Chapter 19
How did this happen? How could I have let it happen?
I leaned my head against the closet door. I was stuck in here, and I couldn’t get out.
What am I supposed to do?
I’d had my suspicions. But I’d been fooled. Fooled, to believe what I’d wanted to believe. To see what I wanted to see.
How could I have been so stupid?
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It was nighttime. Thunderlane, Stratus, and I sat around the kitchen table. I eyed my hand carefully, assessing what could happen. Three kings, three sevens, and an ace. I looked up at my opponents, trying to decide how to proceed.
“Do you have any kings?” Thunderlane asked me abruptly.
“Thunderlane.” said Stratus. “It’s not your turn.”
“Darn.”
“Anyway.” I said, grinning evilly. “Thunderlane, do you have any kings?”
“DARN!” Thunderlane exclaimed, handing over the last king. “Daaaaaad!”
“Sorry.” said Stratus, though he was smiling.
“Aaaand… that’s another set for me!” I put the four kings on the table.
“That’s nice.” said Stratus. “However…”
He gave me a grin to equal my own diabolical smile.
“Do you have any sevens?” he asked. I sighed, and handed over the cards. Stratus put the cards on the ground, and put his arms behind his head. “I win.”
Thunderlane and I groaned, and put the rest of our cards down. It was too bad we’d been playing first to three sets, since I now saw that Thunderlane had an ace in his hand.
“Best 23 out of 45?” said Thunderlane.
Stratus smiled. “Sure…”
I groaned, and threw my hooves up in surrender. “I quit.”
“Can I play?” asked Rumble. “Please?”
“Sure.” said Thunderlane, pushing a chair out with a hindleg.
I yawned, then got down from the table.
“I’m going to bed now.” I said, kissing Thunderlane on the cheek.
“Good night.” said Thunderlane, kissing me back. “Be up soon.”
Upstairs, I went to our bedroom, and laid down on the bed. I sighed into my pillow, then closed my eyes.
It was such an improvement, to see them getting along with one another.
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I slammed into the closet door again, trying my hardest to break the door open. I reached for my neck, before remembering that my sonic screwdriver and collar had been taken.
“What do I do?” I whispered. I leaned my head on the door, quivering.
I need to get out of here. But how?
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I was upstairs, reading from a Griffon history book. I'd finished catching up on Equestrian history, so I'd turned to other countries's accounts of the past thousand years. In addition, it'd been a long week, and this was going to be my only break from now until the end of the harvest.
I felt something cold in my chest. I started, and my ears came to full attention. I looked around, then whipped my sonic screwdriver out. I walked slowly down to the living room. I looked around carefully. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, and I knew, somehow, there was something wrong.
Then something knocked me on the back of the head, and I blacked out.
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I opened my eyes blearily. I jerked upright, whacking my head on a shelf.
“Ow!” I looked around me, and discovered I was in a closet, in the guest room. “How did I get in here?”
“I might have had something to do with that…” That voice. I was terrified, because what I’d heard confirmed all of my worse fears.
“Stratus?”
“Yes… and no…”
“What?”
“You know exactly… what.” he hissed. “You know our name…”
The strangeness of his voice. The cold I’d felt. All of this reminded me of one of my adventures with the Doctor.
“Tenebrous.”
Tenebrous was a non-corporeal alien species that took over and inhabited the bodies of physical beings who had experienced great emotional trauma. Which explained much of what had happened.
But how were they here on Equus? I needed to find out, and fast. If Tenebrous managed to spread to other hosts…
“Yes, we are Tenebrous.”
I put my hoof on the door, trying to open it. It held firm. I reached for my sonic screwdriver, but my collar was gone.
“So, Tenebrous…” I said, trying to stall for time. “Exactly how long have you been using Stratus as a puppet?”
“You know…”
Classic Tenebrous. As enigmatic and strange as ever.
“Since his wife died.”
“Indeed… he was easy to take over, and has served us well.”
I looked around for anything that could help me get out, but I didn’t see anything. No resources whatsoever. The closet had been stripped of everything except for the shelves that should have held what ever a guest brought.
“And why do you need me?”
“We do not… we know what you are, and you will not serve us.”
“Got that right. But why…?”
“We need you out of the way. You would interfere with us…”
“I suppose that’s true. But you know I have to stop you, right?”
“You would fail.”
“Then why am I in here?”
There was no response. Then I heard Stratus shift.
“Soon, we will be rulers of this world.”
“Have fun.”
“And your love will be taken by us.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He is vulnerable. He will be ours, and he will serve Tenebrous.”
I slammed on the door, trying desperately to get it open.
“Leave him alone!” I shouted. “Leave him alone!”
“Farewell, Time Lord.”
I heard hooves, then the door to the room closed.
And I sobbed quietly.
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Now here I was.
And I didn’t know where Thunderlane was. And I knew Tenebrous was after him.
I had to get out!
I looked around again. There had to be something, anything. I lifted the shelves off of their holders, and leaned them against the walls. I stood up, glaring at the doors.
“You shall not stand in my way.” I whispered, addressing the doors.
Override. All self-protection systems deactivated.
I braced myself. Then I launched myself at the doors. I had held myself back for a long time, restraining my strength. I unleashed my full fury on them, and they exploded outwards. Splinters.
I fell to the floor, my shoulders and sides scratched by the wood of the doors. Blood trickled from cuts on my face and side.
I groaned, making myself stand. Tenebrous had left my collar, but he’d taken the sonic with him. I ran downstairs quickly, and looked around. He was gone. I ran to the doors, and threw it open. I looked around, and panicked. How on earth was I supposed to find Tenebrous, or Thunderlane? I shuddered with frustration.
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After a long search, I found him. He was in the library, directly in the center of Ponyville. He had gathered many ponies to him. He had surrounded himself with Tenebrous to protect himself. If I could just get to him, I would be able to release Stratus from its hold. Because he was the origin of the infection, removing it from him would free the others.
Then I gave a silent cry.
Thunderlane was bound by his hooves, leaned against the wall. His eyes were wide and confused. His expression wasn’t blank, so I knew he hadn’t been changed yet. Tenebrous didn’t understand emotions.
How am I supposed to fix this?
“Help.” I whispered.
Obviously, no help came. I looked in through the window. I knew I had to do something, but I didn’t know what to do.
I had no choice.
Exterminate.
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Inside, Thunderlane was petrified. He stared wide-eyed at the ponies around him. All of them had blank expressions. His father had come to him, and asked him to come help him in the library. He’d been confused, but he’d gone with him. But when they’d gotten here, he’d been jumped from behind by two ponies, and tied up.
“Now.” Stratus came to a stop in front of him. “You will become one with us.”
Thunderlane stared at him, voiceless behind the gag. Stratus reached a hoof out, his shadow stretching out towards him…
Then the door exploded off of its hinges.
North came hurtling in, knocking one of the expressionless ponies off of their hooves. His eyes were cold as ice, piercing the darkness. The lights in the room flickered, and North spoke in a voice more terrible than Thunderlane had ever imagined him to be capable of.
“Release him, and I will have mercy…”
“Why would we do that?” asked Stratus.
“Because…” said North. “I will not have any if you do not.”
“Deal with him.” said Stratus, turning back to Thunderlane. Several of the ponies standing around them advanced.
North made them pay, sending them flying off of their hooves. Thunderlane watched as he sent another of them tumbling backwards, where their head hit the wooden floor with a loud crack.
North turned to face Stratus, whose hoof was mere inches from Thunderlane’s forehead. He shouted, and tackled him. The two of them went tumbling across the floor. Stratus delivered a heavy punch to North’s already bleeding shoulder, making him give a pained shout.
North pinned Stratus to the floor by his throat, choking the older stallion with his elbow. Thunderlane yelled through the gag, terrified by what he was seeing.
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Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!!!!!
I heard Thunderlane’s terrified scream, and froze. My vision cleared, and I saw what I was doing. I threw myself back from Tenebrous.
What am I doing…?
I looked over at Thunderlane, and saw the shock and fear in his eyes. A tear was falling down his cheek.
I looked back down at Tenebrous, who was coughing and hacking. I pinned him again, but this time with by his chest. I put a hoof on either side of his head, and peered into his eyes. He stared back, then started to shudder. I picked up the sonic screwdriver, which had fallen from the shelf where it had been put. I put the tip straight against his forehead, and turned it on.
Stratus began to shake violently. His eyes went dark, and he let out an unearthly howl. Thunderlane yelled again, but I forced myself to ignore him. Tenebrous howled again, and darkness streamed out of his mouth.
You may have beaten us… but you will pay…
The darkness swallowed me, and everything went black.
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Thunderlane watched as the dark cloud enveloped North. When it dissipated, he fell over. Thunderlane felt the ropes loosen, and pushed them off of himself. He pulled the gag off, then ran over to North.
“North?” He shook North’s shoulder, but he didn’t respond. “North!”
At the broken door to the library, Thunderlane heard a gasp. He looked around, and saw Twilight Sparkle staring in at the carnage. She walked forward a few steps, then stopped, looking around.
“What… happened… here…?” she said, her eye twitching.
Twilight listened to his frantic explanation, her eyes flitting from Stratus, to the ropes, to the unconscious strangers, and to North. She kept surprisingly calm during the whole thing. When he had satisfied her information-wise, she helped him get North and Stratus upstairs. Then she made sure all the strangers were taken to the hospital. They cleaned the library, then went back up to the beds. Stratus was stirring, but North hadn’t moved.
“What’s wrong with him?” asked Thunderlane.
Twilight shrugged. “I don’t kn-”
She froze, then looked back at Thunderlane.
“What was the last thing that the… the thing said?”
“You may have beaten us-” Then Thunderlane got it too, and looked down at North’s still face. “But you will… pay.”
“Is he…?” he whispered. “Is he going to wake up?”
“I… I think so.” said Twilight. “But I’m not sure.”
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Thankfully, I did wake up. When I did, it was dark outside. The stars were shining in through the window, the moon being out of view. I groaned, sitting upright.
The sheets of Twilights guest bed fell off of me, and I looked around. It took me a moment to recall my last memories. I looked around, and saw Thunderlane leaning against the bed.
“Thunderlane.” I said, touching his forehead with my nose.
“Huh?” He started awake, then looked up at me. “North? You… you’re okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Good.” he whispered. “I… Twilight thought you might not wake up.”
I nuzzled him, wrapping my arms around him protectively. We sat together silently, and I thought about all that happened.
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After saying goodbye to Twilight, who insisted on giving me a check up, we walked home. Stratus came by later, having woken up. We made our nightly preparations in silence. No one spoke, which was fine with me. I needed to think about all that had happened today. I knew that Tenebrous could never be destroyed, as it did not exist in a physical form. It was an ancient natural force. I'd dispersed it, but it would reform eventually. I'd removed it from Stratus, and I was determined to make sure it never came back to this family. And I knew of only one way to protect them.
Once Rumble was asleep, I took Thunderlane aside. It took all my strength, all my will to make it through our conversation.
“I… I have to go.”
“Go where?” he asked.
“Away. Away from here.”
Thunderlane frowned. “Why?”
“You have a lot on your hooves.” I looked down at my own. “You don’t need to worry about me, too.”
“But…”
“I… I’m sorry.” I sniffed. “It has to end.”
“We’ll still be friends?” asked Thunderlane.
“Of course.”
He sat still, then hugged me one more time. I hugged him back, feeling my insides twist and break.
“I’ll still love you.” I whispered.
“I know…”
I gathered my things, and left quietly. I didn’t want to deal with Rumble. I walked down to the corner of the street. I looked longingly back at the house. I felt myself tearing up, and rubbed at my muzzle, sniffing.
“Good bye.”
Thunderlane looked out the window, where North had gone around the corner. He covered his head with his hooves, and started crying. He felt a wing over him, and leaned against his father. Thunderlane sobbed into his shoulder.
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Big Macintosh heard somepony knock on the door. He went to the door, and opened it. North was standing there, looking depressed. His shoulder was bandaged, and there was a scrape on his cheek. His saddlebags hung haphazardly from his shoulders.
“North?”
North looked up at him, then shook his head. Then he just leaned his head against Big Mac’s chest and started crying silently. Big Mac was surprised. He didn’t understand, but he put an arm around him. North sobbed harder, and collapsed against him.
Big Mac picked North up, still sobbing, and carried him inside. He waved Applejack off, and helped him upstairs. He took him to the bed he’d used before, and put him in it. He didn’t ask any questions, he just stayed there, watching over North until he fell asleep.
A sleep of full of nightmares.
