The Silent Sands
The trio reappeared in a flash of bright, blue light.
Daring blinked and looked around, expecting to see the outside of the house, or the inside of the asylum, or some place in Hoofington. But instead she saw yellow sand, darkened stone tenements and several abandoned carts.
“Where are we?” asked Dr. Hoof from behind her.
Daring opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut off by a low moan. She turned and saw Ahuizotl gazing at his surroundings with terrified eyes.
“What’s wrong?” asked Daring, moving closer.
Ahuizotl moaned again, “It’s the village.” he whimpered.
“What village?” asked Dr. Hoof.
Ahuizotl turned to him as tears began to leak down his furry cheeks, “It’s the village where they found me, the last village before the desert, the town that sits on the shadow of those ruins.”
Daring felt her heart stop as the words cut through the still air like a knife.
“A-are you serious?” asked Dr. Hoof, looking significantly paler.
Ahuizotl nodded miserably, “This place had been burned into my mind; I’ll never forget it.”
Daring sighed and took another quick look around: the silence was deafening and there wasn’t a soul in sight.
“Where is everypony?” asked Dr. Hoof.
“Dead, dead, they’re all dead.” said Ahuizotl, giving a choked giggle that abruptly became a tearful whimper halfway through.
“Don’t say that!” growled Daring, trying to get the sudden image of dead ponies lying in their own blood out of her mind. She didn’t see the exhaustion on Dr. Hoof’s face gradually change into anger and frustration until he finally snapped.
“I’ve had enough of this!” screamed Dr. Hoof, his unexpected outburst startling his companions, “I have been chased, attacked by some kind of unholy shadow beast, I had to violate several laws by not returning Ahuizotl to the asylum and I bet I’ll lose my job because of that. And now I’ve been transported to some village in Saddle-bucking-Arabia!”
The doctor fell on his plot and pressed his hooves to his eyes as his limbs began to tremble.
Daring sighed and trotted to him. The unicorn doctor looked up, obviously expecting her to offer some words of comfort, instead she reached out and delivered a harsh slap to his face.
“Get a freakin’ hold of yourself, damn it!” she snarled, getting in his face, “We can bitch and moan when we get out of this place, so please stop your whining for now.”
Dr. Hoof looked stunned, he didn’t even seem to notice the red mark on his cheek, he just gave her a look that wasn’t unlike a foal wondering why it was getting punished.
Daring felt a pang of regret at that expression, but she knew that she couldn’t allow the good doctor to fall apart on her now.
Sighing, the adventurer pegasus turned back to Ahuizotl to tell him that she expected him to stay sane, but he wasn’t even looking at her, he was looking ahead of them.
“There’s something in the marketplace.” he said in a low voice, pointing a finger.
Daring turned and looked to where he was pointing: the street that they were in continued on for a few yards before widening into a vast marketplace, full of dozens of stalls, carts, storefronts and restaurants, all of which were abandoned and desolate.
And right at the center of the marketplace was a strange object, tall, but heavily shadowed.
Daring felt the familiar high-powered curiosity that had led her into so many adventures take hold once again and she began to gallop forwards; a second later Dr. Hoof and Ahuizotl followed her as best they could.
Dr. Hoof and Ahuizotl caught up with Daring just as she stopped in front of the shadowy object, so they all saw what it was at the same time and each of them reacted the exact same way: with silent horror.
The object- now in clearer light, was an effigy of some sort. It was tall, far taller than any pony. It sat on four legs that shot out of a spiral-shaped base that was connected to a long pole, the pole ended in a large circle that held many different figures and patterns within its robust shape.
The object’s shape wasn’t what caused the trio to feel the cold claw of dread to grasp their hearts, it was the materials that made the object.
They were bones: bleached white and carved with innumerable runes.
The four legs were made from forelimbs, the spiral base from what looked like shoulder blades and pelvises, the pole was constructed from several spines wrapped around each other and bound with dark red string, the circle had been made from ribs and the patterns and shapes therein were horns, wing joints, teeth, jawbones and, sitting at the very center, was a small unicorn skull.
Daring turned just in time for the meager breakfast that she’d had to come back up with a vengeance.
As she was wiping her mouth and tongue clean of the vile sludge she happened to look up and see a pair of bright, blue eyes peering at her from the window of a nearby house.
Daring blinked and ran a hoof across her eyes, then she looked back at the window: the eyes were still looking at her, and they were filled with tears of fear.
The tan pegasus felt her sense of heroism, which had been the farthest thing from her mind in the past two days, kick in. and she went to the door and pushed it open.
The first thing that she noticed was the massive hole in the roof that let in the yellow sunlight, the second thing that she noticed was that the floor and most of the furniture were completely submerged beneath sand.
This place must’ve been hit by a sandstrom. thought Daring as she stepped past the threshold.
Once she was inside she raised a hoof to the side of her mouth and called, “Hello?! Is anypony there?”
The only sound that answered her was the low whistling of the wind through the desolate house.
Daring paced forward and began searching the ruined main room, looking under the few non-submerged items of furniture and inside the few rooms in the small abode, but all she found was dust-laden furniture and dead silence.
She walked back to the main room and surveyed the area, looking for anything she might have missed, a second later her roving eyes landed on something that was half-buried in the sand. Daring walked to it and bent down to examine it, then, when she realized what it was, she grasped it and pulled it free.
It was a raggedy patchwork doll with a mop of brown string hair and mismatched button eyes; there was a long gash across its stomach that leaked stuffing.
“Well… that’s not creepy at all.” she said wryly, feeling a bit better to be using her wit.
I guess it was just a mirage. she thought as she cast the dall aside, That, or this whole place is playing tricks on me. I’m hoping that its the first one, but it’s probably the other, considering the crap that happened to Ahuizotl.
The adventurer turned and started for the door, hoping that she could get Dr. Hoof to teleport them away.
She stopped short when she heard something behind her: it sounded like…. a high-pitched giggle, a foal’s giggle.
What the flying freak? she thought as she searched the area again. “Hello?” she called, “Are you hurt? What happened to everypony?”
Silence was her only answer.
Then she felt something shift under her hoof.
She looked down and lifted her hoof up, then watched in silent horror as the imprint that her hoof had made slowly expanded as the sand began to move. Daring moved away as the hoof-print widened into a shallow pit.
What the hay is going on?! she thought as the pit grew and grew.
Then she felt something- a sort of tingling sensation on her legs. She looked down and saw that her fur was swarming with small, yellow and gold mites.
The realization and revulsion hit her at the same time: she wasn’t standing on sand, she was standing on a massive carpet of small insects that had been well-camouflaged to look like the individual grains of sand.
Daring leaped back with a scream as the mite swarm advanced on her, pulsing outwards, creating deep ripples that slowly revealed the bleached bones of the rest of the villagers.
Then the tide of mites was on her and she was smothered under a tide of biting, skittering insects.
Then Daring blinked.
She was back in the town square, still looking at the bone effigy.
Daring felt her mind reel as she tried and failed to process what had just happened. She looked down at her legs and saw that there was no trace of the camouflaged insects, she looked back at the house and saw that the door was firmly shut.
She felt the weight of what had just happened hit her fully and she slumped to the ground as a massive headache hit her like a sledgehammer to the skull.
What was that? What the Tartarus happened? Was that real? Is this real? Am I going crazy? Did stuff like this happen to Ahuizotl when he was here?
All these thoughts crowded her head, creating pressure that made her headache worse, then one question in particular took center place in her mind: What am I getting into?
After several minutes the headache died down and Daring managed to get back up, albeit with some difficulty.
It was then that she realized that she hadn’t heard a peep from either Dr. Hoof or Ahuizotl, no questions about her health, no movement, nothing. Daring turned to look at her comrades and saw that they were staring at the effigy.
Oh no… she thought as she saw the tears leaking from Ahuizotl’s white eyes and the trembling in Dr. Hoof’s limbs.
Daring sped towards them and started shaking them vigorously, hoping to wake them from whatever spell the effigy had them under.
“Come on!” she screamed desperately, “Snap out of it!”
She went from Dr. Hoof to Ahuizotl, who was now whimpering in a way that made her cringe.
“Come on, Ahuizotl. You can get through this!” she said as she grabbed her former-foe’s head and turned it to face her. The second that she did, the whimpering stopped and Ahuizotl let out a small gasp as his eyes widened in recognition.
“D-daring?” he asked in a small voice.
Daring opened her mouth to reply, but she was stopped from doing so by Ahuizotl, who wrapped her in a powerful hug.
“Daring Do! Y-you’re alive…. oh, sweet Celestia, you’re alive!” he devolved into tears. Leaving his former enemy stunned beyond words. After a second she reached up and gently patted his scarred back.
A second later she pulled him off her and asked, “What the hay did that thing show you?”
Ahuizotl opened his mouth to respond, but, before he could so much as utter the first syllable, Dr. Hoof shot forward with a scream of “NO!”
Daring turned to him and started to go to him when a familiar magical aura surrounded his horn.
Ahuizotl, who was still holding Daring, reached out and grasped his horn in an attempt to stop the spell, but it was futile, and the teleportation spell went off, taking the two with the doctor.
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Yeah update! This is getting creepy and love the hug by the way, fuels my ship ^_^ awesome chapter, can't wait for more.
4669170 Thank you very much
It isn't helping that I was listening to Red Space horror ambiance as I read this.
4670048
4670180 Thanks
Excellent chapter, this did not disappoint in the least. The scene with the mites reminds me of the scarabs from The Mummy Series ::shudders::. anyway can't wait to see more.
4671710 The mummy series is awesome and thanks for the compliment
4674154 I wrote the first chapter whilst listening to Nox Arcana, they catch the mood very nicely
I was worried it was almost over,
Keep em coming bro.
4676458 Ya got four more chapter before it's finished.