Waking Night

by CrowMagnon

Part 3 - Rhyme & Reason

Waking Night
by Crowmagnon

In all of Harmonia, it is the equine races who most commonly possess the ability to perceive the flow of destiny. Whether it is the cutie marks of ponies, the ritual trances of zebra shamans, or the foresight sometimes granted to the horses of Saddle Arabia by their djinn, all have some small ability to perceive future events. For most, this ability is so passive and subtle that they never consciously realize that they have it at all. It is when clarity overrides subtlety that things get complicated.

-- Tesla Bolt Lulamoon, "A Treatise on Destiny (And How it Both is And is Not a Load of Horseapples)"

---

Nopony ever ventured into the Everfree, the ponies of Ponyville said. It was an evil den of pony-eating monsters and dark spirits, but worst of them all were the witches.

Deep in the dark, dark depths of the Everfree Forest, where the leafy canopy above was so thick that it all but blocked out the sun, and the tracks of huge predators were gouged into the dirt, a single hut stood carved out of the hollowed carcass of a gnarled tree. Gruesome, leering masks and jars of foul-smelling fluids hung from its branches, but it was inside the hut where the rainbow-maned witch of the Everfree performed her sinister work.

In front of her sat a small cauldron, its contents boiling over the fire. Her cloak hung from one of the hooks beside the door, so anypony who would have dared to venture into the evil forest and peer in through the witch's window would have seen the cyan pegasus's mangled and deformed wing. In the tight space of the tree hut, though, her lack of flight proved no handicap at all as she went back and forth between the cauldron and the shelves of herbs and ingredients, chanting to herself all the while.

"Drop some Boombloom petals in it, then you stir for half a minute. When the mixture turns bright green, add five pods of Silverbean. Now, to add some mischief to the smoke, let's put in some pollen of Poison Joke!" With a wicked smirk, she reached down to her side, where a little white bunny carefully placed a vial of the blue powder into her hoof. Being very, very cautious not to get any of it on her, the witch tilted the vial's contents into the brew and quickly recoiled from the puff of smoke which erupted from it.

"Then we take our hollowed gourd into which it should be poured." Careful not to breathe in the pungent fumes coming out of the cauldron, the witch pulled it from the flame and slowly emptied it out into the top of a hollowed-out pumpkin. "Now place the fuse and seal up the top. Be very careful not to drop! Ponyville is safe, I gave my word, but Waking Night without pranks is just absurd. Hehe, too bad during our conversation, the squirt didn't say anything about the Ranger's station."

With the pumpkin sealed shut with some hoof-made adhesive, the witch practically cackled to herself and caressed her newest creation. "Muhuahahaha! This baby'll have them fuming for weeks! Now, I just need to--" Before she could finish her thought, the bunny's ears twitched toward the door and he interrupted her by hoppping up and down, pointing at it. Turning her own attention that direction, she gasped when she heard hoofsteps approaching and quickly shoved the pumpkin bomb into one of the lower shelves, hiding it behind a collection of jarred preserves.

Moments later, the door opened. In walked a zebra mare wearing a hooded cloak identical to the pegasus's own. As soon as she was fully inside, the zebra lifted her muzzle and sniffed the air several times before asking, "Phew! Rainbow Dash, what reeks?"

With a painfully forced laugh, Rainbow replied, "Haha, what? Oh, that? Right, I was trying to see if I could make secret sauce like they have at Burger Princess! As, uh... as you can tell, I didn't have much success."

The zebra pulled back her hood, freeing her stiff, bristly mohawk, and gave the younger mare a skeptical look. "So... would you be sharing your 'sauce' with your friends at the Ranger's station?"

"Ehehe... what? That's crazy, I... I don't know what you... What Ranger station are you talking about, Zecora?"

Zecora rolled her eyes. "Well, I've brought incense for our meditation." With that, she set down her bags and removed her cloak, hanging it up on the peg next to Rainbow's. While she took a selection of herbs from her bags and placed them in a bowl, she smirked slightly and added, "If you are determined to be so errant, my student should at least be able to make her intentions less apparent."

Rainbow didn't have anything to say to that, and instead silently slipped into practiced routine and cleared things away to make room while Zecora prepared the incense.

-----

Pinkamena finished wiping down a recently-abandoned table and looked out the window. It was almost time for Princess Celestia to set the sun, which meant that when the bell over the door jingled...

"Yo, Pinkie! I'll have--"

"--one 'jumbo triple-strength choco-loaded Heart Exploder 5000.' With whipped cream," Pinkamena recited alongside the approaching customer. "And a thermos of espresso for later."

Vinyl Scratch, Ponyville's most popular (and only) DJ grinned widely and took a seat. "You know what I like, Pinkie. How's it hangin'?"

"Pretty good. I'm very excited for tomorrow," she blandly replied as she walked over toward the counter alongside Vinyl. Cuppa Joe finished topping the DJ's drink off with a dangerously tall tower of whipped cream, and passed it across the counter while Vinyl levitated some bits to her. "I just finished a Waking Night poem that I'm pretty happy with. I was about to recite it if you want to stick around for that."

"Oooooh." Vinyl carefully took the cup and thermos in her magic, then practically inhaled most of the whipped cream, giving herself a mustache that would have blended in with her white coat if not for the droplets of hypercoffee before she licked it off her face. "Sweet! Sure, I can hang a few minutes."

"Okay. I'll set up the drums."

-----

Rainbow Dash and Zecora both took slow, deep breaths, inhaling the fumes of the burning herbs between them. Each of them sat perched atop a sturdy wooden staff, keeping their balance as part of their meditative ritual.

For her part, Rainbow found it easy enough to keep her balance, but more difficult than usual to clear her mind. She couldn't help but feel a smirk form on her face as she thought about her plans for Waking Night. But that would have to wait. For now, she just had to breathe in and out, in and out, matching her teacher's pace.

On the other side of the room, though, Rainbow heard Zecora's breath catch in her lungs, then rapidly accelerate. Rainbow cracked one eye open to see what had startled the zebra, and the sight of Zecora's face when she did so caused her to yelp in surprise and reflexively try to flap away with her good wing, causing her to tumble off her staff and land on her back.

By contrast, Zecora still maintained her balance, but her eyes were wide open and rolled so far back that they looked blank white. Cold sweat practically poured down the zebra's face as she hyperventilated, her mouth hanging slack.

"Z-zecora? Zecora!"

-----

After setting down her drums on the tiny open stage that the coffee house used for performances like hers, Pinkamena pulled a sheaf of parchment out of her turtleneck and placed them on a stand in front of her. Once everything was set up, she reared up onto her hind legs behind the drums and cleared her throat.

"Good evening, fillies and gentlecolts. We at the Bean There, Done That would like to invite you all to listen to a poem that I wrote in honor of tomorrow's holiday. I hope that you enjoy it." She spared a glance in Vinyl's direction, then focused on the sheets in front of her and let her hooves start to dance across the drums and fill the room with a somber rhythm.

Vinyl took a slurp of her drink as she sat back and listened. It was a good beat. Add in a bone-rattling bass line and some melody from her keyboards, and she could get ponies to dance to it. Pinkamena slowly opened her mouth to begin, and Vinyl's ears perked up in anticipation.

Instead of a poem, though, Pinkamena's breath caught in her lungs. The noises that next came out of her were not words so much as a rasping, pained moan as the beat of her hooves upon the drums changed into something more... "sinister" was the only word that sprang to Vinyl's mind. The DJ set her drink down and raised her eyebrows as she looked at Pinkamena's eyes.

The pink barrista was no longer paying attention to the parchment, nor was she looking at the audience, her drums, or even anything in the room. Her eyes were glazed over, staring sightlessly into the void while her hooves moved of their own accord to bang out a rhythm that made Vinyl's hackles rise.

Then, and only then, did Pinkamena begin to speak. And when she did, it was in a voice that was barely recognizable as hers.

-----

"Daima nyuma, dunia mbele

Kuna njia nyingi ya kukanyaga

Kupitia kivuli makali ya usiku

Mpaka nyota wote ni kushuka"

"Zecora! Snap out of it!" Rainbow Dash shouted up at her mentor as she tried to pull Zecora back down. The zebra stubbornly refused to come down, and Rainbow had to duck to avoid one of her hooves as she started thrashing about in retaliation, yet somehow stayed balanced atop her staff. All while her voice droned in her native Zebrican.

"Ukungu na kivuli

Wingu na kivuli

Wote lake litanyauka

Wote lake litanyauka!"

Zecora's voice deteriorated into a thin, whistling gasp as her body suddenly stiffened, and she slowly began to tip over. Rainbow Dash was quick to get beneath her, though, and help her to lay down gently on the floor.

"Come on, Teach, wake up," Rainbow pleaded. She took a moment to check her mentor's pulse and breathing. "Oh, thank Celestia," she murmured as she saw both begin to stablize.

It wasn't much longer before Zecora clenched her eyes shut, then slowly opened them again to look around the room before focusing on her student. "Rainbow Dash... you must be wary... I just..." She began coughing suddenly, but took a few deep breaths to get it back under control before continuing, "I was given a vision of something that truly frightened me..."

Rainbow fluttered her one good wing nervously. "A vision? You mean like something that's yet to be? What happened, Zecora? What'd you see?"

Zecora beckoned for Rainbow Dash to lean in as she replied, "Come closer, child, and listen carefully... Darkness... and fangs... do not let the ponies..."

"What are you talking about? Zecora? Zecora!" Rainbow Dash shook her mentor as Zecora's eyes drooped shut again, and her body went limp. Only the steady rise and fall of her chest provided any comfort.

Eventually, when she realized that Zecora wasn't going to wake, Rainbow Dash did her best to carry her across the hut. "I-it'll be okay, I'll just... put you to bed. But dangit, Zecora, you know I don't speak Zebrican! You've gotta wake up and tell me what you said!"

-----

"Always behind, the world ahead

There are many paths to tread

Through shadow to the edge of night

Until the stars are all alight

Mist and shadow

Cloud and shade

All shall fade

All shall--"

The various patrons who were sitting and listening to Pinkamena's poem glanced among themselves, wondering if the sense of unease that had filled the room since she started was intentional or not.

"F...fade," she stammered, her voice cracking as one last beat against the drum echoed throughout the Bean There, Done That. Then, like a marionette whose strings had all been severed at once, her body went limp and slumped over against her drums before tumbling to the ground.

A few very uneasy ponies tentatively stomped a few times in nervous applause, but this died out quickly when Cuppa Joe rushed over the instant Pinkamena started to fall, getting there before Vinyl by less than a second.

"Pinkamena! Pinkamena, come back, dearie. Focus on my voice," Cuppa said, gently cradling her.

"Is she... hey, is she okay? What's goin' on?" Vinyl asked, practically dancing on the tips of her hooves with worry. And enough caffeine to wake a dead dragon, but mostly worry.

"It's okay, dearie... She... she's just having one of her 'episodes', but be ready to call--"

Pinkamena let out a little moan and fidgeted while Cuppa fretfully stroked her hair. A moment later, she murmured, "As I was walking up the stair, I met someone who wasn't there... As I was walking up the stair, I met someone who wasn't there... As I was walking up the stair..."

Slowly, very slowly, Pinkamena opened her big blue eyes. They were dull and unfocused at first, but soon brightened when she turned them to Cuppa and Vinyl. She carefully smacked her lips, her mouth feeling very dry, and lifted a hoof to touch Cuppa's face. "Oh... sorry. How long was I out?"

Cuppa smiled warmly and replied, "It was just a moment, dear, but are you okay?"

"Yeah... you need any help there, Pinks?" Vinyl asked.

Pinkamena shook her head at that. She gently pushed herself up out of Cuppa's grip and checked her balance, then brushed some dust off of her turtleneck. "It's okay. I'm feeling fine, now," she said, though she looked down at her fallen drums while she said it. "Um... Mrs. Joe?"

"Yes, dear?"

"I know this is short notice, but... I need to take a personal day tomorrow."

With that, she picked up her drums and started to walk into the back of the shop. The whole time, Vinyl stared in confusion. "Hey... Mrs. J, what just happened?" She saw that, in the crash, Pinkamena's parchments had been scattered, so she picked the pages up with her magic and glanced over the lines. None of them looked anything like the poem Pinkamena had just spoken.

Cuppa smiled and took the pages between her teeth. "Oh, don't you worry about it, Vinyl," she said around the parchment. "It's happened before, and she's always bounced right back. I'll just go see about changing the schedule a little... something important must be happening tomorrow if she asked for the whole day off."

No less confused than when she asked, Vinyl nevertheless let it go. Something told her that even if she chose to press the issue, the answer wouldn't do her any good.

-----

Pinkamena stood on the mountainside. Canterlot above her, Ponyville visible miles away. Beside Ponyville was the vast expanse of the Everfree Forest.

From up above, she could hear the sounds of revelry. The sun was still up, but the Waking Night festivities were underway.

That was when she saw the cloud. Not above, but below. A cloud of thick, inky blackness that rose up from the Everfree and oozed through the sky toward Canterlot.

Pinkamena stood in the streets. Screams of terror rang in her ears as the black cloud swallowed up the streets. Ponies screamed within the darkness.

In the sky above, directly overhead, Pinkamena saw the sun and moon at the same time. The two celestial bodies shook in the sky, as if struggling against each other, but slowly, inexorably, they drew closer and closer together until the moon placed itself in front of the sun and cast its shadow upon the land.

The cloud rushed over Pinkamena, and she saw a glimpse of fangs gnashing in the blackness while a sickening laughter erupted all around her.

Pinkamena stood within the cloud, seeing only darkness without end. There was nothing else at all until suddenly she realized that there was.

Off in the distance, a light flickered into being. Then another appeared next to it, and another after that, and so it went until there were six sparks perfectly positioned like the six points of a hexagon. In the center between them, the darkness was pushed away, allowing a seventh light to shine. For a moment, the light was blinding to Pinkamena, but as her eyes adjusted, she realized that the light orbited by the six sparks was the moon.

Pinkamena stood in an open field, looking up at the moon. All around her, leaves hung in the air, held aloft by a breeze that no longer moved.

Nothing moved. Not the moon, nor the leaves, nor the grass beneath her hooves. Nothing except for a shadow glimpsed out of the corner of her eye.

Pinkamena slowly lowered her head to get a better look. The one thing that moved throughout the frozen landscape was a small figure wrapped in shadow like a cloak. It shuffled along, furtively turning what she assumed to be its head this way and that. "Princess... must find... the princess..." it muttered to itself in a tired, raspy voice as it moved past her.

Suddenly, it stopped.

It turned.

A single eye peered out of the cloak of shadows and fixed its gaze upon Pinkamena.

"You. You are... here? But no, not here. You are then," it said, drawing closer.

Pinkamena said nothing.

"As I was walking up the stair, I met someone who wasn't there," it said to her, quietly as if sharing a secret. "He was not there again today. Oh, how I wish he'd go away."

From out of the shadows, a gnarled, claw-like limb slowly reached out to touch her face. "Have to find the princess... before what might be becomes what is."

Pinkamena stood in her room in the story above the coffee shop where she worked. Gummy, the little toothless alligator who shared the room with her, slowly blinked one eye. Then the other.

The poet herself rested her chin on the edge of the table Gummy was standing on and replied, "It'll be alright, Gummy. I should just be going to Canterlot for a day. I'll be sure to feed you in the morning before the train, and if anything... keeps me held up... Mr. and Mrs. Joe will take care of you."

Gummy stared blankly at her.

Pinkamena let out a slow sigh. "I wish I knew, Gummy. I wish I knew."

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

6684426 What is fisticuffs?
>>CrowMagnon Shouldn't this story have a Nightmare Moon tag?

[Comickook]

6913641 No. The main villain in this is an OC named Eclipse; NOT Nightmare Moon.

[Comickook]

Hey there. Thanks very much for getting this next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. As usual, excellent job on the exchanges, emotional content and future chapter set-up in all the right places. I'll definitely be looking forward to more of this as soon as time and inspiration will allow.

[Hopeful_Ink_Hoof]

Leave it to Rainbow Dash to seek out prank related loopholes.

[Dramon Creator]

Who was, or will be, that cloaked figure, and why does it know those words?

[CrowMagnon]

6913729
Thanks!

6914394
But of course.

6914654
Sorry, man, but that's kind of a series-wide spoiler if I just told you. But it's same one Pinkamena talks to at the end of the rock opera story.

[RanmaChaos]

Another enjoyable chapter. Great job.

[EvilDustMan]

Damn. Now I'm hooked.

[krazykidfannumber2]

More!

[aceotaku]

I am enjoying this a lot :3 sadly I don't have a lot to say other than that....

[krazykidfannumber2]

More!

[CrowMagnon]

6962696
You mean "More, please."

It's coming, I promise!

[krazykidfannumber2]

6962997 Please make it as soon as possible.

[goldfencer]

one 'jumbO triple-strength choco-loaded Heart Exploder 5000.

And make it a double. Also, is that o supposed to be capitalized?

[Frankie2]

Okay, Applejack is in Canterlot because her assistant fd up;
Rarity is on her way to Canterlot to confront Applejack about her letter;
Twilight and Fluttershy are already in Canterlot;
That just leaves Rainbow Dash. How will she end up in Canterlot? Does she even have to be there?