FoE: Snippet Story

by Windrunner


Echoing Laughter

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"Boss, why?" The whimpering dull brown-coated earth pony quivering before him asked. He'd been thrown a couple meters aside with a single blow. He lay there in such pain. To others he might have seemed strong. Amongst the band of raiders, one of their weakest. The rarely heard voice of their leader grated so terribly, in some fashion defying description. It made him feel itchy all over, his fur almost rippling in response.
"You ask why? Then I shall tell you." His voice sounded..louder? More menacing than ever before.

"Our dead world cries out in pain. The rubble, the rock, and the stone. It all lies broken. The fallen ghosts are calling. A call which still goes unanswered. Courage and reason lost their course. None step forth to answer this call. Everything left to ruins. Faded and torn. I shall correct this." Hearing this sent chills along the injured raiders spine as that terrible voice rang in his head.

"The end came, taking the mighty armies of old with it. The scalded ground tortured, tormented for endless quiet moments ever since. Their hoofprints once spread across all of Equestria. The marks of their supremacy lay all but forgotten. Even from on high they fell, their pride torn from them. Great achievements they once crafted. All for naught." It hurt so much to listen to this deathly voice. Boss was a violent terror and strict leader, but this was something new. He'd never spoken or acted this way this before as far as he knew.

"Blistered, surviving rent and cracked pavement might give you the impression that long ago, so long ago, they had knowledge and the power to use it. A scorpions sting would have been far more pleasant. Mere poison you have some chance to survive. This dead world of ours is far worse. Those with so much knowledge and power did not have the foresight to gird themselves against their end." What was he talking about? Why was his voice so much stronger, more dangerous sounding than before?

"In their vanity they stood with heads held high until the very last second. How surprised they must have been to find themselves so powerless in the face of the inevitable. Perhaps they were cowards at heart, unwilling to do what was necessary. Did you know the ponies actually won the great war? In victory, they lost." The war? Everypony heard something of it, but what was this about? This was creeping out the raider. His heavy barding was cracked from that one blow. He knew Boss was very strong, raiders would not follow him otherwise, but was he truly this powerful? How would he know this stuff?

"Boss, I don't understand." It was all he could do to answer as he quivered, laying there.
"How weak could they possibly have been? Some dragged the very stars and planets across the heavens every day and still they fell. Where are the mighty now? They do not even have a grave to mark their passing. That is how worthless they all proved to be. You want to know why I stand angered?" The raiders ears laid back against his head as he stared up at their leader, he couldn't help it. Something just felt wrong about this.
"Stand." Boss ordered. It hurt so badly, but there was no choice or he would surely die right now.

Groaning he got to his hooves, shaking.
"Was that difficult for you? Does it hurt? Are you angry? Do not lie." Boss was surely tormenting him. He really was angered by it, he'd done nothing against their leader.
"Yes. Yes." He panted through the pain and gritted teeth.
"Yet you are standing. Well done. Make the pain your ally. Let this anger consume your mind and enrage you. Feel it coursing through you in all its intensity." Boss was speaking so strangely. What did he mean?

Why would he want him to do this?
"Now, strike me." Boss ordered. What? Strike him? Did he want to die? What was happening here?
"Boss, what.." He found himself laying on his side, having had his legs swept out from under him, smacking his head off the ground. He lay there groaning, holding a hoof to his head where it hit. So much pain.
"I gave you an order. Obey it. Stand." Boss told him again. The searing pain in his head was so bad as a little blood trickled from his mouth. Shaking even more than before he stood up. He felt like he was dying.

Was he really going to kill him? Why tell him anything at all if that was so?
"Angry? Hurting? Does it sear your insides? Feel all that hatred rising up within. Strike. Ball all that misery up and hit me as hard as you are able." That terrifically dark voice was making his head hurt even worse. Boss was right behind him. If he was going to die anyway he might as well do what he was told. If Boss wanted to die, then fine. Gathering all his strength he bucked Boss directly in the chest and.. Boss didn't move an inch, or at all. It was like landing from too far above onto a solid surface. The impact of his hooves did nothing except send pain back into himself. It made him yelp and fall on his stomach.

It wasn't possible. Boss should be dead. A shot like that should have killed anypony. Broken a bone, something. He didn't move, or even flinch. It just could not be.
"How does it feel? Knowing how powerless you are? How futile your anger and rage?" Boss tone sounded even darker than it already did. He was hurting so horribly now. That voice seemed to be making him angrier and angrier. So angry the pain seemed to be subsiding. He stood again without being told.

"I see you begin to understand. This lesson is over." With that Boss turned and left. A deep, dark and hollow sounding laugh seemed to follow him.

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What did we learn exactly?