No Tears, Just Dreams

by sunnypack

11 - When the Light Fades, the Shadows Grow

Chapter 11: When The Light Fades, The Shadows Grow

Within a crystal chamber, deep beneath the surface of an ancient city, were the faint sounds of scuffling footsteps. If one were to hear closely, they would surmise that the steps had a faint irregularity to them, as if the owner was limping or encumbered. If one were to listen more closely, they would hear the soft pitter patter of paper or parchment rustling on the ground. Along the walls and the floors were thousands of these small castings. Among these sheets, both blank and some covered with writing, a frightening creature moved among them. A creature that stalked the cavern, like a ghost amongst its grave.

For most, the creature would seem to be the most interesting aspect of the room. Perhaps. A further investigation of the room would reveal several items of interest. Foremost, a thick tome, bound by rough leather… and with all but one of its pages torn out. A creature paced within the confines of this small space. It would approach the edge of the room, then shy back, as if warded off by some mysterious force, but then resume pacing restlessly. In the centre, a jagged stone fashioned crudely into a table was the dominating feature. Here was where the book sat, and surrounding it, like a carpet, was parchment and paper.

Outside was another sound. A faint sound, but with every staccato pulse of its beat it became louder and louder. The sound was drawing closer. When the creature heard the noise and registered what it meant, it stopped its interminable pacing and raised its hands towards the door. It stayed like that for perhaps a minute or two, then slowly its forelimbs fell to its sides as it let out a despondent sigh.

From the entrance emerged its judgement.

The creature sat amongst its art and waited with a carefully neutral expression.

His ending lowered its horn.

And the creature closed its eyes.

————

When Twilight found Celestia, she realised they were not alone. With the rest of her makeshift party containing Luna, her friends, and herself, Twilight should not be afraid. Every moment that passed was a moment lost to the disquiet of the oppressive stone around them, every shuddering breath she took felt like it were drawn from the depths of the ocean, every step she took was laden with the weight of her primeval instinct.

Twilight knew she was afraid, but she turned that fear into the strength to move forward.

Around her, she was aware of her friends all undergoing the same transition. Applejack and Rainbow, two of her friends she thought would be stalwart in the face of danger, looked haggard and drawn. Rarity and Fluttershy had abandoned their usual composure, and both shook in the dark. Pinkie and Luna, the two ponies that Twilight thought would be the least susceptible to tricks of the torturous creature, were quiet and sombre and their shifting gazes held no haven for Twilight’s questing eyes. All this added to Twilight’s mounting sense of unease.

Everypony here were enduring their own personal trials. Yet ahead, what Twilight had feared seemed come to pass. The creature lay down on the ground, seemingly in pain, while Celestia stood above, mute and resolute. Her bearing showed no fear. Her stance gave Twilight the remaining strength to push forward.

“Princess.”

It was all she could say, but it was enough.

Twitching, Celestia looked up from her vigil over the creature and stared at Twilight. Her gaze locked onto Twilight, but instead of its usual warmth, it seemed alien and cold, as if the alicorn were looking through her rather than at her. Twilight felt the beginnings of a shiver, but clamped down on her rising anxiety.

There was enough of that, she thought to herself. It was time to stop living in fear.

“Twilight,” Celestia greeted, though her usual familiarity was absent. “I was hoping you wouldn’t see this.”

Celestia looked back at the creature, and Twilight couldn’t keep her eyes from drifting to the splayed being on the ground.

“What happened?” Twilight asked, fearing the worst.

“A sleep spell,” Celestia replied wryly, a gentle swaying betrayed the exhaustion the alicorn felt. “Sleep for the creature so that we may all…” Without warning, Celestia collapsed heavily, her body scattering the many loose leaf parchment that Twilight recognised made the cryptical notes around the room. She forced her legs to move forward, breaking the stiff lock her muscles had tightened into as she met her mentor on the ground.

“Princess!” She held a hoof to her chest. There was a steady heartbeat. A steady breath. The Princess was merely sleeping. A relieved breath shot out. The first in a long, long, time.

“T-Twilight.” Twilight turned back to see Luna had forced herself past her own fear. Whatever barrier of that prevented Luna from coming close had evidently failed as the alicorn made her way towards her sister. “My sister is sleeping,” Luna confirmed, after laying her head on her sister’s chest. Her gaze darkened as she took in the creature. “This is it?”

Twilight eyed it. On the ground, lying as it was, shifting and cringing like it bore some great, unseen burden, it suddenly didn’t look all that frightening. When it stood upright, it had seemed tall and threatening, but now, on the ground, it was a shadow of its fear-inducing self.

“What should we do?” Twilight asked. Luna started, reacting as if the thought hadn’t occurred to her, but she recovered quickly, her concern clearly showing in deference to her cherished relative.

“We should take my sister and leave,” Luna said quietly, “she may need some help.”

Twilight began nodding, but then stopped, cocking her head as a thought suddenly occurred to her. “I should keep an eye on it.”

Luna looked up sharply. “Can you handle it? It may attack you.”

Twilight slowly shook her head. “No…” she trailed off as Luna stared at her. “At least, I don’t think so. I can’t explain it, but I think I want to stay here.”

“Do you think it might be making you think that? It so far had manipulated our emotions like we were mere puppets in its grip.” She frowned, then added reluctantly, “Though its messages have said otherwise.”

Twilight sighed, shaking her head. “I need to know, Princess. I need to know why.”

Luna glanced out towards Twilight’s friends, surprised that they had not found their way in yet. They stood at the edges of the entrance, looking like they were unable to make progress since approaching. Twilight bit her lip.

“Your friends?”

Twilight looked surprised by that question. Her eyes hardened as she came to a decision. “Would you mind leading them back?”

“I will.” Luna tilted her head. “Thank you, Twilight. Though I know you have your own reasons for confronting the creature, I’m grateful you have the courage to face it.”

———————

Twilight lay down next to the creature. She watched it for a while, as it tossed and turned. Soon, Twilight found her thoughts drifting, as well as her eyes. She took in the parchments and scattered paper. She noticed that they were covered in writing. Usually, she’d be all over reading something, but this time she didn’t feel the drive, apart from a small drop of morbid curiosity to find out more about this creature.

She had to know its reasons for doing what it did. She had to know why it had hunted them relentlessly until they had almost dropped from exhaustion. Nothing that did that could have any good intentions… so why did she feel a sense of disquiet? Why did it feel different to when she interacted with the creature? How could she tell? It just felt… different. Her fear of the creature usually filled her mind to exclusion of all else, but here, in this cavern, her fears were the sum of the unknown. Her expectations and silent trepidation were made of what was to come.

The creature finally lay still. It took a breath, then opened its eyes.

Twilight thought she was expecting something sinister. Like eyes stained black as dark as the night. Red-tipped irises, or the shape of a predator’s iris focused on her. Instead, she saw a rounded iris. She saw deep brown eyes. And through all that she saw an expression surrounding the eye. It was surprise… and fear.

What did the creature have to worry about her? So far nothing they had done was effectual. The creature always had the upper hoof, and it seemed to torment them with its wily ability to evade and escape from any attempts to capture it.

“Why?” she whispered.

The creature slowly got into a seated posture. It hugged its limbs towards itself like a foal would alone without their parents. It looked at her with guilt-steeped eyes. Finally, it picked up a piece of parchment, one of many on the floor around them and passed it to her. Twilight hadn’t seen the creature write, but the text nevertheless featured on the page.

Because I’m human.

How was that an explanation? She went back to glance at the piece of parchment, but it crumbled away like all the others.

Confusion laced her reply. “What’s a human?”

Again, the creature passed her another scrap of parchment.

I am human.

A shiver of fear trickled down her spine. If there were more of this creature, then there would be no hope. One human could already wreak havoc like this around Canterlot in a mere week, what would happen if there were more?

“Why?” she repeated.

I gave up.

“Gave up what?”

Hope.

Twilight remained silent as the human gathered a small pile of parchment and handed them to her, one by one.

I am cursed. I live by the grace of this book, which is my life and death. A long time ago, I made a mistake, I made a terrible, terrible, mistake. In order to selfishly protect myself, I destroyed any help I could have once received, and in isolation I waited.

It was not always like this. I used to be worse. I had lost my mind. I lost myself. From time to time I still did. My loneliness is crushing me. My humanity is killing me. I put it aside and the book drove me back to it. I…

You may ask, what is a human?

I am human.

Twilight glanced up. Around her were no longer the pages of parchment on the floor. There were none left. It didn’t make sense. There was more than enough to convey the human’s message. The creature shuffled to the book, running a finger lightly across its surface.

With a swift movement that made Twilight stand up in alarm, the human tore the last page from the book and gave it to Twilight.

I’m a relic of the past. I don’t belong here. For a time, when I lost myself, I convinced myself that none would accept me. They feared me, and it became reality. Their fear is a part of me now, it is my armour, it is my weapon, but when I returned… When I became human again, I could not endure it. I wanted to know solace once again. I wanted to know comfort once again. But… I only caused pain. I want you know that I am human. I want you to know that I’m sorry. I’m sorry for my weakness. I’m sorry that I couldn’t hold back my own loneliness.

Please, please, please I want you, anyone, to know that I’m human again.

That I died… a human.

Twilight looked up. The human was gone. Sweeping her gaze around, she panicked, until she spotted something flashing white on the stone below. It was a pile of bones, stacked neatly, bleached perfectly white. Resting on top was the cover of the book that the human had been holding a moment before.

On the book’s cover was a title.

“In memory of…” she trailed off, unable to make out the name written next to the script. For a moment, Twilight felt a deep sense of emptiness when she realised that the human’s name would never been known, a human which had caused them all grief, pain, fear and misery… all because it was lonely.

Twilight felt the agony of conflict leaving a mark in her heart. She didn’t know whether she could forgive this creature, or that her friends, or even if the Princesses would. One thing was certain was that it had impressed upon the one thing that it felt so important to tell her, before it sealed its own death warrant.

It wanted her to known it was human, and it succeeded.

For Twilight would remember this for as long as she lived.

Author's Note:

I finally polished off this story, after a heck of a long time.

There's a lot I might have reworked, had I found the time, but I think I liked it. I want to leave things closed in this chapter, and maybe in the future leave enough room for expansion. It depends.

If you're still around, thanks for reading this, I really appreciate it!

Next Chapter: Let all that is sleeping, lie.

As always, my tenacious readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. Some minor editing, because I wrote this hastily.

Comments

[goodchaos10]

i luv it!

[Quiet_Albatross]

[Tuong Lu Kim]

You blew it Celestia!

[dark_zero]

38.media.tumblr.com/d966322757b4ff7e8c248ef9bed535d7/tumblr_inline_n3zm0aMM1f1r127k5.gif

I hope you will be encouraged to make a sequel

the end left me a bittersweet feeling

[zaku666]

bittersweet but nice

[Fancy Fox]

that was one helluva ride, i don't think i've seen a fic written quite this way but i loved it nevertheless. almost reminded me of a lighthearted version of poe

[Rozen Knight]

*waits for more* You have my attention.

[Ahuras Wrath]

AN: This the very definition of what happens when I go full retard. You never go full retard. Expect very poor writing and nonsensical nonsense. This has probably been done before in some fashion. I just find that statement, 'no tears, just dreams', hilarious... for some reason.

Never go full retard, you say, but you ended up writing a story that's better then 85% percent of what's on this site. I'm getting mixed messages.

[KvAT]

Unparalleled writing quality, I love this