//------------------------------// // I. - An Unexpected Meeting // Story: Whispers of the Past // by Sealcake //------------------------------// She didn't wake up to the sounds of civilization, she didn't wake up to the sound of engines flaring to life or by the sounds of nature -though, that bird was good at trying-, instead, she woke up from her slumber thanks to the light that had seeped through her eyelids. And it scared her, for a moment, to think that all that had happened had been nothing but a light show, a singularity in her infinity-long imprisonment. But the ground beneath her hooves turned around her theory, as for once in a really long time she felt solid, dirty earth staining her black fur. She took a deep breath, relinquishing and yet not believing the smell of wet earth -petrichor, yes, that was the word- that assaulted her nostrils. While the sensation was pleasant, her lungs suddenly shrunk to the size of raisins, and then expanded so much that she felt they were going to burst open her ribcage. Her body reacted, her muscles tensing as if they had been shocked by lightning. The innocent song of the bird sounded, for a moment, like a thousand sonic booms at once. And all of this happened as her mouth was locked open in a pathetic effort to get air I need air air air more air! She thought if that was what felt a fish when being throw back at the sea after spending too long in dry land. "Woah, there! Are you ok?" A voice -male, judging by its bass- caught her attention and she turned her aching neck to the direction where the voice had come from. However, such actions would not go unpunished and she quickly closed her eyes when the dim light from her surroundings burned her corneas like the concentrated sunlight would do to an ant. Fearing for her eyesight, she opened her eyes slowly, the light from the Sun damaging them. She blinked rapidly, the blurry shape of an equinoid creature becoming clearer with each blink. blink Pale yellow fur. Male. blink Pink, short mane. Locks of equal lenght falling to both sides of his face. "Do you need help?" he asked. She nodded, her neck barely supporting the weight of her head. She tried to stand up, her legs trembling pathetically underneath her weight. She stumbled as her wings -which were, in her situation, practically nothing but dead weight to add to the count- unbalanced her already weak body. The stallion, finally catching up in her state, came by her side and used his head to support her neck. Her body relaxed with his touch. 'Contact! Physical, real contact! I'm here, I'm really here!' Though her mind screamed in joy, her body did not. At least, not in joy. It hurt, every muscle felt like it had been used to lift a ton of rocks from Terra, to the Sun, and back. It didn't prevent her from giving a glance to her surroundings, however. Grass covered the earth, growing wild. The Sun's light was filtered by the thick foliage of the trees -she wondered, briefly, how did a ray of light even fall in her eyes?- that surroundered her and the mysterious stallion. Who had no wings nor horn. "Earth pony," she murmured, so low that it came out unintelligible. Near her was a wooden, big cart with a variety of products inside, most of them covered with a scorched blanket, which was haphazardly in place with a rope. There were wheels, there were products, there was a cart in perfect conditions -except for the blanket and rope, but hey, she said cart-, but there was no pony attached to the cart. She thought about what kind of stupid pony would let their cart, filled with provisions, abandoned in a dark forest. The thought made her smirk in mockery. She glanced to the stallion to her right, who was helping her regain her balance. A strong stallion who was no small himself. 'Oh.' Her smirk disappeared. Maybe she had been imprisoned for her stupidity. Then it hit her with full force. It didn't feel like when one receives a punch to the stomach, no, the sensation was akin to somebody dropping an anvil on her head, followed by numerous and heavy, very heavy furniture. She didn't like the small spark of recognition that ignited somewhere deep in her mind. Accidents aside, she was free. Finally, after who knows how long, she had been freed from the place where she had been living during her banishment. The swirl, or rather, hurricane of conflicting emotions that sprung up inside of her was so potent, so ridiculously powerful, that her body did the only reasonable thing it could think of. It shut down. Butterscotch was a normal pony with a normal, boring life. His day-to-day activities consisted of baking and selling butterscotchs to the poor souls anybody who happened to pass through the little, old village he lived in, with the occasional trip to the neighboring town to buy supplies to make and sell more candies. Wake up, bake, sell, go to sleep. Buy if ever necessary. Rinse and repeat. It was an easy-to-remember, short list. In fact, it could be summed up in one word: survive. No, wait, that was not fair to the list that he had so deeply ingrained in his mind that he couldn't forget it even if I bleached my brain with acid then lit on fire the r- It could be summed up... in seven: survive in the most boring way possible. And boy, was it boring. Waking up, baking caramels and selling them to the same old faces you had seen for the past twenty years, and then going to sleep feeling like you had accomplished something -yet nothing at all. Somebody should have added 'Die' in the list. Preferably before it even began. Would make it easier. But he knew it was worth it. Somewhere in the dark corners of his most perverse of thoughts, locked in a rusty cage and chained to the bars, he recognized that it was all worth it. And that thought would live in there until his body was rotting under six feet of dirt. Something that would not happen until a veeeery long and veeeeery boring time after. So, just to break up the routine a little, he had decided to go buy supplies. Posey, oh, sweet, little Posey, had seen his exhausted look complemented by the silent scream begging for something different and had decided to have pity on his soul and let him go to the neighboring town. And so, he had gone, he had bought things that they already had plenty of and he was walking back. The little break lasted one day to go, and if he speed up his steps -which, considering his situation, was something he so didn't want to do that you would think he was afraid of stumbling or something, even in a road which, you could pretty much said, was only used by him-, he would arrive to his house by noon, in time to return to his same boring ol' life. His boring and safe ol' life. Emphasis in the boring part. With such thoughts, Butterscotch didn't notice the dim magenta light that colored everything for a second, and then disappeared as fast as it had appeared. He just kept walking at a slow pace. With almost closed eyes that saw nothing but the road below him. It didn't matter if he lost his opportunity to see the Solar Eclipse Celebration from his home -though, they didn't have the best view, but he was not going to New Canterlot for that-. Honestly, he didn't care about that. It had been the same thing during the past millennia, and it wouldn't change now. Moon, Sun, overlapping thing. Yay, cheers, halleluyah. Even Posey didn't see it as a miracle like the normal ponies did. That is, if they could consider every pony passing through -he didn't dare to call them tourists, as the idea of somebody finding Sunny Ville a place to frequent and visit for its cultural, historical, or something-al merits was ridiculous to even think about; like the Ville had merits, ha!- a normal one, that is. After all, there had been that pair with that brown pony who called himself- uh, what was it again? Doc- boom! It felt like the solid earth he was walking on had transformed in an unbalanced and moving platform. The ground shook lightly, with clouds of dust going up and being swept off by the sudden wind. The leaves in the trees rustled and all went silent for a moment, it was as if no bug dared to even breathe. A second later, Butterscotch was exhaling a breath he didn't know he was holding. Though, after he regained his breathing, he heard a low, but piercing sound in the background, like a rock being throw from a great distance. The sound quickly grew in volume as he realized that, for the thrown object to possibly do that with its sound, it would need to: A) come closer, and B) near him. He hoped that it was not on him. Luna forbid that little colt was throwing rocks at him again. With his head filled with thoughts as to how punish that freaking shrimp, he barely ducked in time for a big object to pass over his head, with a trail of purple flames behind. Said object didn't stop and went into the trees, leaving small purple flames in their leaves that diminished and went off without his help. 'What the.' He stood, frozen, watching intensely, as if expecting the object that nearly got him killed to get out of the trees. 'Must have been a meteorite.' He was going to turn around when something caught his eye; the sight of the blanket that covered his products and the rope holding it in place burning. He inwardly groaned as he deattached himself from the cart, walking to one of its sides, his hooves ready for the task he was going to perform. He couldn't let the products burn. While money was not exactly tight in these times, he didn't make a fortune by selling candies, and he needed a good amount of money to buy what was on the cart. Sighing deeply and already regretting what would happen next, he looked in every direction to ensure that nobody would catch a glimpse of what he was going to do. He closed his eyes and put his hooves over the blanket and the rope, absorbing the purple fire onto his body. The warmth travelled through all his body, exciting every nerve. He felt slightly perturbed as his body shook in pleasure. 'Not now,' he thought. Not now, not ever. It was not worth it. It would never be worth it. I-it would n-ne-neVER fire f i re fiRE FIRE FIRE FIRE!!! He didn't notice his legs were trembling until his body nearly fell on the ground. Not that he would mind, because if his thoughts were going down that path then he needed to be stopped, and getting hit was a good way to snap him out of it. Worked everYFIRE. 'Calm down, calm down, calm down,' he repeated in his mind while mouthing the words. It was his mantra everytime he got carried away. But as the ground under his hooves got scorched, he wondered where in the whole wide world was Posey when he needed her. The answer was clear; away, baking caramels in the comfortable and peaceful little village where he lived, living a tranquil life where no pressure was on her, where the fire didn't consume everything. He was going to lost it, he knew it. Sweet, little Posey wouldn't even know what had happened to him. And he was going to die, because he preferred that to- to- to- Butterscotch hadn't noticed how silent the forest was until a low, but desperate chocked gasp was able to reach his ears without being muffled by the sounds of nature. Though, well... it was being sort of muffled, but... Why didn't that bird shut up was one of the many mysteries that he needed to solve. Standing up -in what moment had he fallen? had... had the fire damaged him that much?- he attached the cart to him -no way he was going to leave it alone in the road- and made his way towards the direction of the sound. Partly believing to find nothing but a mere burned rock made pieces by its trip in Terra's atmosphere, partly believing that his mind had already gone bonkers. After all, he was a little crazy. All ponies were a little crazy. Even the snobbish jerks from New Canterlot. Especially the snobbish jerks from New Canterlot. Butterscotch would never forget that runt with a 'green-like-a-pear, you rural... thing!' mane. "Don't lie to yourself," he said through his teeth, not even noticing he was saying those words out loud, "it is as green as my p-" His train of thought was stopped by the sight before his eyes; a tall, black mare laying on the ground, gaping like a fish. His diabolical inner self wanted to laugh at what he was seeing. The kind part of him won instead. "Woah, there! Are you ok?" Probably not, but it was worth a try. He wanted to scold himself for his words. However, he decided that it would do him some good if he did something productive once in his life. 'Well, Butty. Do it, gather information, you idiot.' If there was something Butterscotch loved to do, it was paying attention to details. He wasn't a pony who appreciated everything, that was true, but when he was there -as in, not being distracted by fifty different thoughts- and in front of something interesting, he liked to list every detail. Starting by the general aspect, he studied the mare in front of him and wrote in his mental list; tall, black, obviously female, ethereal mane, has horn, has wings... '-wait, she is an alicorn! Is she Queen Luna?! Oh my, oh my, OH MY.' He closed his mouth when she noticed that the mysterious mare was doing the same as him; studying him, listing the characteristics. His characteristics. As in his fur, mane, and -he hoped not- gender. Normally, he would be bothered by such an action, as someone taking a long look at him and at his body was not something he really liked. But considering he had done the same to her, and this 'her' was probably the Queen of the country he lived in, he decided to shove all his complaints in a box, close it with a lock, lit it on fire and then throw it to the deepest parts of his mind. Didn't stop him from almost screaming a 'Stop it!' to the alicorn, though. After another intense look from the mare, his nerves told him that they were getting pushed too far, so he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind, "Do you need help?" 'Ten out of ten of observation.' The mare nodded weakly and, after seeing her poor attempt at standing up, he came by her side and tried to help her by lifting her neck. Great, she could be dying but now she had a better look of the place. Butterscotch could swear that he could feel her gazing. She murmured something unintelligible, and then, out of nowhere, her body stiffened and she fell on his back. Well, her neck and head fell on Butterscotch's back, her body, however, decided to weight more than her weak legs could support and, taking advantage of her height, she fell atop of Butterscotch, throwing him to the ground. 'Great,' Butterscotch thought. 'What do I do now?' An annoying, childish voice in the corner of his mind, told him, 'Not getting crushed, for starters.' He was going to kill that voice one of these days. It had taken effort, but he had finally made it. Smiling proudly at his work, he went to the front part of the cart and attached himself. The alicorn's weight slowed him down, and the day had already been giving space to the orange sky, but he didn't mind that. Not when something so exciting had happened in his life. Of course he feared what Posey might think of the mare he had found when he arrived home, and he didn't even know what to say to her if -no, when- she woke up. The fact that she was an alicorn added another level of I am so very screwed to... well, everything. And he didn't even know who she was! Butterscotch had checked her eyes, her purple, dragon-like, shining eyes, and had concluded that this pony was not his Queen. She could be dangerous, she could be the bait for a trap, or something similar. But that didn't matter. Because she was hurt, and Butterscotch put that above everything else. It was a bad thing he hadn't carried his bandages during his trip to the other town, but the wounds weren't deep, nor were they bleeding... not that much at least..., and she was an alicorn. She fell like a meteorite and she survived the impact, with a side effect of dizziness, but she was, for lack of a better word, fine. ggghhhh And she was waking up, too. Butterscotch could feel the root of fear growing up and tightening around his heart, trying to paralyze every nerve in his body. He gulped, it was time to talk. If life had taught her something, was that -even with lost memories- waking up surrounded by jars of molasses, sacks of brown sugar, an entire variety of products and a blanket over your body with the purpose of warming you up, was a thing more confusing than sweet. As she slowly regained her conciousness, she looked up to the sky, groaning as she did so. The orange sky with its pink clouds was letting space to the night sky. A few stars were already visible, shining weakly in the firmament. She was trying to find the Moon when a male voice startled her. "Hey." She turned her head around at a speed that, having she not been an alicorn, would have snapped her neck in two. "Are you ok in there?" She nodded, not opening her mouth to answer. The cart -cart! she was being carried around in a cart!- shook a little as one of its wheels hit a loose stone in the road. "Uh, sorry for that." He was being cautious, she noticed. The ears glued to his head, the distance between his tail and his rump -which was very short, giving him a look similar to a dog with its tail between its legs-, the forced smile. She narrowed her eyes, there was no reason to act like one was stepping as if there were eggshells everywhere around her. She was not dangerous. Or at least, she didn't remember to be. The stallion must have noticed her inner thoughts, as he suddenly looked surprised, though a spark of interest shone in his turquoise eyes for an instant. It became obvious that he was interested in her, as his eyes peeked out from under his mane, where he was hiding his face before. As far as she knew, nopony carried strangers lost in the woods. This mysterious, gentle, pink and yellow pony had chosen curiosity over precaution. She didn't know why, but the kindness of this particular pony made her smile. "Wha-" Her sentence was cut off as a cough came instead of the next word, her throat vibrated in agony, letting her know that she had a dessert in there. A dessert pleading for a rain. The stallion looked at her with worry, stopping the cart in its tracks. "Is something wrong?" he asked, deattaching himself from the cart. The alicorn, biting her tongue to stop the coughs, signaled her throat using her hoof. The stallion caught on and, removing the blanket, searched through his products to find... "Huzza!" he yelled. A second after he realized what he had just said and coughed awkwardly. Rolling her eyes, the alicorn signaled again to her throat. She wanted something to drink, now. Noticing her desesperation, the stallion opened the bottle of milk and handed it to her. She took it in her magic and drank all of its contents, relinquishing on the feeling of the milk going down her sore throat. After finishing it, she put the empty bottle away and licked her lips, letting out a sigh of contentment. Though her happiness was cut short as her stomach growled. The stallion caugh up on that too. "Hungry? Uh, well, I think I have snacks in there..." Picking up a small green backpack, he opened it and got out small cereal bars, which he quickly handed to the alicorn. They all went down the alicorn's throat in less than thirty seconds. "That was all I had," he said in a whisper, wide eyes still staring in surprise at the alicorn in front of him. Said alicorn, who was still hungry -since when do cereal bars fill anypony?- but at least in a bearable level, lowered her head, gazing deep in the eyes of the yellow pony. "Thank you," she said. She smiled, and asked the question that had been wandering in her head, "What is your name?" "Butterscotch!" he replied, puffing out his chest in an attempt to look taller. He stopped and then, "What is your name?" The alicorn opened her mouth to answer, only to close it seconds after. What was her name? She didn't know! She didn't know her own name! "I..." Should she say the truth? "I..." She couldn't lie to this gentle pony. Lies were toxic things that ruined relationships. "I don't know..." Her voice came out with a tone of hurt, and she quickly moved her head away in an attempt to hide herself. She didn't know. She didn't know her name. This mysterious alicorn didn't know her own name. 'Buck it.' "Uh..." he started, rubbing the back of his neck. "I-it doesn't matter." Well, it wasn't a lie, not for him, of course. Posey would need more than that to trust this mysterious alicorn. But it didn't matter to him, and he was the only one there aside from her. So, yeah, didn't matter, was not important, not of any relevance at all. So screwed. "Really?" She didn't expect her own question to sound so hopeful, like a little foal expecting every house in Nightmare Night to have candy. She pondered about this last thought and saved it in her mental archives. 'Will research it later,' she said to herself. "Yeah... though... it would be easier if you had one..." He quickly backpedaled in his own words after seeing the look of inminent sadness in the stranger's face. "It doesn't have to be your real one! We can-" 'think, brain, THINK!' "-we can use a nickname, yeah, like... uh." Since when did he sound like a small child? "Your mane! Yes, we can make a nickname out of your mane. Ok?" The alicorn, who had watched his little outburst in different stages of amusement, could only nod in response. She didn't even dare to say 'yeah', fearing that such a word would bring poor Butterscotch out of his trance, and following that would be a heart attack or something similar. Butterscotch smiled, although it looked like a grimace more than a sincere smile. Seconds passed. "Oh, yes, your mane! We could call you..." He stared intensively to the gaseous-like mane. Pink, blue, dark blue and a whole spectrum of colors danced in something akin to a nebula. "Actually, I don't really know how to do this." 'Great as always, Butty.' He scrunched up his face, thinking hard. When was the last time he had used his brain for something that was not cynicism nor prices? He raged silently as a childhood memory appeared mockingly in his mind. Biting the insides of his mouth, he looked at the alicorn, whose face was scrunched up. 'Is she actually helping me?' Rather than confirming this thought, his brain resorted to the old way of suppot; the good fascinating sarcasm. 'No, Butty, she is thinking up ways to escape your stupi-obviously she wants to help you! She is confused, doesn't remember her name, and you are probably the first living being whom she had found!' Groaning inwardly, he let himself fall on his back. Looking up to the sky, he appreciated the different shades of blue that, closer to the setting sun, were replaced by soft oranges and pink hues. The dark leaves of the trees made a sharp contrast compared to the colors of the- "Twilight!" he shouted. The corners of his mouth twitching to make path to a smile. The situation felt surreal, like he had and epiphany or won the lottery or whatever. Though, considering that less than two hundreds ponies lived in Sunny Ville, winning the lottery was not that hard. It would be worth it if the prize had any value at all. Because, come on, who put a sack of orang- The screeching sound that came from the gears in Butterscotch's brain suddenly stopping was so loud, that he was sure that the alicorn would be capable to hear it. 'Doesn't matter. Stop derailing, mind!' "Yeah, that sounds... good." The alicorn seemed unsure, looking to a fixed point in space and biting the inside of her cheek. She blinked, one, two, three times and then snapped out of her trance. Smiling, she looked at Butterscotch. "So, 'Twilight' it is!" she exclaimed, moving her forelegs beneath her body. "Woah, what are you doing?" Twilight looked at Butterscotch, then at her legs, then at the cart, then back at Butterscotch. "Getting... out of the cart?" "Nope," he said, popping the 'p'. "Not doing that today, missy. You're tired and, as far as I can tell, malnourished and thirsty. You're not going for a walk." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Pleaseee?" she whined, her lower lip quivering in what she thought was the best puppy dog face. However, her own resolution to get out of the cart went straight out the window when her legs, which had been trembling, gave out and she fell on the cart. No, she wouldn't give up that easily. Using her right foreleg, she tried to move again, managing to put herself on her back. While her legs were spread out to the sides, at least her wings were comfortable. Just... great. She stared intensively at the dark blue sky, looked at Butterscotch, then crossed her forelegs and pouted. "Fine! Have it your way." Twilight could hear the smirk appearing. It just made her position all the more ridiculous. A red and not-burned blanket was dropped on her, muffling her huff. Hearing the wheels advancing again, she tried to move to a position -without removing the warm blanket- so that she could look at Butterscotch. "Hey," she called out in a soft whisper. "Hhmm?" "Are y-" 'That is not how it works' "-d-do you want to be my friend?" Twilight didn't know why, but her question sounded ominous. Like she had just asked a question that could change a thousand lives. But it was nothing compared to the would-be-answer, as it, being an answer, would be of more relevance than the question itself. And such important answer came out in a firm but gentle "Sure." Even if it was not a great, big and long monologue that encompassed all that ever known about friendship, and included small appendixes for each subject, Twilight felt like her insides had stopped revolting, deciding to settle down and warm up to the comfortable embrace of the meaning of that word. 'Sure.' This pony, this strange, kind and yellow pony, who knew her less than a day, and who had found her in the woods, scared and weak, had decided that he was, in all his right mind, completely sure about being her friend. And that fact, that small -but oh so big- shining fact left her with a sense of satisfaction so big that it couldn't be described in words. And as the cart stumbled with each pebble in the road, the night descended around them, bringing all the stars and constellations out with it. The Moon's light illuminated their path, and the sound of crickets made Twilight feel like she was in a movie, in one of those majestic yet relaxing scenes that usually came at the end of epic movies; when the adventure had ended and the heroes were preparing themselves to go back home, bringing with them treasures and tales from faraway and forgotten lands. The only difference was that their adventure was just starting. And she would love every moment of it. With those thoughts in her head, Twilight fell in a deep sleep.