Chapter 5: It Really Doesn't Matter Any More
"Damn," gasped Grey Hoof. "Damn your eyes, damn your gun, and damn us both to hell." He bent his head back and regarded Long Haul from an upside-down attitude. He abruptly morphed into his more life-like form, only now it was the life-like form of a man mortally wounded. "Thou hast vanquished me, Messer Drayman. That hast not happened to me in decades. Thou shouldst be proud of thyself. Though in all common courtesy ..."
"What?" asked Long Haul.
"I wish thou wouldst retract tnine calumny regarding mine own dear mother," Grey Hoof said. "She was a kind and decent lady, who is in no wise responsible for mine own sins."
Long Haul considered the point. Slandering an innocent woman to her son's face just because you were the one holding the pistol smacked of bullying, and Long Haul was no bully. "Fair enough," he said. "I apologize for the aspersion on her character."
"Then I need not hate thee," Grey Hoof said. "Which is for the better, for thou art a brave man, and I do not hate courage."
"Glad you don't," said Long Haul, "and I guess I don't hate you right now neither, though given that you were trying to kill me and make me your slave -- in some order -- I can't rightly say we're friends." He stepped back against the other truck. "So what happens to you now? Are you dying?"
Grey Hoof chuckled darkly. "Yes ... and no. Thy gunne -- which I would wager either was enchanted, or firing enchanted bullets, since no mere material projectiles can actually harm me -- it has hurt me. Probably to the point where I will vanish for a while. But I shall reawaken in Sunney Towne. It takes magic deeper than thou couldst command to give me the True Death. Remember that -- and be glad you took back your insult to my mother!" He grinned at this, as if to show that he was not actually angry any more.
"Well," Long Haul said, "I did it cause she ain't to blame for anything bad you've done. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I've overstayed my welcome on this bit of road. You're clear of the truck -- I'll do you the courtesy of not driving over you, if you'll do me the courtesy of not trying to attack me any more this night."
"Agreed," said Grey Hoof. "Though I get the better of that bargain, as right now I am not sure that I can move. He lifted up slightly from the ground, then flopped back down as in an apparent loss of control over his own levitation.
Then, Grey Hoof grinned even more broadly. "But then," he said, I need not be the one to attack you." He looked at something to the rear of the truck. "For mine own friends are now upon us."
Long Haul gasped, and whirled to face the road behind the semi. The fog, which the wind had driven off, was now coming back, advancing far too rapidly and steadily to be driven by any normal atmospheric movement. Within that fog he could see six lights -- a pair of golden ones whose hue seemed very familiar, a pair of deep red ones, and a pair of blue ones. To his horror, he realized that the lights were eyes.
A cold wind blew the fog forward, a wind chill with the coldness of death. Long Haul backed all the way against the truck, his gun raised to point at the new threat, but he knew that it was nothing more than a bluff. There was only one round left in the magazine, and he would need that one for himself.
Peace, good drayman, whispered a familiar voice from the fog. Thou shalt not need thy weapon against us. We would do thee no harm.
It was the ghost girl.
She formed first out of the fog, sucking its substance into herself. First the two golden eyes, then the gray pretty face manifesting around them, framed by the yellow and orange two-toned hair. Then the sturdy but lovely feminine form, clad this time in a dark purple dress, caught about her waist with a gold-colored belt. Her eyes became normal. She seemed all alive and beautiful, nothing ghostly about her at all. Aside from the minor fact that, in the gloom of night, her whole form was faintly glowing.
"You changed your outfit," Long Haul said stupidly, this being the one aspect of the situation that fit within his normal understanding.
"'Tis a virtue of mine own condition," Ruby said, "I may manifest whatever raiment I do know and desire."
"That's convenient," Long Haul commented. "And that's a pretty dress."
"Thankee," Ruby said, smiling at him.
Meanwhile the other two figures materialized out of the mist. The two blue lights became two glowing blue eyes, and then from them grew a light-green face, framed by a long mass of untidy dark-green hair.
It was the face of a woman -- no mere girl like Ruby, but a woman full-grown, with lines of care worn into her face, though that face was still quite pretty, and she seemed younger than Long Haul himself. She was wearing a green dress surmounted by a dark green coat the color of her hair. The woman nodded at Long Haul, and made a placating gesture with her hands.
"I am a healer," she said. "Foe to none. Pray, let me tend to the fallen."
"Sure, ma'am," replied Long Haul, and he raised his pistol so that its muzzle was pointed safely at the sky. His finger was now without the trigger guard, but he kept the safety off. He didn't want to resume the fight, but he did not entirely trust these new arrivals. Not even Ruby -- she was how he'd gotten into this trouble in the first place.
From the dark red eyes formed a light gray face, framed by darker red hair. This last was also a woman, and one about the same age as the healer. She was small-boned and slim-built, but there was something maternal about her, and she stepped up to stand behind and close to Ruby, regarding the trucker with an expression of tentative friendliness.
Long Haul plainly perceived the similarities in appearance between this new woman and Ruby, and saw that in most of the ways they were different, Ruby resembled Grey Hoof -- especially in her sturdy, big-boned build, which had clearly come from her father. Mother? he thought wonderingly. Is this Ruby's mother?
"I wish that I might say well met," the redhead said. "You have done harm to one who was once mine own husband, and whom I still do count a friend. But I doubt the harm be lasting, and I ween he gave you good reason to shoot him. Therefore, let us at least not be foes. I am Ruby's mother. Mitta Gift."
"I'm Long Haul, ma'am," replied the trucker. "And I'm sorry I shot your husband."
"Ex-husband," Mitta corrected him, smiling more broadly. "And Three Leaf is mending his hurts."
He followed her gaze and saw the green woman bent over Grey Hoof. He could not clearly make out what she was doing, but there was a blue glow -- the same color as her eyes -- playing over both of them, and that the disintegration effect appeared to be receding. Grey Hoof was still lying inert, but his posture seemed to now be in some subtle way more comfortable, as if he were merely resting rather than lying mortally wounded.
Ruby spoke up suddenly.
"Messer Long Haul," she said. "I am right sorry that I did bring such trouble to thee. I merely wished a ride home over the stream, which as you saw disrupts such as ourselves, making it difficult to cross, even at a bridge, under our own power. I did not mean thy life to be endangered. I thought that if I spoke not to thee, thou would simply drop me off and drive away unscathed. I did not know that my father was near the road, awaiting mine own return. Nor that he would ambush thee. I am most very sorry."
She looked quite woebegone, and Long Haul felt very sorry for her. She had not meant to be a lure, then, and had merely become the innocent cause of a deadly quarrel.
"Aw, that's alright, kid," he told her, smiling. "Your dad and I had a bit of a misunderstanding, that's all. Sorry again I shot him."
Ruby's smile returned.
"I am glad to have met thee, good drayman," she said, "and hope that when we meet again, the meeting shall be happier."
Mitta smiled at him as well.
"Thankee for being kind to my daughter," she said. "May we meet again -- as friends."
"No problem, ma'am," replied Long Haul, raising his right hand, careful not to point the gun at himself or anyone else, and tipping his cap to her. "Glad to be of service to two lovely ladies such as Ruby and yourself."
Now both mother and daughter were smiling at him, warmly.
Long Haul saw a motion from the direction of Three Leaf and Grey Hoof. Three Leaf now looked a bit tired, her face rather drawn. Grey Hoof looked a lot better, and was actually sitting up, though he made no aggressive motions.
Yet, Long Haul thought. He promised me peace, but I can't really trust him. And there's a whole village of them somewhere out there.
"Well," the trucker said, "I better get going now. I gotta get this truck patched up and back on schedule. Hope you and yours remain well," With that he put on the safety, put his gun away in his jacket, picked up his toolbox from the running-board, and started climbing back up to the cabin, his motions clumsy with his wounded arms.
Despite his deliberate air of aplomb, his heart was pounding, and he almost expected one of the specters to attack him. Perhaps not Ruby or Mitta, but Grey Hoof was clearly recovering from their encounter, and he could not be sure how far to trust Three Leaf's professions of pacifism. Still, showing fear might be fatal, and as long as he didn't start shooting, they might be hesitant to start the fight again.
Nothing untoward happened. He opened the door and put his foot into the cab, slid into his seat, looked down at the four ghosts.
"Yes," said Mitta. "Thou shouldst now depart. There are others coming who would not be so peaceful. And I am right glad that this night may end without more suffering. Fare thee well, Long Haul!"
"I shall be seeing thee, friend," promised Ruby, her golden eyes suddenly glowing.
Long Haul didn't know whether to be warmed or disturbed by that last part.
"Be seeing you too," he said cheerfully. Probably in screaming nightmares, he added mentally, but maintained his smile.
"Oh, 'tis all hugs and smiles now," Long Haul distinctly heard Grey Hoof say. "Why, should we not all form a circle and do group sing-alongs?"
Long Haul chuckled to himself. Monster though he was, the big wraith was certainly funny. Frighteningly so, because he could make you forget what he really was, and what he wanted.
He closed and locked the door, put his foot on the brake pedal, released the parking brake, and shifted into reverse. Depressing the gas pedal, he pulled the semi smoothly from the shoulder, or at least as smoothly as might be expected considering that he was bumping and thumping over broken vegetation. He checked his left rear-view as he did that -- there was more fog coming up behind him, but it was hundreds of yards behind him.
He shifted into drive, and rolled forward. Were there more lights glowing in that fog? If so, any designs they had were frustrated, for the semi, in her element once again on the paved road, was running smooth and normal. He gunned the engine and shot forth rapidly, easily avoiding the little cluster of ghosts ahead of him, who made no move to block his passage.
And then Long Haul and his semi left the wraiths, and whatever curse they bore, far behind him as he drove off into the night, regaining the freedom of the open road ... and of the rest of his life.
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An excellent climax and a an enjoyably surreal denouement. Grey Hoof may be the worst party person in all of history, but he can still lighten the mood.
A fascinating glimpse into the more occult side of your take on this particular universe. Thank you for it. I definitely look forward to further information on the historical aspects of the story. (I can only imagine how this world's Luna would react to the Sunney Towners, and vice versa.)
Oh well played, well played indeed. So our good hero has won his life and freedom, but at the cost of a bit of sanity. But hey, wisdom doesn't come without cost, and maybe having friends in odd places will be useful latter.
The only question I have is what could actually put Grey Hoof into true death, weapon wise...
7458254
I'm glad you like the way I handled it. I knew when I wrote this story that there were two places I could go with it.
Humanoid-Ruby wasn't going to hurt anyone, nor was she going to tell the secrets of her family to a complete stranger for no reason (Pony-Ruby actually has a good reason to tell Snips and Snails in Fools and Drunks, as they're caught up in the central horror of Sunney Towne). If we end the story with the encounter with her, then it ends like the song, with the protagonist simply noting her mysterious disapearance from the vehicle when he gets her to her destination.
Ruby would have been perfectly-happy to end it there.
THe other way was the one I chose, which was to have other Sunney Towne ghosts interfere. And unless the other ghosts were Mitta or Three Leaf (neither of whom would have had any reason to molest Long Haul) this meant a violent climax. Sci Fi Channel movie stuff, turning a creepy urban legend into a fight.
The reasons I went with that second option were (1) Long Haul was riding with Chekov's Gun in his dashboard compartment (and had even shoved it into his inner jacket pocket). It was just asking, in a narrative sense, to be used. (Okay, I admit I'm easy where that sort of temptation is concerned); (2) my version of Grey Hoof is in my opinion an utterly hilarious walking (and sometimes levitating) demonstration of Evil Affability, but with just enough a tinge of Affable Evil that he's almost likeable even when he's planning to kill you and turn you into zombie slave labor (That remaining tinge of true Affability is one reason Ruby can't emotionally give up on him -- he's really a Fallen Hero, as Fools and Drunks makes plain, and Ruby hopes that in the end he will make a Heel Face Turn.)
And it pretty much had to be Grey Hoof: Gladstone isn't subtle enough, and while Starlet and Roneo are evil, they're more into loving each other than hunting victims, Grey Hoof's explicit orders are about the only thing that will get them out of just making goo-goo eyes (or more) with one another. Which is okay because myGrey Hoof can carry a scene just fine himself. And be both fun and menacing. Sometimes at the same time.
This meant that I had to go for the dramatic confrontation between Long Haul and Grey Hoof. Which meant that it was going to boil down to Long Haul using his pistol with the blessed bullets, against Grey Haul's (un-)natural powers. Which created a problem because, unless I absurdly-hammed it up (and I shouldn't, Long Haul, unlike Grey Hoof, isn't all that showy) the final fight would be fairly quick. And I wanted a confrontation that would reveal the characters of both Long Haul and Grey Hoof.
I got away with it by having Grey Hoof first hurt Long Haul a little bit just to demonstrate his power. This made sense because Grey Hoof needed to frighten the (brave) Long Haul in order to control him; and it slowed the final confrontation because Long Haul can't strart fighting until his right hand recovers a bit, while Grey Hoof doesn't want to kill Long Haul (and turn him into a thrall) until he's made ample use of Long Haul's driving and repair skills (which he can't as well when Long Haul's a thrall because thralls are stupid compared to what they were in life).
So they both have reasons to hold back and actually have a conversation before the fight. Which is dramatically quite useful.
The fight itself is really quick, as you may have noticed. I describe everything that happens in detail, but it's over in a matter of seconds. It's a vicious little duel, and Long Haul only stops shooting, really, because he's running out of ammunition and the rest of his ammo is in the truck. I"m glad you found it worked well.
The denouement almost wasn't there: I was going to have Long Haul just pile in the truck and leave after shooting Grey Hoof. Really, that's what he wanted to do. A combination of momentary exhaustion from the (more severe) wound he took during the fight and the fact that the other wraiths were following fast behind them (Ruby was in "find Daddy" mode) -- and that Long Haul didn't want to turn his back on present foes to climb into his cab when he knew they could go right through the body of the truck to get him led to the (fairly short) conversation he has with Ruby and Mitta.
Three Leaf, whom I really like as a character, didn't get to say much in that scene. I'm sorry about that, but she insisted to me that her priorities were "stop the fight" and "help Grey Hoof." Engaging the dangerous mortal who was wielding the enchanted weapon in extensive conversation just wasn't on her short list. And Three Leaf is actually fairly shy with strangers; she always was, all the way to the scenes I've written for her in her breathing days.
In fact, that denouement was pretty much written by the characters, which is when you know you're really in the groove writing a scene. That's why Grey Hoof gets that last grumble -- he had been hoping that it was Gladstone or Roneo and Starlet coming up -- he was pissed when it was insted the three most peaceful of his followers. (He loves all three of them, but he knows that their hearts aren't into killing, and he's well aware that Green Leaf is perfectly capable of misinterpreting even direct orders to let mortals escape, while Ruby and Mitta will flat-out defy such orders). I hadn't meant to write that line, but Grey Hoof -- lying temporarily crippled by his wounds and listening to Long Haul, the man who had just shot him, exchanging pleasantries with his daughter and ex-wife was simply too much.
I was originally going to have him try to persuade Three Leaf to attack Long Haul, but Grey Hoof told me "What's the use? I just know she won't. Live with a woman a thousand years, you learn a few things about her character ..." And I had to agree with him.
I've started thinking about the Angel Sisters because of this. They obviously don't have a full awareness of what's really going on, not as much as do their Pony counterparts the Alicorn Sisters. I'm thinking that they may be repeatedly reincarnated instead of living through the intervening millennium. Principal Celestia and Principal Luna may well be mortal in their current bodies and only aware of the fact that they are exceptionally intelligent and healthy Humans, who sometimes have strange insights and act as Weirdness Magnets.
Of course, if the Sisters exist in that world, Dissy has to be out there somewhere. It's Arc Words for my Cosmics that Fusion and Gravity are always together, and Dissonance follows along behind Fusion -- as always. It's even physics, as it's their interaction that spawns planetary systems.
I'm sort of afraid to make headcanon about Humanoid Dissy, though, with an Equestria Girls movie coming out in a couple months. Even if they claim he won't be in it.
Dissy doesn't follow the rules.
7458937
I used to run Call of Cthulhu games, and in CoC terms Long Haul had a high Power (and thus Sanity) to begin with, but has definitely lost a few SAN points in this adventure. Ruby and Mitta definitely like him. Grey Hoof is torn between hostility and respect. Green Leaf has nothing really against him, other than his shooting Grey Hoof (and he didn't do any real long term harm to her lover).
Long Haul might be even more worried if he knew that Ruby has the power to find him whenever she wants (she can find anything she wants that is findable; that's her Talent) and that she's the least bound to Sunney Towne of any of the Wraiths. Also, that she might be tempted to do so if she had a problem which only a mortal could help her with, because she actually likes him. Happily, he doesn't know this yet.
He's held to this plane by the Curse of Nightmare Moon, so an Angel Bane also able to affect desolid entities would probably be able to do the trick. Those aren't exactly common weapons, though.
Ruby rules. Enough said.
7463720
Ruby is Best Ghost. Pony or Human.
7467607
I'll take that as a compliment, especially since my fascination with Story of the Blanks began with (your version of) John in My Little Balladeer. I do see the similarities: both are honorable, intelligent working-class heroes with considerable courage and some militry experience, though John's more mystic and scholarly than is Long Haul.
I hope the fight was choreographed well and came off as both fictionally-entertaining and factually-plausible (well, as plausible as possible given that Grey Hoof is a ghost capable of levitation, phasing and life-draining chilling touch). I wanted it to be detailed but not too terribly drawn-out -- I figure it took maybe 10-20 seconds of actual time, if that much.
7470717
A lot of people like my style, and I"m not sure which act of description offended you so. I want the reader to be able to know what is going on in enough detail that he can engage in multi-sensory imagination. I'm sorry if you're a slow reader. Keep reading, and you'll get better at it.
Hopefully, The humane 5, Miss SciTwi, Mister Spike The Dog, the other Campers, and Miss Sunset Shimmer will not meet Grey Hoof at Camp Everfree or wonder into Sunney Towne.
7470865
Heh ... the forest's big. They'll probably run into something worse.
Phew. He got away. Very happy he survived.
7476100
Foreshadowing, and establishing a strange-resonant link between EQG and the main Ponyverse.
Long Haul being an OC meant I could do anything I wanted to him, yes. Also, the tale wouldn't have worked as well with teenagers.
7476258
He's Wrong Subgenre Savvy. He's thinking creepy ghost story but his situation is closer to a straight-out survival horror story. To be fair, he had no way of knowing this until Grey Hoof showed up.
7477810
Yeah. It's pretty desperate. His only effective weapon is the gun, and at close range Grey Hoof could overwhelm him before he got the chance to get a good shot, unless Long Haul times his attack well.
7477991
I'm glad you liked Long Haul's climactic line.
7478023
... and denouement.
This is the first story of yours that I have read, and I rather like it. I love a good ghost story, and I get the feeling that this ghost story has a history behind it of which I am likely unaware. Still, great job! :)
7465278
She's my waifu. Got a plush made for her. She's the ghost you take home to mama. A shame she's a ghost though.