Skyfall
Concept and Writing by Viktor Lionheart
This is my first fanfic ever, so I would greatly appreciate any feedback you could give me to help me improve my writing. Thank you all for your time!
Chapter 5: Quietus
For what felt like the millionth time, Fluttershy tugged her comforter up beneath her chin, rolling somewhat clumsily onto her side. As her face sank into her pillow, her soft groan of anxiety became muffled by its plush embrace. It was no use, she thought as she involuntarily fluttered her free wing, kicking at the foot of her bed; she simply couldn’t get comfortable.
But it wasn’t that simple, she knew. Nothing about her bed had changed, at least nothing physically. The only difference was that instead of having just one occupant…
She immediately slapped herself mentally, but was unable to quash the niggling unease as well as the mortified blush that had flashed into being as that thought faded. Mercifully, Acheron remained silent, and indeed seemed utterly oblivious to her discomfort. It was a bizarre sensation, to say the least, knowing that he was there, fully aware of every aspect of her surroundings and yet she had no manner of gauging his presence aside from his occasional vocal interjection. At the moment, she found herself almost wishing that he would say something, but he had remained passively silent for the past several hours. The result was that she couldn’t help but feel that he had somehow changed position, or had otherwise disappeared, filling her with a peculiarly mixed concoction of worry and a distantly realized dread.
“Hello?” She whispered hesitantly, her voice shaking near the end as she was startled by the volume of her own speech in the silence of her bedroom. Naturally, there was no response, but she could not seem to shake the feeling that she was being watched.
She shivered slightly, tugging harder on the blankets as she lifted herself wearily from the mattress to survey the room. Not a single sign of motion broke the stiff serenity of her surroundings, every creature safely asleep in their homes and every plant and hanging in its place. The only source of light filtered through the rather small window off to her left, painting the tiny porcelain figurines that decorated her mantle in a ghostly silver light that seemed to make their beady painted eyes follow her intently.
“Stop it, Fluttershy, you’re just being silly.” She whispered. This time, she didn’t expect anypony to answer her; the sound was purely for her own comfort. “What would Rainbow say if she saw you shivering in the dark like a little foal?”
In the back of her mind, something stirred.
“Hello?” She said again, this time a bit more loudly. Slowly, she felt it rouse briefly again, but then drift back into silence.
Was he…sleeping?
She wondered briefly at that; she supposed it made sense, and that definitely explained why she hadn’t heard from him, but the idea of a creature that didn’t even have a proper form sleeping within her mind was something definitely new. It even seemed slightly ironic, but at the moment she was a bit too tired to be able to latch onto that particular train of thought.
She sighed, suddenly so relieved that she at least knew where Acheron was and that he was still alive that she was surprised at how much his absence had bothered her. Strange, when only a few hours ago she had wished intensely for him to disappear, if only for a short time. Her lips twitched into an embarrassed pout as she remembered herself coming to terms with his constant presence in a rather more intimate way than she had previously considered when the time had come to tend to certain…necessary functions. To his credit, he was quite the gentleman, and remained utterly silent throughout, though it still sent a mortified shudder down her spine at the thought of it.
The addition of a new tenant in her home hadn’t exactly been as simple a transition as she had initially hoped. It wasn’t that she resented his presence; she was overjoyed that she had been able to save his life, and he certainly seemed to be a kind and knowledgeable soul. In many ways he even reminded her of Spike, though she had had to remind herself rather often that Acheron was actually much older than he had first appeared. Whether that was a testament to Spike’s maturity, she didn’t know, but even in the very brief time that they had spent together, she felt that she had come to know him as a friend and genuinely enjoyed his company. However, after their lengthy talks, the feeling that he was, in fact, intruding upon her daily life had grown steadily stronger, helped in no small part by the ordeal of the past afternoon. She tried to tell herself that it wasn’t his fault and that the situation was only temporary, but even she couldn’t convince herself completely that this wasn’t bothering her at least a little.
Still, some small part of her couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed at his current silence as she flopped noisily back down onto her mattress, her wings spread wide on either side of her. On the side of her nightstand, a tiny sparkle of silver, just barely illuminated by the edge of the slice of moonlight by her side, caught her attention. With an airy sigh, she reached forward and looped the pendant’s chain around her hoof as she had already done countless times that night, staring deeply into its ebon center.
She toyed for a moment with the idea of waking him (assuming she even knew how) out of nothing else than a desire to find something to occupy her fevered mind, but ultimately resorted to releasing yet another haggard sigh and tossing her blankets to the side where they fell in a heap. She still wasn’t entirely sure she understood how she felt about his presence, not to mention the sudden and rather blunt manner in which he had entered her life. And try as she might, she couldn’t quite grasp what exactly all of this meant for him either, nor was it exactly comforting that he had forbad her from telling anypony else about him. A part of her wanted desperately to talk to Twilight about this. Perhaps she was simply being hopeful, but it seemed somehow to be just the sort of thing with which she would be able to help. Or at least Rarity or Applejack… As close as she was with Rainbow, she doubted that Dash would be able to understand how awkward this was for her, especially since he had been the one who hurt her, albeit unwillingly. And telling Pinkie was right out of the question. Knowing her, she would probably try to throw the little dragon a “Welcome to Ponyville” party.
She shuddered suddenly as that thought dawned in her mind. Oh hey Pinkie, I’ve got this little dragon who lives in my head and talks to me but only I can hear him…
“That’s AMAZING!” she said to no one in particular, perfectly mimicking Pinkie’s voice, though with a significant reduction in general volume. “We can have a big super-duper giganto-hugic party just for him and we can play pin the tail on the pony and eat cake and dance and sing and well I guess you would have to play for him and eat for him and dance for him and sing for him and *GASP* OMIGOSH! It’ll be like having two super-best-friends-forever-and-ever in one! Two friends in one for two times the fun! Oh there’s a dragon in her head but at least he isn’t dead so that’s okay with Pinkie Piiiiiiiiiiie…”
She paused, her mouth still hanging open in the sort of impossibly wide grin only Pinkie seemed to pull off with any consistency. It lingered only for an instant before it drooped pathetically into a weary frown, the faint sigh that escaped her lips giving her the effect of a deflating yellow and pink balloon.
“That was an awful thing to say…shame on you, Fluttershy, for talking that way about one of your best friends…”
Despite the sourness of her mood, it did little to stop a small voice in the back of her mind from reminding her of the fact that she was now sitting in an empty room talking to herself. As if today hadn’t been strange enough, now she was really starting to feel like she was going crazy.
With a frustrated grunt, she swung the chain around her neck and slid somewhat clumsily off of her bed, wincing a bit as her hooves collided with the aged wood of her cottage floor with a rather loud clunk. She was going to need some sort of help if she was going to squeeze any amount of sleep into the few remaining hours before dawn, and right now a cup of relaxing jasmine tea seemed like the perfect way to calm her nerves.
She trudged downstairs, trying her best to make as little noise as possible but her weariness added an extra fifty or so pounds to each hoof as they caused the steps beneath her to groan in protest. With a mighty yawn, she stumbled into the kitchen and began poking around the topmost cupboard for the proper ingredients. Spotting a small bag of jasmine leaves, she reached forward with one hoof, only to send an adjacent china teacup tumbling earthward where it detonated in a shrill tinkling crash.
“Horseapples!” she cursed, before immediately slapping a hoof to her mouth, blushing furiously. For several moments she simply gazed at the teacup’s shattered remains before slumping to the floor with a defeated pout. With a heavy thud, she allowed he head to fall back against the polished wooden panes of her cupboards and sat there for the next few minutes, not even bothering to clean up her mess.
What am I doing?
Was she being selfish? She had tried so hard to keep her mind away from Acheron’s presence, and especially to forget what they had talked about until they could continue tomorrow, after she had gotten some “well-earned rest,” as the dragon had put it. But it was only making it harder to think about anything else. She needed somepony to talk to, even if they couldn’t help her, if what Acheron said was true…She was scared, plain and simple, and absolutely certain that all of this was leagues out of her depth.
Twilight could help. If she could just wait until tomorrow, Twilight might even be able to find some way to make it so that everypony else could hear him too, or maybe even hasten his recovery so that the both of them could be out of this situation as soon as possible. And Twilight might be the only one who would think about this logically, and figure out a solution that she couldn’t see from her own fatigued and frightened perspective.
But…no, she couldn’t just betray Acheron’s wishes like that, could she? Especially if this was so important, and she really had no right to succumb to her own discomfort if he was in the same position, yet-
“Can’t sleep?”
She started violently, her body scooting itself upward so that her head collided painfully with the lip of the counter just above her crown. With a soft yelp, she clapped her hooves over the offended spot, sucking her bottom lip in earnest.
“Owwwwch…”
From somewhere around the base of the throbbing ache, he spoke again.
“Oh dear…I’ve gone and inured you again, haven’t I?”
His voice was as sharp and calm as ever, as though he had not been slumbering, yet there was a genuine bow of concern in his tone.
“Are you alright? I’m terribly-“
“I’m fine just…just please don’t talk for a second.” She winced as she rose to her hooves, gingerly rubbing her head. After several seconds, the pain began to fade and she felt that it would be safe for Acheron to speak without it feeling as though her skull was about to rupture.
“Okay…I’m alright…”
“Are you sure? I can heal it for you if-“
“No, no really, it’s fine…sorry…”
For several moments, there was no response, then a heavy sigh.
“For what are you apologizing?”
She opened her mouth to apologize again out of instinct, but paused before the sound could pass her lips.
“I…was apologizing for, um…snapping at you like that. I, um, I-I didn’t mean to be so rude;
y-you just startled me. A-and…for waking you up.”
Once again, he was silent as he considered her answer. She didn’t care for that too much; it was starting to make her feel vaguely guilty. She could almost feel his reaction as he immediately picked up on her discomfort.
“…and what else?” he said softly. His tone was not accusing, nor even remotely hostile. Rather, it was direct and flat, as though he already suspected what the answer would be, and was perfectly accepting of it.
“I…um…” she began, but her voice trailed off absently. Out of an instinctual need for distraction, she jerked mechanically forward to begin cleaning up the pieces of broken teacup, but his voice cut the motion short before she could even touch them.
“...I can sense your longing for their comfort, Fluttershy. I would feel it even if it were half this strong.”
She froze in mid-movement, still bent awkwardly forward on one forehoof as she stared into the center of the blossom of broken glass. When she didn’t answer, he sighed again, a lighter gesture than the one that preceded it, and one with a mote of comfortingly shared fatigue.
“There is no need to be ashamed. I’d think you foolish if you weren’t at least slightly wary of my motives, much less of everything that I’ve told you. That’s why you’re still awake, yes?”
His matter-of fact candor was not condescending, though it left no doubt that there was no point trying to hide it, not that she really believed she would be able to keep her feelings hidden from him for long anyway. Abandoning the teacup, she leaned back against the cupboard, taking care to avoid the edge of the counter this time.
“…sorry…”
There was a brief silence as she felt a small spark of ire rush across her mind. Starting slightly at the realization that she had somehow annoyed him, she began to speak impulsively.
“I-i-it’s really no trouble, I mean, you staying here and all,” she sputtered, not sure exactly how to begin. “A-and I, um…It’s not that I don’t like you, I just-“
He said nothing, but she could feel his nudge to encourage her to get to the point.
“I really…um, well, that is, if you wouldn’t mind…”
“Stop.”
She paused, her mouth still hanging partly open. The command had caught her off-guard with it’s powerfully direct simplicity. She simply stared at the floor for a moment before swallowing hard to steel herself.
“…I-“
“If you’re going to bring this up again, I must say that I’d rather not waste time waffling. Don’t ask for something like this if you’re not even sure that you want it, much less if you’re ashamed to ask for it. If you’re not going to take the situation seriously, then you have no right to take command.”
“…Well, I really do think that it’s impor-“
“Apparently not important enough.”
She winced slightly. This time there had been a faintly biting curtness to his tone that greatly magnified her guilt. A small wrinkle appeared on her forehead as her eyebrows pushed together and her front hooves met, moving over and under one another in a nervous circle.
“Is that all you wanted? If so, I should like to return to my rest.”
She could almost feel the exaggerated yawn in the back of her mind. Suddenly, she found herself annoyed by his subtly condescending dismissal.
“That’s not fair…” she whispered, staring into the floor.
“I agree,” he countered, not missing a beat. “Perhaps the next time you awaken me in the middle of the night it won’t be to needlessly apologize. I already told you that there was no need to be ashamed, and I do not enjoy repeating myse-”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said, a little more loudly.
“Oh? Do tell.”
At first her mind almost instinctively defaulted to the rote submission state with which it was so accustomed and had already prepared several tempting excuses to procrastinate tending to the issue. But before she succumbed, something that sounded remarkably similar to the voice of one Rainbow-maned pegasus prompted her to stand her ground. She puffed out her chest, taking a deep breath as her jaw set itself firmly into position to properly deliver her rebuttal.
“You didn’t even let me ask what I wanted.” She said, nodding sharply.
“You forget the nature of our connection. I already know what you want.”
“Then…then you also know why I want it.”
He paused for a moment as he seemed to consider that. When his response finally came, it was a bit less abrupt and carried an odd little laugh that she couldn’t quite place.
“Heh…Indeed. But that’s hardly the issue here.”
She blinked slowly. “What? No, I mean-“
“I know. Do you-“
“Stop!” She brought one hoof to her temple, rubbing it gently. “Please just stop doing that, alright?”
“Stop doing what?”
“Stop interrupting me. I know that you can feel what I feel, but if you’re not gonna let me finish my sentences, this is gonna get really confusing, not to mention you’re being just plain rude. And I’m just too tired to deal with that right now.”
She planted each of her front hooves firmly on the ground, staring determinedly at some invisible point off into the darkness.
“Just let me say what I have to say, and then we can have a proper discussion.”
Surprised as she was at the determination in her own voice, she was filled with a newfound confidence that told her to stand her ground. Acheron, too, seemed to appreciate her change in demeanor, and remained respectfully silent for a moment to confirm that she had finished speaking.
“…That’s better. As you wish, then. You were saying?” he asked politely.
She relaxed slightly, glad that at least he would be willing to listen for the time being.
“I… think I need to tell my friends about you,” she stated, keeping her tone level.
Once again, he paused before offering a reply, but the wait yielded not a hint of committal from the little dragon.
“…I gathered as much…and I stand by what I said earlier.”
She had expected that.
“…I…” she hesitated but only slightly, forcing herself to ignore the impulse to fidget. “Um, I don’t think it’s fair to dismiss my half of the situation like that. And besides that…well, Rainbow says that I shouldn’t be afraid to do what I know is right, no matter what. Even if…even if I don’t have your permission.”
“Your friend is wise. And I am glad that you don’t feel that you require my permission, but in keeping with the theme of fairness I think that I am still entitled to a civilized debate on the issue.”
She nodded, eager to oblige if for no other reason than to confirm to herself that this was what she needed to do.
“I’m not saying that what we talked about isn’t important or that I don’t trust you, I just really think that my friends would be able to help us. And besides that, I know that it may not be fair for me to complain, but I can’t do this alone…I just…can’t.”
“You’re afraid. It’s only natural, but in case you haven’t noticed, you’re not exactly alone. I can help you.”
She shook her head vigorously. “No. I mean…yes, um, that’s part of it, but it’s not that simple. I’m scared that I’m biting off more than I can chew, but more importantly I just know that we’ll both be better off with as many ponies helping us as possible.”
“We’ve been over this,” he explained patiently. “This isn’t about me Fluttershy, nor is it about
you. I thought you said that you understood that. The fact that I am alive cannot reach the public in any way. How can we be sure that they will not betray us?”
“My friends would never do that.” The response came immediately and without forethought. It had been a simple retort, but the genuine faith in her tone silenced any doubt.
He paused for a moment, weighing her answer. Whether he simply wasn’t feeling anything strongly about the point or was just very good at keeping a lid on his emotions, Fluttershy wasn’t sure, but she was finding it very difficult to read him as she waited.
“You really are so trusting of them, Fluttershy…I wonder if you’ll come to regret that.”
A small chill ran down her spine at the sound of his words. He had not injected any trace of feeling into the bluntly cryptic statement, yet somehow that cold fact had given it the same icy twang of a threat. He allowed that thought to sit in her mind for a few moments before adding evidence to his claim.
“Angel was less than cooperative.” He stated calmly.
It may have been her exhaustion speaking, but Fluttershy found herself distinctly annoyed by his tactlessness. The fact that she could not immediately summon a counterpoint to that argument did not help much.
“…You’re the one who said you would think me foolish if I didn’t immediately accept that you were telling the truth. Besides, Angel didn’t hear the full story,” she whispered, managing with some effort to keep her tone even. “And in a way, he had a right to be angry. I did hurt him, even if it was an accident. I’ll have to make that up to him and explain things properly, but that won’t happen with my other friends. They won’t break a promise to keep a secret, especially one as important as this.”
“Perhaps not willingly, but those who would abuse Chronus’s power are likely clever enough to use your friends to their advantage, as well. I don’t want to take that risk.”
“They wouldn’t get the chance. My friends and I are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, in case you forgot. As long as we’re together, we can do anything with that power. I’m sure that we could get rid of this thing in a flash.” She lifted the pendant before her eyes as she spoke, giving it a hard glare.
“Absolutely not. I already told you that that would be far too risky, and would more than likely make things far worse. That thing absorbs magic like a starving beast, and would drain the essence of anyone or anything trying to destroy it in a heartbeat.”
This was not going well. His reluctance had been expected after their previous discussion, but his
continued stubbornness was quickly and effectively chipping away at her resolve and replacing it with an itchy impatience. She decided to change tack for the moment.
She took a shaky breath, he lips tightening slightly. “Then what about the Princesses? Surely they
can help us.”
“The faith that you place in your rulers seems to outweigh the faith they place in you and your
friends. Remember that they kept the war hidden from you.”
“I’m sure they had their reasons. You, yourself said it was a painful memory.”
“And it will be a painful reality if they fail us.”
She rolled her eyes. “The Princesses have been around for more than a thousand years, or at least
Princess Celestia has. She might be the only one alive who knows anything about what happened to you, and she’s certainly wise enough not to be tempted by power.”
“Even if that were true, what of her sister? You told me that Luna had been led astray before.”
This time, it took her a moment longer to answer.
“That would never happen again. I…I admit, I was scared of her at first, but she was always kind to me whenever I saw her after that… She regrets what she did, more than anything else. She promised me that she would die before repeating that mistake.”
“And I promise you that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Do you think she thought that what she was doing was wrong when she did it? And besides, we have no way of knowing who might be listening in. If we told the Princesses about the Stone and I, it could very well alert those who may be searching for me.”
She frowned, scowling at the floor. Her tone had steadily grown more exasperated over the past few moments and it was just now graduating to full-blown irritated, but she didn’t particularly care at this point; her fatigue and general frustration had put her on edge, and she did not feel that Acheron was being particularly fair.
“I’m only trying to help. My friends can make this easier on the both of us, and would almost certainly be able to find some way to dispose of Chronus’s power safely.”
“Or, they could lead us right into the hands of those who would destroy us and them, as well.”
It was affecting him, too. Fluttershy could sense his own frustration mingling with hers.
“And who is that, exactly? You’ve never been very specific about it.”
“I haven’t exactly been cogent for the past thousand plus years, Fluttershy. Forgive me if I don’t stay abreast of current events. Events which are only happening because I made a sacrifice that I do not intend to allow go in vain.”
“That’s all the more reason to get as much help as we can! You always say that you need to destroy this terrible power, but you seem to have no idea how to do it!”
“That will come in time. Right now, the most important thing that we can do is lie low and gather information. Perhaps after we are absolutely certain that we can safely disclose my presence and the nature of the Stone, then we can ask for help. Doing so beforehand is just reckless.”
“Speaking of time, what happens when you get your body back, huh? Do you expect me to just lie to them until then and expect them to forgive me when I can finally tell the truth? I can’t do that to them!”
“You must if you truly care for them. And if they truly cared for you, then you would have no reason to doubt that they would forgive you.”
“All I’ve got to go on is your word. First you tell me that it’s okay to mistrust you, but you keep insisting that if I don’t, terrible things will happen! And you certainly don’t seem to want to trust anypony else! I’m beginning to think you might just be paranoid.”
“I do not need to hear that from someone like you.” Without warning, his voice had deepened angrily. The very floor beneath her seemed to shake briefly with the barely restrained fury of his tone.
“I have witnessed the deaths of my own loved ones by the hoof of that monster, and I simply did not want to risk the possibility of your dear friends sharing in that fate. You’re welcome.”
Under normal circumstances, Fluttershy would have clammed up behind an impregnable wall of submissive quietude beneath the anger in his normally calm voice, but some part of his wrath seemed to seep into her own thoughts, magnifying her frustration.
“Someone like me? Well it seems we’re both being a little selfish now, aren’t we? I haven’t exactly been nasty to you so far. In fact I find it rather hard to ignore your needs seeing as how you ended up inside my head. And how did that happen? Oh that’s right, it’s because you botched not one, but two spells,” she hissed loudly, completely forgetting that she was in a house full of sleeping woodland creatures.
“You know nothing of magic. You know nothing of the horrors it can create.”
“And you know nothing of my friends! I’ve done nothing but try to help, which is far more than I can say for you. All you’ve done so far is shoot down my ideas and invade my privacy!”
“And sulking is supposed to help how, exactly?”
Something snapped. With sudden ferocity, Fluttershy stomped as hard as she could on the floor of her kitchen, summoning a faint cascade of tinkling chimes from the glassware throughout the room.
“ Well I’m sorry if I haven’t exactly been a perfect host! Maybe I’ll just stay quiet and let you make all of the decisions, just like a good little puppet! Sorry, are you too warm? Do you want me to move closer to the window? Never mind little old me; anything to please you, master!”
In an instant, she felt Acheron finally lose control. His rage ballooned within her mind, fighting savagely with her own as he began to offer his heated retort, but it never came. What happened next was little more than a cacophony or confused sensory blurs.
Acheron’s voice rose in an angry bellow as a shape in the darkness stirred. It had been creeping closer ever since Fluttershy had entered the kitchen, and had just come within pouncing distance as her row with the dragon had started. Neither of the two had noticed its presence, and as it lunged Fluttershy could do little more than scream in shock. The thing collided painfully with the side of her face, knocking her off balance with surprising force.
Fluttershy slammed into the floor, and immediately became aware of a mighty constricting sensation around the base of her neck. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. All the while, the thing from the shadows continued to heave on the pendant around her neck, strangling her in its frantic abandon.
She coughed weakly as a haze of blackness began to creep across the edges of her vision. In a panicked clarity, she flailed her hooves and batted her wings at her assailant, but to no avail. It seemed to dodge every blow with effortless agility, and as she continued to struggle, she felt her movements weakening, becoming steadily more sluggish. Some part of her knew that she didn’t have much time left before she was completely unconscious, or worse.
“…An…g…An…gel!” she croaked, reaching desperately in the general direction of the little rabbit’s hut, but she could not seem to make it out in the darkness.
Angel did not come. Slowly, she felt the last of her strength leaving her limbs as exhaustion began to consume her. Visions of her friends flashed before her mind beneath a steady rumbling that seemed to come from some place deep behind her eyes. Acheron was yelling something, but she couldn’t hear him. As the meager light began to fade, she felt strangely calm, and her limbs fell to the floor as the darkness embraced her.
Outside Fluttershy’s cottage, the scene was eerily serene. The only sounds to break the silence were the soft babbling of the creek beneath the tiny bridge and the occasional peep from its nocturnal inhabitants.
One small frog sat on its pad, enjoying the sleepy peace of its home, and took a deep breath to prepare for its next bout of song. But before it could begin, a sudden flash of light caught the breath in its throat and sent it leaping into the water. With one wary eye, it peered above the water’s surface in the direction of the little mound that served as its caretaker’s home, and squinted as a brilliant greenish light pierced the night as it issued from each of the structure’s windows. It lingered for several seconds before slowly fading, leaving a polarized shadow in its wake.
Not a sound nor breath of movement stirred the night. All was silent.