Chapter 16
There was nothing. A vast expanse of space that was black as a moonless night. The sky, vacant of any stars making it all the more hollow and empty. A light mist clung to the ground, creating the only discernible separation of earth and sky.
There was nothing. Nowhere to go, yet still she ran. She had to, she had to get away.
Through the miasma of the nothingness Dinky Hooves ran as fast as her little legs would carry her. He was coming for her, she could feel it. Her horn shone the way through the endless darkness as she ran. The light served no real purpose in such a blank landscape, if nothing else it gave her a sense of courage to run through it, less she simply curl up and be engulfed by it.
With no sense of direction she may as well have, but that meant stopping and waiting to be found. No. As futile as it was, that would be worse.
“You shouldn't be here.” The voice boomed all around causing her to shriek and pick up the pace into a mad gallop. Her heart was pounding so hard she felt it would leap out of her chest, but she had to get away.
She chanced a look behind her and her blood froze. Fire. Fire consuming the nothingness, and in the middle was a pair of icy blue eyes.
She wanted to run faster, but she couldn't. What began as a slight teetering became a full blown wobble and soon the little unicorn found herself skidding off the non existent ground and crashing to her stomach. In no time the fire spread encircling around her. The heat was so intense that she shielded her face. A low rumble that shook everything around her caused her to whimper as she prepared for what came next.
“Stop.”
Came a voice, and with it came relief from both the heat and the fear that threatened to consume her.
Slowly, she took a chance and looked up to find an unexpected, but most welcome sight.
“F-Flint?” Dinky looked up and saw her stern friend standing over her. The dark blue colt seemed not to notice her, rather he appeared more focused staring down something behind her. With a chill of realization, she turned and saw that the blue eyes were looming menacingly over them both, held by a shadowed outline of a giant monster.
With another whimper, she pulled herself closer to Flint, gripping his foreleg tightly.
“You shouldn't be here, Dinky.” Upon hearing those words, now coming from the colt the little filly slowly raised her eyes to her friend. To her continued horror, his once Amber eyes took on the same shade of icy blue of the beast.
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Your eyes opened to the view of the ceiling of your room. Pulling yourself up you stretched out your neck and shoulders releasing small pops as your bones resettled themselves into the proper position.
With a foreleg you rubbed any remaining sleep out of your eyes. You hadn’t slept as well as you should have, the faint memories of lingering dreams slowing fading from the forefront of your mind.
From the start you had disciplined your mind to be closed to dreaming for the sake of staying hidden. Despite this though, you could feel flashes of the night before, images and sensations of running down prey coupled with an odd feeling of...protecting something.
‘You're getting careless.’ You berated yourself. ‘Any further slip ups and the royals will render you a drooling idiot, spouting out nonsense of harmony.’
Another part of you though, almost wanted them to find you; to face them and be done with it. No more hiding, just them, and you.
A glance down at your scrawny body detracted more than a bit from that sentiment.
“World’s shortest rematch.” You chuckled bitterly to yourself.
Rolling over you landed nimbly on your hooves and made your way out of your room. The promise of breakfast set your course for the kitchen.
It was Saturday once more and that meant Cozy would be spending more time on the morning meal due to her having the day off from the office.
As you approached the stairs voices could be heard emanating from your destination.
“Oh babe, that is so amazing!” Came the excited voice of your male progenitor.
Admittedly, this mildly piqued your interest in what the mare had made for breakfast that was so quote: “amazing”.
“I hadn't expected it to turn out like it did, but there you have it, I guess.” Cozy responded in kind adding a giggle at the end.
‘This could only mean that she was experiment cooking again’ you grumbled slightly at the thought, memories of shredded zucchini spaghetti noodles and Broccoli breakfast muffins briefly halted your step. ‘I committed some terrible things against nature, but seriously? At least I offered an end to the suffering and not stained it's tastebuds for a solid week.’
Still their further exuberance resumed you path down the stairs. ‘They seem thrilled enough so it can't be that odious.’
“Pretty obvious now, why you’ve been so sick lately.” Sparks said sheepishly.
‘Definitely experiment cooking again.’ You reaffirm with a sigh. ‘At least she had the decency to test this concoction on herself first.’
“Oh Sparks!” The Cozy cooed. “I'm soooo happy!”
You rounded the corner, much to your misfortune, in time to catch Cozy and Sparks embracing each other while simultaneously sucking on each other's lips.
You decided to give them a moment to break it up themselves. When that moment quickly came and went, you decided to take a more proactive approach.
“Good grief you two. It's just breakfast!”
The ponies jumped a bit at your words but smiled none the less as they disentangled themselves from one another.
“Morning sweetie.” Cozy was the first to speak brushing her mane behind her ear as she smiled at you.
Your only response was a cross between a ‘yeah’ and a huff as you fully entered the kitchen and sat down at the table.
Your eyes went to the stove only to find it crisp, cool, and bafflingly devoid of food. This observation merit the raise of one of your eyebrows.
“Oh, sorry buddy.” Sparks said noticing your confusion. “Your mom was feeling sick again this morning and wasn't up to making breakfast.” He said rubbing the mare’s hoof comfortingly.
Despite supposedly being ‘ill’ the mare who called herself ‘your mother’ seemed rather happy, she practically glowed with the feeling.
“I ran out this morning to get her something that might help figure out what's wrong, and I got raspberry danish from Sugar Cube Corner.” He explained, before adding a wry smile. “Pinkie says ‘hi’ by the way.”
As schooled as your stoic expression was you felt your face scrunch at the mention of the manic pink temptress. She had succeeded in breaking you down and getting you hooked on her sugary baked goods and she seemed ever so gleeful in reminding you of it.
Shrugging it off, you got up from your seat and walked over to the box. Lifting the box lid your eyes only further narrowed as you read the glazed message the pink baker had left special for you.
Remember to Smile, Flint!
-Your friend,
Pinkie
With a bit more gusto than necessary you brought the butter knife down into the fruit pastry and cut yourself a slice.
“Sugary dope peddler.” You mutter as you placed your addiction onto a plate and turned back to the table with self loathing.
With a slight start you find your parent’s have taken a seat at the table and we're watching you eagerly.
After their gaze for a few breaths you finally speak up. “You were so wild about this before, now you're not having any?”
“What?” Cozy looked confused before she smile and just shook her head dismissively. “No, no, I'm fine.”
Your eyes fell to the stallion. “Oh sure, that be great pal!” He said expectantly. After not moving to get up and get his own, you merely growled and passed him your plate and turned back to once again face that moronic message.
“We’d like to talk to you, Flint.” Cozy said as you forcefully cut deeper into the pastry, actively severing the message apart.
“Yeah?” You said bluntly before turning back to face them at a second attempt at breakfast.
“Yes.” Cozy said as she sat up in her place looking at you fondly.
“I don't know whatever for,” you said gruffly as you sat and began eating, “I haven't caused any trouble lately.”
“I know and we are so, so, so proud of you.” She said pulling you close into a hug and thus preventing you from savoring your first bite as you slightly choked on it.
As always, the hug lasted for far too long and needed coaxing to be ended. “What did you want to talk about?”
She returned you to your seat where you readjusted yourself with a small huff.
“Flint…” Sparks asked, picking up where Cozy got side tracked to smother you, “...how would you feel, if somepony else came to live with us here.”
It took a moment for that information to sink in, and when it did you couldn't help but feel your mood turn sour.
“That senile old bat, is NOT moving in here.” You stated with unmoving finality in your tone.
“That's...not…” Sparks tried to respond but was obviously a little floored at what you had said about his mother.
“In any case,” Cozy said once again taking the reigns of the conversation. “Your father and I have some news and we wanted you to be the first one to hear it.”
“Out with it then.” You barked, narrowing your eyes at the two of them. You despised drawn out conversation almost as much as surprises, and this was apparently both of those in one.
As usual the chipper mare either ignored or didn't hear as she looked to her husband who nodded in approval.
“Well…” she practically squealed, “...you’re gonna be a big brother!”
“.........” You had not expected this. Frankly, you were stunned.
“Isn't that exciting bud?” Sparks said coming alongside you. “A little brother or sister, you can…” His darting eyes let you know he hadn't completely thought realistically how he was going to finish that sentence.
“You can… Hey! A brother or sister!” Smooth Sparks, very smooth.
Despite this, your mind was hard at work processing this latest development. On the one hand you tried to figure out why you should care?
‘Circumstance brought me with these two, nothing more; why should it matter if they wished to reproduce?’
Another part was...curious?
These thoughts continued to go back and forth, neither seeming to retain a dominant hold in your mind. After a moment you looked up to realized the two were looking at you expectantly.
Taking inhaling deeply, you regarded regarded the two.
“I have made my own plans today.” You said calmly. “We will discuss this in more detail tonight.”
Without another word, you went to the hallway and pulled on your small saddle bag. You reached for the knob only to pause for a brief moment to look once more at the two of them, who smiled at you. For a moment, your gaze fell to Cozy’s stomach, the sense of curiosity holding your attention there. For a instant, the briefest instant, you felt the muscles in your face wanting to tug slightly upwards, before quashed the urge and out of the door, eager for something diverting.