Descent Into Shadows

by Golden Hoof

Descent

In the far northern reaches of Equestria, on the lonely trail of Nevermore, a carriage made its way slowly through the mountain pass to the end of its long and grueling journey. Its driver, a young stallion named Axle, sighed as he eased the cart to a creaky halt at the very end of the gravely pass, where the road met the forest. He paused for a moment, glancing at the surroundings before turning back to the carriage. "Hey," he shouted to his lone passenger. "We're here, end of Nevermore, just like ya asked." Axle listened carefully over the sound of the growing winds for an answer, but none came. "Hey!" he called again, louder this time. "Did ya hear me? End of the line partner, time to haul it!" Still, there was no response. Swearing beneath his breath, the stallion freed himself from the cart's harness, letting it slam heavily in the gravel. He turned, poking his head over the edge, spying his passenger fast asleep.

"Aw Celestia..." He sighed heavily. Even over the sound of the growing gale, he could hear the earth pony's deep, rhythmic snores. This stranger was quite the unusual pony: first he shows up in town, screaming out nonsense, begging for somepony to take him up to Haystack before it was too late, and then he falls asleep when he gets there. The only plus side about all this was that the wacko paid in full up front and then some. In fact, it was far greater than Axle's usual twenty bit toll; more around the range of five hundred, all wrapped up neatly in a worn cloth bag. Anypony throwing around that kind of money was probably not the kind you'd want to disappoint, so Axle figured he'd wait around till he woke up. "Yer lucky you paid so much, or we'd be half-way back to town by now yah sleepy bastard..." he thought, disappointedly lowering himself to the ground.

A cold gust of wind suddenly swept across him, chilling him down to the bone. The stallion shivered, huddling close to his cart as he listened to the leaves rustle all around him. He gazed up at the dark clouds gathering overhead as they swirled around the looming peak of Haystack Mountain, just a few minutes' walk away. He shuddered, not from the cold, but the presence of the mountain itself. Tales of the mountain ranging from murder, to monsters, to dark magic were commonly told in the town of Forget just a few miles away. Most ponies didn't believe in such nonsense, and often dismissed them as simple campfire tales.

Axle himself wasn't a believer himself... but now, alone, beneath the dark clouds of a gathering storm, standing in the shadow of the rocky behemoth, his mind couldn't help but paint pictures of somepony happening across his cold, frozen corpse somewhere in the surrounding woods. Cause of death: unknown, but most likely very, very painful.

He shook his head, trying to scare off the deadly thoughts when a new noise caught his attention. His eyes jumped open, scanning the surrounding tree-line for the source. He didn't find monsters, murderers, or dark wizards, but he did spy something he hadn't seen before. A few meters away, just at the edge of the forest was modest, wooden frame, nearly invisible behind the branches that dipped down close to the forest floor. From it, was suspended a wooden sign, just barely illegible from his position. Axle squinted in desperation, trying to read the faded words from a distance, the fear of leaving the safety of his cart holding him in place. Another gust of wind passed over him, the sign swinging temptingly just out of reach. The stallion juggled his feelings of curiosity and fear as they continued to grow out of control. Those familiar stories from back home resurfaced and began flooding his mind, every detail of the woods seeming to jump out at him. He was caught in a battle of emotions, until finally his curiosity emerged victorious.

He took a tedious step away from the carriage, eyes darting back and forth across the trees. "Ok..." he thought. nervously. "Just a quick look, then it's right on back to the cart... Just a quick look." The stallion took in a deep breath, taking another step away from the saftey of his vehicle when suddenly, a brilliant flash of lightning arced across the sky, followed by a loud roar of thunder that rocked the gravel beneath his hooves. He shrieked, bolting across the clearing, spraying gravel behind him with each hoovestep. He hugged up against the closest tree, staring back at his vehicle. "Well," he panted, pushing himself from the trunk. "At least you made it this far." Axle scanned the tree line, looking for the mysterious sign which he had just risked his life to see, finding it exactly where it had been before.

Navigating through the thicket, he slowly made his way over to the sign. Looking over it up close, he could see that it was quite old. A majority of the frame had rotted away. What was left had decayed horribly, or had been overgrown by the surrounding plant-life. It supported a once ornate sign by a single, rustic chain. There had been another at one point, but it had broken away, leaving the wooden message clinging barely above the ground. "Alright," the stallion began, finding comfort in the sound of his own voice. "You came here all this way to see this thing... aren't ya gonna bother reading what it has to say?" He stopped for a moment. All this time he so desperately wanted to get here, he never gave any thought as to what it might say. Well, it had to be there for some reason; somepony wouldn't just put it out here without one now would they?

"Well... only one way to find out..." He bent forward, squinting as he tried to make out the old letters carved into the wood. Through all the weather and rot, he could just barely read the words:

"Memory Lane"

The words leapt from the tip of his tongue, an arctic chill running up his spine. Axle knew this place; he knew where he was. The stories and ponytales he had heard were true, and he was now caught in the middle of it. He stumbled back, pushing himself away from the evil when he bumped up against something. His eyes shot up in horror, expecting the monster that would take his life to be standing above him, claws raised, ready to strike down. Instead, his terrified gaze was met with the familiar cloaked figure of his passenger.

"So," The stallion began. "I'm not the only one who remembers this place."

Axle pushed himself up, glaring at his passenger. "You never told me we were coming here." he hissed.

"Why should I have? So you could reject me like all the others?" the hooded stallion retorted.

"You're darn right I would've."

"That's pathetic." He shoved past Axle, looking over the rotten frame. "So you would rather believe in your silly superstitions and ponytales than help a pony in need?"

"If, by 'help', you mean carry them up the mountains to the site of the Needle Forest disappearances; then yeah, I'll believe."

"Is that what you country bumpkins call it now? I swear, it's getting more attention than it deserves..."

"What'd you have us call it you ignorant prick?" he shouted angrily. "All we know, is that ponies go down Memory Lane, into Needle forest, and they don't come out. They die out there, good sir, and I ain't gonna be a part of the mass that has already been taken."

The stallion didn't respond. He just chuckled, nudging the sign with his hoof. "How can you be so sure that they died?"

"Well, uh..." A moment of uncertainty crossed Axle's mind. "There was this one story I heard..."

"Oh yes," the passenger interrupted. "Please tell me more of these stories that your 'friends' wove for you!"

Axle snorted, glaring at the stallion's back. "They found a mare, once."

"Oh really? Please continue."

"Yeah, she came crawlin' out of the woods, all cut up and battered. She died before anypony could help heal her up."

"And this proves anything how?"

"It's what she said before she died that matters." he continued, a light growing in his eyes. "Right as she was leavin them, that mare said one word. One final thing that sums up the whole ordeal."

"What did she say?"

"Hourglass."

There was a long pause. Only the squeaking chain and the sound of the brewing storm kept them company. After what seemed an eternity, the stallion finally spoke. "Look..." he began in a voice as cool as the rushing wind. "I'm going to assume, judging by your lack of knowledge, that you're not from around here like the others." He stopped the sign in place, holding it against the wind. "You came from the south, maybe from Ponyville, or Canterlot, or some other cutesy, idyllic, town down under the watchful eyes of the princess; naive in every sense of the word."

"What are you sayin?"

"You are almost pre-programmed to believe that everypony is pure of heart, generous, with good intent... ideals that you've been taught time and time again, and grown to know and love." A clap of thunder roared overhead, shrouding the forests in a bright, white light. Axle began to step back, fear building up in the pit of his stomach. "That stallion is real; not quite the monster that you think you think he is, however... he is a pony, like you and I. He just has a set of certain... insidious.... goals."

"I-I don't understand..." Axle stuttered, nearly tripping over a fallen branch as he backed away.

"I only noticed one flaw in your story, Axle. This flaw, however, makes your whole story one big, twisted up lie." The stallion finished, turning to face the driver, his dark blue eyes glowing ominously beneath the shadows of his hood.

"What... What's that?" Axle said, at the end of his wits.

"Nopony escapes Hourglass alive."

That was it; he couldn't stand this any longer. Axle bolted, leaping to his cart. Slipping into his harness, he charged full blast back down the trail, spraying gravel up in his wake.

The stallion watched as the driver disappeared off into the distance. "Well, that was easier than I thought." He thought. He turned back to read the words again, to remind himself that he wasn't in a dream. "But now... the real challenge begins." The stallion looked up, through the canopy of the trees, at Haystack mountain. Just barely visible was the stone path, carved out of the very stone itself. It stretched up, high above the trees and into the clouds, where it seemingly vanished. Up there, beyond the horizon. That was his destination; the end of his thousand-mile journey. And when he finally arrived, he would take that last step without hesitation, and end these long years of suffering for good.

He checked his bag and, with little hesitation, started down the dark path towards the stairway to the clouds to his destination:

Time manor.

---

Up near the peak of Mount Haystack, the storm raged on violently. As lightning streaked across the sky, the shell of Time Manor was briefly illuminated, clinging desperately to the side of Haystack. It waged a long and tedious war with the elements of nature; one that it knew it was losing. With each gust of wind, another layer would peel away from the stone bricks of its narrow spires, and slowly tear it apart at the seams. And yet, even as the storm raged across its surface, it stood quietly as it always had; a testament to a better time, now long forgotten.

Against the backdrop of the storm, at the very top of the stairs that led up to the broken gates of the mansion, a lone figure emerged. Drenched head to hoof, he rushed up to the rotten doors, and quietly slipped though the gates, into the heart of the broken manor. Now within the safety of the castle walls, he slipped off his hood, gazing around the broken hall. The air was thick with rot and decay; pillars that had once lined the walls now laid strewn across the foyer floor; much of the furniture had been broken a long time ago, the pieces now shrouded in a thick veil of webs. Even with the mess, he couldn't help but see past all the extremities and see the place for what it once was.

He took a nervous step forward into the center of the hall. He brushed against of the fallen pillars in a dream-like state, remembering days gone by, when a noise overhead caught his attention. A door flew open up above on the balcony. From the dark entrance, a figure stepped out, looking down at him in surprise. It was a unicorn, with worn, dark brown fur and a faded old suit. It was Hourglass.

The two locked eyes for a moment, neither one choosing to say a word. Hourglass was the one to break the silence.

"Why are you here?" he began, a bit more surprised than the stallion expected.

"To settle old debts," the stallion replied. "And bring some closure to my life."

"... Come, we shall talk." He ushered him up, leaving through a door on the far left side of the room. The stallion followed his host down a long, empty hallway to a small office. A fire had already been started in the fireplace, dimly lighting the room in an warm red glow that cast long shadows along the bookshelves lining the walls. Hourglass grabbed an iron poker with his magic, stoking the fire as he turned to face the stallion. "So," he said, staring at him with a sunken gaze. "I could have sworn you said you would never face me again."

"I remember that promise all too well, and yet, here I am."

"Yes... you are. And despite all my predictions, none of this is anything I foresaw." Hourglass said, slamming the poker back in with the rest of the iron tools. "My first guess would be vengeance, but I had every right to cast you out, did I not?" He smiled, the embers reflecting in his deep red eyes. "No, you're here for reasons beyond that, aren't you? Considering you have now defied my expectations twice, why don't you simply state your reasons yourself before I cut you down where you stand?"

"I come to you," the stallion said, lowering his head. "In hopes that you will forgive me... In hopes that you will let me forget..."

"Ah, so you seek ignorance?" He laughed. "No amount of magic can erase the damage that has been done to you!"

"Not magic... You and I both know what I'm talking about..."

"Not only do you seek my resources, but you wish forgiveness? Hah! I admire the fact that you have, at the very least, grown sensible in your exile; but what makes you think that I will waste such a rare potion on you?"

"Have I not suffered enough?" He muttered, clenching his teeth. "Please... just put me out of my misery, Hourglass."

"Such is the heavy price of betrayal... Have you learned nothing from this?" the unicorn spoke, his voice flecked with spite. "If not, then perhaps you have failed yet again. This comes at no big surprise however, you always were a disappointment."

"I would rather die than spend another second with this burden you have shouldered me with." the cloaked stallion begged.

"Perhaps you should," Hourglass interrupted, turning his back to the stallion. "You would save me quite a bit of time and effort by doing so, as well as solve your problem at the same time."

"I... want to..."

This answer seemed to catch Hourglass by surprise. He froze, turning back with a curious look in his eyes. "So you have reached the end of your trail? You wish for me to... end you? You're even more pathetic than I thought."

"Only if I you allow me to forget first... everything."

"What does it matter? The damage has been done-"

"I don't want to die knowing what I've done!" he shouted. A moment of silenced passed over the room, the fire casting long shadows over the wall.

"Perhaps...." Hourglass said. "What is it that you wish to forget, specifically?"

"My life... my service... everything."

"Everything? Such a broad, unappealing term... Please try to be more specific in your request."

"You know what I am talking about... everything... with you."

There was a long pause, the silence drowned out by the sound of the storm battering against the window. "Ah... Ignorance is bliss, I suppose." Hourglass began, staring through the glass. "Even..?

"Yes, especially."

"Hrm... to create such a hole in the mind... intriguing, but impossible. Even my potions could not create such a lapse in memory... I'm afraid those memories have been imprinted onto you permanently."

"There has to be a way." he begged.

"I'm afraid there isn't. The memories and events you experienced are too powerful, too life defining that they have become a part of who you are."

"So it's impossible?"

"Hrm..." He looked over to a desk across the room. "Not necessarily..." From the desk across the room, he removed a small, black vial. He levitated it before him ominously, inspecting it closely. "I was saving this for myself, but with you out of the way it will no longer be necessary."

"What is it?"

"Something I discovered a long time ago; liquid amnesia." he sent the potion over, keeping it at eye level. "Drink this, I promise you, and your entire life up to this point will be nothing more than a distant nightmare."

"How do I know that you aren't lying to me? How do I know this won't just kill me outright?"

"You don't." the unicorn stated bluntly. "But you don't have much of a choice: You either drink and I give you a peaceful, ignorant death; or refuse, and watch as I break every bone in your body, knowing you brought this upon yourself."

The stallion paused, staring down at the vial. After a moment of contemplation, he sighed and lifted up his hood, staring back at Hourglass. "I drink this," he began, stepping forward. "Only with your promise to finally give up on the path you have chosen."

"Are you proposing an end to my work? All of my research? You surprise me yet again, I never took you for one to think ahead... any reason why?"

"It brings me some peace of mind knowing that there was at least one pony that I could save, even after everything I done."

"But if you forget me and your actions, then what reason would I have to stop? In fact, why would I stop to begin with, after coming so far? We both know the strives and sacrifices I have made, and now you are saying I should simply 'give up'?"

"You have a solid point; I guess it's really all up to you after this... but if you have any goodness left in that crumpled heart of yours, you'll do as I ask."

"I suppose there always is that slim chance... but there will always be more time for contemplation, now is the time for action."

"Right.. I suppose this is goodbye then..."

"And good riddance..." Hourglass said, releasing his magical grip on the vial. It fell gently to the floor, beckoning the stallion. "I wish you farewell on your journey into the abyss, traitor."

"Hrmp... That coming from you..." the stallion muttered, taking the vial in his hooves. He yanked the cork out, watching as the black liquid splashed around inside of it. "Well... bottoms up." He tilted it up his mouth, letting the mixture flow down his throat. It felt as though his insides had suddenly knotted up inside of him. A cold snap starting from his hooves ran up his body to the tip of his mane, followed by a blast of searing heat that left his skin tingling. He collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain. "W-what is going on?" Over the growing pain, he heard a chuckle coming from the now shadowed figure across the room. "Hourglass... w-what have you done to me you bastard?!"

"And so the anger resurfaces..." Hourglass said, carefully setting the vial aside. "I must admit, it was difficult to sense through your well thought out facade, but I could always sense that barely restrained fury bubbling just beneath the surface, waiting to explode at any given moment. You have become quite devious with age."

"I-I'll kill you!"

"Now now, no need to make empty threats; I still have a few questions for you myself, the first of which being why you appear so surprised? I gave you what you asked for, yet its as though you had something else in mind... I don't suppose that dagger you have hidden in your pack is the answer? "

"What... but, how could you possibly know..." He stopped, a spike of pain shooting through his stomach.

"No matter how impressive you may become, however many strides you make in your life, you will always be nothing more than a failure in my eyes; a mistake made by child, who must be corrected by a god."

Through the almost blinding pain, he looked up his foe. "What has happened to you?"

Hourglass paused, staring down into the stallion's eyes, smirking as the color slowly faded away leaving them dark gray. "I always found your mind to be quite fascinating. Despite your more blatant flaws, it appears surprisingly complex... It's built almost like a tomb; the secrets buried just beneath the surface, ready to be unearthed by an intrepid explorer. If only you were adept enough to keep them that way."

"When did you come to this? Why did I ever think you could be saved..."

"That is of no concern to you. But in the end, I will uphold my end of the bargain; you will die, but not until after you've seen from a new perspective the monster you always were."

"You monster..." He groaned in pain, the potion already tugging at his distant memories. His location and the world around him became a haze.

"You say that now, but in the end, you will be begging me to kill you." Hourglass stepped past him, opening the office door. He stopped, looking back one last time. "Its a true shame things didn't go as you had planned. But... everything else you've tried has failed anyway, so I suppose it does not matter anymore."

"Celestia damn you..."

"Hrmp, even with your last breath you curse my name. There is nothing left for me here." He stepped for the door, preparing to close it behind him.

"P-please..." the stallion struggled, turning himself around. "Don't... leave me here... alone..."

Hourglass stopped, looking back. "In my trials, some of the first memories to be forgotten were of those close to the subject; old friends, relatives, loved ones... Judging from the look in your eyes, you don't even remember my name anymore... as it should be. Again, I wish you good luck on your journey, however long it may be. I look forward to seeing you again soon."

The last thing he heard was the door slam shut. The fire just out of reach soon simmered down to an ember as the growing darkness engulfed him... and then he was gone.

---

Don't slip off... need to remember... start with names.

Your name... Your name is... It starts with... Damn it...

Y-you have to stop... him... there isn't much time...

But who is he? What does he want?

No no no no on! You have to remember! It's too important!

Need to... think straight... can't... concentrate...

Somepony... please help me... I don't want to die...

I am... I am...

...

Comments

[CosmicAfro]

Fascinating... I guess I'm tracking this now. There goes my spare time

[Fimbulvinter]

Interesting.

Overall a well detailed first chapter - plenty of setup and initial character development. Hourglass seemes like a callous jerk with a master plan.

A couple of instances of a odd word choice, or a misplaced piece of punctuation

"If, by 'help', you mean carry them up the mountains to the sight of the Needle Forest disappearances; then yeah, I'll believe."

Replace 'sight' with 'site'. Sight refers to visual, site is a location

"I come to you," the stallion said, lowering his head. "In hopes that you will forgive me treachery... In hopes that you will let me forget..."

Context suggests that me should be my.