy shimmer of it pulsing through the air. 

The clicking abruptly stopped.

I stood there, gasping as the energy fled down the hall, leaving me empty. In the silence, I heard Tech softly walk up beside me. 

“Well, that was really something.”

“What...did I just do?” I asked. 

“Whatever you did, it disorientates, confuses, and drains anything in your line of fire. And I’m pretty sure your trigger is Conviction.”

I pulled in a breath and stood tall. I chuckled dryly as I breathed out. Disorientates, confuses, and drains. Sounds like a normal Canterlot party. As to the ‘trigger’; he called it conviction, but I thought it much more amusing to think that I was beating down a monster with sheer stubbornness. 

“So what will you call it?” Tech asked, stepping up to the doorway. He kicked the doorstep, and a Quake trembled through the whole building. No sound was heard.

They’d all named their own Effect. Each was so different from the others that they couldn’t think of a blanket term. This Effect, this power that whole pony could hear or feel, or sense, was the remnant of what made us unique. If we chose, we could use it. Tech’s shook the world. Elderberry’s concealed her. Riff’s...Riff’s I didn’t know. But mine I knew all too well. The effect was one I’d used before, when I had the taps. I’d channeled it through the taps and controlled my friend’s minds as I hurt them. I knew what it was called.

“Warp.”

Tech nodded and his eyes hardened. “Okay then...Angel. Lets go.”

We stepped through the door into the dark service door of the hospital. 

Inside, the air was heavy, dark, even though the walls were just as white as they were in the wards above. I felt like I was walking through fog while being able to see perfectly. I felt like I was breathing water.

“Angel, you’ve been in here before, haven’t you?” Tech watched me as he whispered through the heavy air. 

“This is the reception, storage and consulting floor. The next two up are wards. The top on, I don’t know,” I answered, brushing past the true meaning of his question. “The Taken here was on the second floor in her own room, blacked out so it’ll easy to spot.”

Tech raised a brow at me but set off at a canter. I followed close on his tail. The lower passages led us up to the self-medication desk of the pharmacy. As we slipped over the counter, I took in the damage in the flickering of the broken lights. Shelves all around the central pharmacy were knocked over, pills and bottles strewn all about the floor. A torn shred of a lab coat hung off one of the canted wall units, ripped off on a nail just below a black scorch mark. 

“This place is a wreck,” I muttered, cautiously stepping across the dangerous floor. Hooves on lots of little round things tends to end badly for any pony. 

“I’m pretty sure there’s nopony on this level. They’d have heard us by now if they were hiding, and I don’t see any bodies.” Tech trailed along the edge of the room.

“Bodies?” I hissed. “It’s just one changeling! You think it would kill ponies?”

He shrugged as he jumped over a shelf. “It’s happened before.”

A rattle sounded above our heads, and we both stopped, looking up. 

“I guess we’re going up,” I muttered. I tracked the muted sound through the thick concrete above me. A light flickered to my left. My eyes barely caught the black blur that shot past in that momentary shadow.

I jumped back, turning, growling, only to lose my footing on a scattering of pills across the floor. I crashed down on a shelf.  I found it ironic that painkillers could hurt me so much. 

“Angel, what was that about?” Tech questioned, trotting up to me. He nearly slipped himself on the treacherous ground. “Oh, right…”

“Doesn’t matter!” I snarled, getting up. “Over there by the stairwell. I saw something!”

Tech’s face fell into a stony glare. I could feel the coldness radiating from him. “Good eye. Let’s go.”

“No, what about-” But he was gone. How he got to and up the stairwell that quickly was beyond me. Instead, I focused on the muted thud on the floor directly above me. There was no way that was Tech. I could feel the shudder of his Quake from where it emanated on the other side of the floor. Tech had whatever it was covered, I reasoned. I was free to investigate this second unknown. Whatever it was, I could take it. 

I made for the other stairwell on the other side of the room.

The pharmacy was just to the left of the main atrium. through the glass doors, I could see the edge of the exit, and the few remaining ponies moving there in the evening light. In a few more minutes it would be full night, then, I imagined, we would be at a disadvantage. I hurried up the stairs.

The first floor wards were in relatively good condition. The lower pharmacy had probably been the escape route for most ponies in the building and most likely suffered the worst of a stampede, whereas this level was nearly untouched. There were still a few pieces of equipment knocked over, scattered papers, and an empty bed here and there along the wall, still mussed from when their occupants had been rescued. My examination was cut short by a quiet shuffling in the first ward off the hall. 

I snapped to attention. The doorway was only a few lengths away, leading to the central open recovery ward. the soft sound ceased as I took a step forward. I heard a quiet, constant tick.

I stood against the wall, preparing to move. Above me, I heard a sudden crash. To my left, across the ward, a shout, and behind me a tap-tap sound. Under the sudden assault of noise in the silence, I built up my courage and jumped. I landed foursquare in the entrance. All the beds were empty, but the tick-ticking increased. I lowered my head as a pressure wave built behind me. I reared and slammed my hooves down, and the sonic blast careened across the room. As the haze of the wave swept through, a few loose chart sheets flew into the air, and yet not a single sound was heard. But a voice ahead of me died in mid scream. The ticking to my left chattered on. 

The bunk nearest me was overturned. I peaked around it, seeking that noise. There, huddled under a blanket. It was a small, furless, maneless body and two big blue eyes staring back at me. I snarled before I realized what I was looking at. 

A little filly, scared out of her wits, hooked up to a heart monitor that was broadcasting her terror. Her chart, lopsidedly dropped on the ground before me, read in bold letters ‘BURN RECOVERY’. Her eyes, ice blue and wide, stared up at me unseeing. My heart clenched. 

My Warp gone, the voice at the other end of the ward found it’s owner. A groan wound up from the other entrance, and a few flashes of light. 

I squinted and leaned up to look at the pony in question. “...Elderberry?”

A sudden hissing and clicking, the rattling of a last breath and the scent of petals drying in the dark surrounded me. For half a second, I knew Fear. Then it was sucked out of me. 

The world greyed as I turned, and I felt a touch on my back, then my shoulder. All I could feel was a weight over me, a lost voice shouting, screaming, begging for something. Hungry and lost and cold, then the world was purple. 

A bright neon purple that shifted quickly to red through orange, yellow, then green. The presence over me was knocked aside with a scream, and I pulled myself back together in the reprieve. As fragile as I felt, I called up my will and pushed. 

The flashing light and the hissing scream in my ears ended. 

I shook my head to rid myself of the disorientating effects of the light and looked about. Elderberry stood against the far wall beside the entrance, looking out. In the hall beyond, the twisted shadow of my assailant disappeared the way I had come. A sharp sound of a high guitar riff cut back from the opposite direction, and above us, the hard rumble of a Quake shook small pieces of the ceiling boards down. Tech. 

I turned back and huddled the filly behind her bed. I pulled the barricade aside and reached in to nuzzle her, but she flinched back with a squeak. Of course, she was blind. “Hey, it’s okay, we’re friends. Please, let us help you?”

For a second, the only sound was the tick of the heartbeat monitor. Then, softly, “O-okay…”

I bent my neck to her, trying to help the little one up, but I was hurriedly pushed aside. I was surprised to see, in my place, a stony-faced Elderberry. 

The lean unicorn lowered her head, muttering soft sweet nothings I would never credit coming from her mouth as she nudged the bare-skinned foal to her shaky legs, then lifted the youngster to her back. Shivering, the filly nestled down into Elderberry’s thin grey coat as the lithe mare turned back to me. 

I raised an eyebrow. “Are you gonna be okay carrying her?”

“The spark of the future,” she intoned. “My life for hers.”

Riiiiighty then. I looked around, trying to relocate my shocked senses. Noises were beginning to filter up from below; soft anxious voices calling and an infernal buzzing click. The changeling was still stalking us. One of many sounds ceased suddenly, and I looked over to see Elderberry casually crush the heart monitor’s display into silence. 

That wasn’t disturbing at all.

The guitar was playing again, to my left, away from the voices. I recognized the tune; an old farming song called ‘Come Hither Sweet Children’, one of those sickeningly sweet, happy songs they teach youngsters in kindergarten. It was also very clearly Riff Pick. 

That song was clearly a message. I turned left, up the hallway. 

Elderberry fell in behind me as I trotted up the hall, flanked either side by wards, now empty. Or maybe not? Either way, when the changeling was...handled, they would be safe. That meant following Riff for now. We had to protect the filly. I glanced back every now and again, not missing the way Elderberry checked even more often than I did, a strange half-smile gracing her thin lips. 

The hallway ended in another flight of stairs. A wheelchair had crashed down the flight in the evacuation, but there was no sign of the occupant other than a slight trail of blood. 

I stopped shy of the stairs. We were running up, away from the safety of the ground. We were walking into a corner. I hated corners. As I stood dithering, Elderberry brushed past me and carried the youngster up, following Riff’s chords trustingly. After a moment, I did the same. 

It was there, in the tight confines of the stairwell, that the changeling attacked again. 

In a flash, it was on me again, that awful chittering noise screaming at me. This time, I reacted faster. A wave of my Warp thrummed around me, and the changeling’s effect diminished as it slipped to the ground. I didn’t pause to look. Instead, I pushed Elderberry forward, shouting, “Move, for Celestia’s sake, MOVE!”

And move Berry did. She more...blinked. And suddenly I was facing empty air. I didn’t have time to question it as the screaming chatter rose back up behind me. I spun to face the changeling, getting my first good look at it. It looked exactly like you’d expect a changeling to look: downright creepy. Solid, listless eyes, insectile wings, leathery, chitinous skin, fangs, and a warped, crooked horn. It hissed at me. But through the anger, I still sensed a question. 

Then it leapt. 

I was able to dodge, bringing up a hoof to strike it, but it was already backing off again, snapping at me like a dog. I felt anger, and the Warp flared up around me. A pulsing bass synth roared around me, tinting the air a hazy sky-blue. It felt powerful. 
The changeling screamed, then charged horn first. 

Horns as combat weapons were not unheard of; just the other day, I’d seen Berry impale this monster’s brethren through the chest, but it was not something I was familiar with. In the rush, I reared back, uncertain. The Warp fell away, and suddenly, I was standing on my hind legs, my vulnerable underbelly exposed as the changeling charged full tilt to kill me. 

Good thing I knew how to punch. A well timed blow to the back of it’s head left it dazed with a face-full of stairs and me on it’s neck. I couldn’t hold it down though. Instead, I jumped back, up the stairs, and across to the opposite hall through a nurse’s station, the changeling hot on my tail. 

I managed to get to the other hall before the changeling could follow. We ended up in opposite halls, the nurses station and the first ward between us. I saw its black shadow follow me as I dashed along the hall, leaving the walls of the center ward between us. We were on the top floor of the hospital. The only place higher was the roof, and the only stairwell was in the other hall. I was trapped. 

Looks like you’ve run yourself into a corner, Scratch. Now you’ll die. I’ll laugh as you breathe your last breath.

I hate being trapped. I lowered my head, snarling.

You. Won’t. Win.

I felt the Warp pulling up around me, and I shaped it around my body. my thin fur rippled where a hazy blue wave of sound crossed my shoulders, arcing either side to circle me. The open entrance to the ward on my side was my only option; the changeling was mirroring my every movement in the other hall. I could hear its chitter-chatter grinding on me. I wouldn’t back away, I’d face it! 

I stepped into the entrance. The changeling mirrored my every move. We stood, facing each other across the wrecked ward, me with shimmering Warp, it with changeling fire. Both of us saw the hospital bed in the middle of the room, the blanket still gently rising and falling with steady breaths. 

I recognized the black-and-white mane, the sky-blue muzzle. His eyes were closed, blissfully unaware of his surroundings, or how much danger he was really in. Above all of this was the shock of seeing a hospitalized and drugged Chasing Haze.

What the hell is he doing here?!

I didn’t have time to dwell on it, for the changeling too saw the helpless pegasus. Slowly, a terrible, very real scream broke the ambience, a sound of pain and loss and fear that nearly broke my resolve. Then the changeling fired. 

Green changeling fire seared through the air, burning cold, clearing Chasing’s chest by inches. He didn’t feel a thing. I felt it though. It was hungry, and I was its meal. I didn’t feel like being consumed by the unholy light, though, and my Warp rushed to meet it. Anger, fear, rage, and grief powered it, and the Warp wormed through the air, a tunnel of sound that shimmered in the air with it’s own power. The Changeling fire fell into its immutable influence, and burned itself out in the soundless tone. The Warp ripped onwards, the power of it striking the changeling across its entire body, drowning out its chatter and will, forcing it to it’s knees, helpless. A rumble shot through the whole building. 

Then the roof came down. 

The whole other side of the ceiling came down on the immobilized creature, crushing it instantly as tons of concrete poured down in pony-sized chunks and dust. Moonlight bleached the air white as a grey shape dropped down onto the ruble. It turned to me, calling out, “Angel, are you okay?”

“Riff!” I cried. Relief filled me, and the last remaining tendrils of the Warp died instantly. I rushed up towards him, but stopped next to Chasing’s bed. He was still sleeping calmly, unaware of the world. Whatever drug he was on, it was really good. 

“Come on Angel, we gotta go! There’s guards everywhere! He’ll be fine, but if they spot us, they’ll clap us in irons for this!”

‘Right.” I scrambled up the fallen debris, up into the night air. I reached for the ledge of the intact roof, but it was just out of my reach. I took a deep breath and jumped for it. I caught the ledge, but slipped, falling back. A grey hoof reached down before I could, and caught me. 

Tech Beat hoisted me onto the roof with a tired smile. “Dammit Angel, never make me do that again, okay?” He pulled me into a quick hug, full of relief, “Thought we lost you already for a minute there.”

“I’m...fine. “ I muttered stiffly. Waaay too close for comfort. Tech made sure I was fine, then stepped away. I saw Elderberry standing attentively over a small bundle of blankets.

She smiled thinly and nodded to me. 

Riff Pick flew up into the night air and looked down onto the street. he didn’t need to tell us what was happening; I could hear the voices shouting in the building beneath us. Tech heard it too. 

“Guess that’s our cue to leave. Come on, we’ll make it back to the forest from here.”

“We can’t,” I muttered. “The pegasus you rescued me from is on the lower levels, still passed out. When he wakes up, he’ll tell them about the Taken hiding in the woods.”

Tech’s ears splayed back. He looked to Elderberry, who shook her head sadly, and Riff, who watched on thoughtfully. “Well...where too, then?”

“We could hide out along the borders, circle west, back towards Ponyville?” Tech suggested, “Nowhere’s safer for us than there. Weird things in the woods is kinda the norm.”

Riff shuffled a little, looking torn. He looked apologetically to Tech, then turned to me. 

“...Angel. Look , I know you probably don’t want to know, but I should tell you; I got into the hospital through one of the upper offices after you guys arrived. I found some release forms on the desk, forms for Octavia Philharmonica.”

I blinked. “...What.”

Riff walked up to me, “She was here, this evening. She left only an hour ago on the Canterlot Express.”

“H-how…Why?!” I shouted, pushing him away, “Why was she here?!”

Riff looked away.

I breathed heavily, hearing the rising calls of ponies around us. Octavia. She’d been here. She was going to Canterlot. We were stuck. I looked at the cracks running through the roof, surrounding one corner of the building. The structure was shifting. I looked up. 

“Tech, you Quake this building one more time. I have a plan.”

Tech wanted to argue, Riff looked sad, and Elderberry, unreadable as ever, tucked the blankets in firmer around the little filly. In the end, they all said nothing against me, and Tech took a few steps up to the corner. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Angel.”

I smiled thinly as the shockwave knocked the corner to the ground. Our escape and diversion all in one. I knew how we would escape, and where to.

 Everfree, safety

Have to help, fix, heal...

Canterlot

Judgement     


Redemption