//------------------------------// // Too bad dad is away on work. // Story: Sorry, but mom is having a relapse right now. Could you come back later? // by Blue Blaze {COMET} //------------------------------// He could already tell something was wrong. The normally deceptively busy household was silent in the light of the afternoon sun. He called the cottage on the hill his home for as long as he remembered, and with it he recognized the difference between a bustling day and a quiet one. However, he rarely knew silence like this. The house that was normally filled to the brim with critters and cute animals inside and out was now a quiet island of desolation. Nothing moved. Nothing twitched. Not even the warm southern wind dared to make a move, and the blades of grass on the front lawn seemed more paralyzed still. He stared from the little bridge that led up to the front steps, his yellow eyes shining with a mixture of curiosity and fear. His fine, almost glossy Pegasus coat was shining in the sunlight, somewhat of a cherry lemonade colour. His blonde mane draped over his face, parting in the middle while his tail was cut neatly short, both kept finely groomed. His right ear twitched. No birds flew around, roosting on their birdhouses and singing their pleasant songs. No squirrels or bunnies romped around the grounds, chasing each other in playful sessions of tag. The chickens appeared to be all in their coop. Harry the bear was nowhere to be seen. It almost screamed of trouble to him, almost pushed him away from his home. But, with a gulp and a shift of saddlebags, he approached the entrance. His hoof steps on the pavement were almost like loud cymbal crashes in a library, disturbing the quiet in such a way that it was like painting a target on his chest. Not even the leaves on the trees greeted him in the shivering fashion like they normally do. “I’m home!” he announced, opened the door wide. There were no lights on, and all the blinds on the windows were pulled down, casting dark shadows in the corners of the room. A shiver ran up his spine. The minimal sunlight that came through the windows cast slim rays across the living room, dust floating in their air momentary visible. There were birdhouses hanging from the ceiling, and mouse holes cut into the bases of the walls, but no creature moved between the spaces. The green couch in the west side of the room was slightly tilted from its normal perpendicular position and the grass cushions that usually sat on it were scattered around the room. There was a large scratch across the mahogany coffee table in the middle of the room, and he briefly wondered what could have caused such a mark, besides Harry. The lamp beside the cabinet was knocked down, the cabinet itself was wide open with one of its thin lightwood doors half-missing and the contents of the cabinet, several fluffy quilts and blankets, were scattered about the living space. “Anypony here? Hello? Mom? Are you there? Dad? Is this some kind of joke? Prism Arrow, I swear to Celestia…” His breath hitched up in his chest as no response was given. It looked like as if nopony had lived there for years, and the last time somepony did live there they left in a much panicked, swift hurry. Choir Wings had read enough sci-fi books to know where this was going. He dropped his saddlebags near the front door. “There’s nothing to worry about, Wings,” He reassured himself as he slowly made his way across the room. “Nothing to worry about at all. Heh, you totally haven’t fallen through a hole in space-time without knowing. No, not at all. Your parents totally aren’t long gone and if you went and checked outside, Ponyville would still be in one piece, not in a total post-apocalyptic heap. Yep. You're just fine.” Choir Wings flinched as the loud crash of falling plates resonated in the room. He peered forward facing towards the kitchen, and with shaky step after shaky step, he made his way deeper into the cottage. When he reached the maw of the kitchen, he was appalled beyond belief. Everything was in a mess. All the cupboards were open and the ingredients inside were spilled onto the floor in a mixture of white and orange. The sink was actively running and currently overflowing the basin onto the tiled floor, which was somehow cracked in places. Glass pieces of broken bowls and plates were all over the floor, creating a somewhat hazardous environment underhoof. Various cutlery were sticking out of the walls around the room, forcefully placed there by somepony – or something. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought that a fight would have been the cause of such disaster, but there was not a drop of blood in sight. If there was a struggle, how could have it ended so clean and yet left the place dirty? There was another crash, and orange juice spilled outward towards Choir’s hooves. He looked up. Suddenly he realized there was a creature with a large matted pink tail leaning into the open fridge, throwing various things out here and there. He yelped, and realized how big of a mistake it was too late. The creature turned around, and its crimson eyes stared into his while it hissed. He noticed that the monster was certainly equine in shape, except its coat was a sickly yellow and its mane lighter than a shade of pink should be, not to mention the poor state its tail was in. There was a pair of large membrane wings on its back the same colour of the rest of its coat. Its muzzle was small, but there were two deadly-looking especially sharp fangs sticking out of its mouth. There was a red paste splattered around her lips. He sniffed, sensing a distinct sharp odor in the air. “Apple sauce?” he asked himself. There were large eyelashes that hung from sinister looking eyes, and suddenly he realized that the creature looked vaguely familiar to him, especially with the trio of pink bats stamped onto her backside. “Mom?!” he exclaimed just before the vampony pounced him. Falling backwards, he shouted as the yellow creature hopped on top of his stomach, pinning his back legs down as she sat across his chest, straddling him. “Mom w-w-wait!” he pleaded. The vampony was salivating, dripping down all over his coat. There was a sort of gleeful smile on her face, and she licked her lips before pinning his forelegs down with a surprising burst of strength. Her breath was almost nauseating, smelling strongly of fermented apples. “Was she drinking cider??” he asked himself just before she reeled back and got ready to bite. “A-APPLES!” Wings screamed, breaking the vampony’s attention for a split second. She stared at him with a curious expression on her face. He managed to get his left foreleg free from her pin. “T-There’s apples in the pantry! Over there!” He pointed directly to the left. They both looked, and Choir Wings awkwardly realized that the pantry was already wide open, empty, and devoid of any apples. The monster gave him a skeptical look. “T-T-They’re in there! Trust me! You just haven’t looked hard enough!” he abstained, throwing his hoof in the direction of the pantry repeatedly. A wide smile appeared on the vampony’s face before she leaped off the poor colt and shot straight into the pantry, somehow managing to fit inside as the door swung shut behind her. The pantry clattered with activity and visibly shook with her movement, and Choir Wings finally let out a breath of relief. “I can’t believe this. Another relapse.” He thought to himself. He took another gander around the room, still sitting on the floor, scratching the back of his head. “Look at the mess of this place! How am I supposed to clean all of this up? And dad won’t be home for several days! He groaned, and buried his face in his hooves. “What am I going to do?” He sighed. ”Maybe I can get Aqui to help me. I wonder where she is?” Just then, someone knocked loudly on the front door behind him. “Now what?” he wondered. He got up begrudgingly and trotted to the entrance. Opening it a smidge, he peeked outside to see a perky, pear-green mare with a reporter’s hat and a set of brown saddlebags across her back. Once she realized the door had been opened, she jumped to attention and met Choir Wings with a comforting, disarming smile that was almost mischievous in a way. Her bright cherry eyes had a certain eagerness to them, and Choir Wings found himself biting the inside of his cheek nervously. “Hi there!” she greeted him. “I’m Berry Batty, and I’m with Wilderness Weekly to get an interview with Fluttershy this afternoon. We had planned it quite a while back. Is she in right now?” Choir Wings' face rapidly lost colour. “Uh oh.”