The Black Heart

by Astral Star and Company

Chapter 2: Impressions

Nocturne stood chained on the eastern altar of the Twisted Tree Line. One of the Leagues many battle grounds, it consisted two lanes, joining two Summoning Nexus with a compact jungle of trees between. The whole area was surrounded in the trees that gave this place its name. Crooked, deathly boughs reached in all directions. Fog seeped from between the trunks like some form of ethereal mist. The league hosted many matches on these fields, but this one in particular was special. This arena was situated inside the densest forest in the Shadow Isles.

The very first, Twisted Tree Line.

The western altar’s very own chains bound the murderous spectre to its surface. It was a round, metal object like a giant storm drain in the western half of the jungle, a mirror to the one on the east. 16 summoners alone were chosen to bind him, while more were present to carry out protocol, or simply to witness. The spirits of both the western and eastern altars were both in attendance. The former though, was terribly displeased.

“What is the meaning of this?” she said,

A robed, blue ghost of a woman stood by the prisoner, a look of utter disgust on her face. Nocturne on the other hand, regarded her bleakly.

“Why have you brought this monstrosity here? It reeks with death, take it away!”

“And you don’t?” the east spirit sighed wirily, a similar blue robed spirit, but of a bearded man “This place reeks with death all the time,”

“Silence you!” West snarled “I will not have this murderer on my altar, especially to be executed,”

The bearded summoner from before stepped forward, flanked by two of his guards. Robed, armoured figures wielding a magically enhanced spear each.

“The council has made a decision,” he answered roughly “They deemed it fitting that he be killed on the same place he was stopped,”

The west spirit charged toward the man, screeching her ghostly wails. The two guards advanced, drawing spears on the advancing spectre. She reeled to avoid the enchanted armaments, but did not cease her attempts.

“You do not understand!” she pleaded “His death will only bring pain and suffering upon us all!”

“We have feared that death may only bring him back to where he once was,” the bearded one said “But we have no evidence to suggest he would return to his realm. For all we know, he could very well travel to oblivion,”

“The souls here are vying for his removal! Repulsed by his evil! Take it to the eastern altar if you would wish to kill him here!”

“Now, now,” East grumbled “My disposition on the league may be questionable, but here I represent the spirits as you do. I can confirm that the souls here are restless, more than usual,”

“Nevertheless, we have our orders,”

West was about to charge again, but the firm ghostly hand of the western spirit stopped her.

“We are well aware of what your council has decided,” he murmured “And as representatives of the council, we respect that. West and I don’t agree on many things, but as your fellow summoners we beg of you to think of another way,”

“We have made our decision,” he concluded firmly “The execution shall take place,”

East nodded in defeat.

“Very well, come, West, there is nothing to see here,”

With that, they both faded away.

Nocturne gazed back at them with his piercing blue eyes, a smirk on his mouthless face and a chuckle in his throat.

“Soon,” he whispered “So soon…”

<-(\|/)->

“Twilight?”

Twilight Sparkle gasped in surprise.

She was in her office again. The light bulb burned down low and a mildly annoyed Nurse Redheart stood in the doorway. She had nodded off again, a bad habit to have when you’re a doctor, but when you’re looking after patients who can’t or won’t sleep at all, you learn to be grateful for it.

“Come along Doctor Sparkle,” Nurse Redheart beckoned “Your appointment with Shoe Shine is in 5 minutes,”

Practically rolling out of her chair, Doctor Sparkle retrieved her small file of notes and headed towards the main building, Nurse Redheart following behind.

The hallways were a pristine white that bounced the light from the halls as effectively as mirrors. Twilight had passed many doctors and nurses on her way. They spoke in hushed tones, but stopped entirely when Twilight walked past, only to resume once they thought she was out of ear shot.

“Did you hear her in the meeting?” one had said “Not a bacterium, virus or parasite! What else could it be?”

“I don’t know,” his partner had confided “It’s definitely not fungus, we ruled that one out ages ago,”

“It’s just getting more hopeless by the day,”

The trip to the Main Ward was a solemn one. No matter how many times she passed it, Twilight couldn’t help but grimace at the state of some of the ponies there. The infection did terrible things to their brain, often times reducing them to slavering beasts with a newfound taste for flesh. Twi had the greatest displeasure of having to euthanize many a pony. It saddened her further to know that ponies she used to know might be in those cages and cells, waiting to be found.

Every day she had a list of ponies to meet and try to help. The emphasis was on ‘try’ since no pony in need so far has ever accepted her help, at least not willingly. The list steadily grew longer and longer with each day, soon up to the point where she would have to retake permanent residence in Canterlot. But she couldn’t leave Ponyville, there was a bond there that was too painful to even try to severe. Her friends were there, and they mean the world to her.

Her list began with Shoe Shine, a sky blue earth pony mare with a grey-white puffy mane and tail. She was a good warm up for the other subjects, since she was the calmest of the bunch. Since her exposure to the infection, she had become quite schizophrenic, often talking to herself and making up other personalities for the things around her. Her cell was covered in murals, a vain effort to throw the horrible visions out of her head. Most of these paintings were made out of her own blood until staff provided her with paint. Most of it was nonsensical, but what could be determined was an insightful glimpse into what exactly was going through their heads. In short, she was a valuable test subject.

The cell was an old concrete room with iron bars facing the hall. It held a sink, private shower and toilet, bed, desk, dresser and a chair. It was well furnished for a cell, they weren’t housing criminals after all.

Shoe Shine was busily painting another mural on top of one of her old ones. Her style was ragged and deliberate, like scratching more than brushing. The colours were various shades of red and black, deviations from this scheme were rare. An intern was trying hard to copy her mural onto paper, but the shape of the work made it challenging.

Twilight approached the cell silently, and with a nod of her head, dismissed the intern. Shoe Shine looked up at the sound of approaching hooves. The blue mare had clearly seen better days, her coat and mane was a dishevelled mess, and her eyes were glazed over a milky white and tear streaked. Her hooves were stained in red and black paint, a crooked, twitchy smile on her face.

“Good morning, Miss Shine,” Twilight greeted with a nod, taking a seat opposite the bars.

Shoe Shine scrambled away from her unfinished mural to sit across from Twilight, the bars keeping them separate.

“Good morning to you, Doctor,” Shoe Shine smiled, a slight wavering in her voice

“How are you feeling?”

Shine grumbled, eyes downcast “I don’t know. Every day I see things. Terrible, absolutely awful things. I try to get them out of my head, but every time I do, a new vision fills in the space,”

“Speaking of visions…”

Doctor Sparkle looked towards Shine’s latest painting. It was a huge, looming shadow with blood red eyes and claws, hunched over a foal in its cot. Below it was scrawled:

He sees you when you’re sleeping…

… and when your awake.

Twilight eyed it critically. Compared to her other murals, this one was the most clear. It seemed that her works were progressively betting more identifiable by the day. No pony knows what it could mean in relation to the disease, but at the same time, they’re too afraid to find out. Her works made great progress in understanding the disease’s nature.

“Who is ‘he’?” Twilight asked. It was a question she asked all her patients.

“I daren’t speak his name,” Shine whispered feverishly. All Twi’s answers, summed up in one simple sentence.

It didn’t stop the intelligent purple unicorn though. At first, the eternal prospect of ‘him’ seemed too coincidental. What was earlier dismissed as recurring hallucinations, soon developed into mass hysteria. After all, what were the odds that all afflicted ponies would dream of the same thing?

‘Him’ often appeared to them as a looming, black shadow with red eyes, and claws dripping with blood. He was so frightening, that his mere presence in the afflicted’s dreams have driven many into utter insanity. Patient #3013 being the most famous example, having lived in this condition for years now.

“Can you tell me about him?” Twi questioned, pressing further

Shine looked up at her with sad, dead eyes.

“I guess, I’ll try,” she mumbled

Shoe Shine took a seat directly opposite Twilight, the iron bars remaining between them. She startled twiddling her hooves and shaking nervously, then began to speak. Softly at first, but when she gained volume her speech became ragged and caught in her throat, like she was forcing herself to talk.

“H-he’s a nightmare. He’s just a big, black shadow that appears to me in my dreams. Every time I sleep I see him there, waiting for me. Then I run, as fast and as hard as I can. Sometimes I run through a forest, sometimes through a village, or city, or school. Wherever the place is, I just run. But he always catches me, pins me down and-and-and…”

She broke down into a sobbing mess, right there on the spot.

“He tells me to say his name, but I can’t. if I do, I die, he told me, but he tells me to say it. He tortures me, with all the memories I thought I buried,”

“He’s not here now,” Twilight said “So why can’t you say it here?”

“He’s watching me, I can feel it,” she cried, choking on sobs “Always watching,”

“There’s no one else here,”

“I’m telling you he’s here!” Shoe Shine screamed

Suddenly, the temperature dropped. A chill past through the bodies of both ponies. Twilight rose from her chair, looking confusedly between Shine and the air around them, trying rigorously to spot the figure she spoke of.

“Please,” Shoe Shine pleaded, shivering with every breath “Leave,”

“But…” Twilight protested

“Please, for me?”

Twilight was about to protest again, but then she looked into her eyes. She was genuinely fearful, more than the regular, paranoia induced fear. She was actually afraid. Scrawling a couple notes in her book, Twilight looked back to the tearful blue pony, and sighed.

“Okay,” she conceded, getting up to leave “See you tomorrow Ms Shine,”

“Tomorrow’s nice,” she smiled “Bye Doctor,”

Twilight’s shift continued on, visiting ponies much like Shoe Shine. She didn’t expect them to recover, but at least show signs of what went on in their heads. Her list went on, Ace, Bubble, Rose, Dewdrop and onwards. All the ponies she tended to were at various stages of mental decay. Those that couldn’t be worked with anymore, were either euthanized, or went to the Asylum.

These days were long and drawn out, doing the same thing since two years ago every day, with no holidays. Twi could understand the amount of help they needed, but it didn’t help her feel any better about herself. She just wished to see her friends again.

Comments

[ancientofstone]

holy shit... this is amazing. nocturne is as crazy as he is in league Q^Q

[Astral Star and Company]

5382192
Glad you think so!

~Astral Star /)*(\