Equestrian Origins: Hush now, Quiet now

by SoulzOfWriting

Desires and Delusions

The clouds hang above their heads while their trek along the main street continues. The mere minutes spent inside this place feels longer than the many days of their journey to it. It hurts, every sight he sees is just so painful! He can't take much more of this damned, forsaken town! It just hurts too much! He lets his eyes wander around once again, when they meet with Celestia's worried stare. "Please Walter, just try to remember all the good this town has given you...please." She pleads. Walter lets out a sigh, then takes a moment stop and remembers like his princess wanted him to. His eyes close and his body is lifted away from everything. When he opens them again he doesn’t see the empty shell that was left behind but the entirety of what it used to be. There is no overcast, only sunlight, and the sound of silence has been replaced by that of chirping birds, children playing, and their parents working. The windows and beams are as new as the day they were first laid, and they shine in the light of Celestia’s midday sun. He takes a deep breath to let his lungs have some much needed fresh air.

His town lays right in front of his eyes, basking in the sunlight, “A dream, it was all a dream” sighs Walter as he recovers from his cold sweat. He gets out from under the shade tree he always sleeps under letting the warm sunlight put him to ease. A smile overtakes his face as he see his town the way it was left. He makes his way back and upon his return he is welcomed by the same young group of children whom always wait for him to come back from his naps.

“How’d you sleep Mister Walter?” says a familiar young, snow-white coated mare. “You can play with us now right? Ma is always saying how you don’t do anything until you’ve had your nap.” the little one giggles “She says you’re a lazy bum sometimes”

Walter lets out a hearty laugh, though the notion isn’t true it’s not false either, he smiles down at the girl and frizzes her sky blue mane with his hoof. The act makes it lose some of its shine, causing the little one to pout a bit as the other giggle.

“Forget about playing, I want him to tell us about the dream he had!” yelled an excited young colt. A series of “Yea’s” and cheers follow in agreement.

“What kind of adventure did you go on this time, Mr. Knight?”

“Did you slay a dragon?”

“Or meet with the two princesses a-” The children’s words hollow into nothingness as the world around Walter becomes cold. His dream… the thought of it feels like it’d make him go insane. He can’t tell these young foals about that. Hell, he might not even be able to tell his wife. If he tells anyone he could lose them now like he did in his dream, and he doesn’t want to dare bestowing such an ill fortune on himself.

“Mister Walter, are you okay?” Walters mind focues back on the children, looks of worry are on their faces. At this moment they see the stallion they idolize trembling and shutter like they would whenever they were afraid. This is the first time they have ever seen their knight, Sir Walter Neighly, afraid. Walter works to regain his stature in front of the children, but before he could one of them braves the question

“Did…did you have a nightmare Sir?”

His mind blanks out at that moment. He knows they can read the fear on his face, and he knows lying to them would only make them presist more. Even at this very moment he can hear whispers among the group.There’s nothing he can do… remaining silent for now is the best thing he tells himself he can do.

“Children! Children, please come back. You know how I don’t like it when you wonder off!”

A voice breaks through the pocket of silence around them. The sweetness of the voice itself calmed his mind and the minds of the young ones around him. They all look to the source to see a beautifully young honey-colored pegasus mare. She’s the caretaker of the town’s children, and because of her ruby-colored hair some call her the “Town’s Jewel”. He knows her as Huneysuckle, his pride and joy. His lovely daughter that he would carry the world for!

The children scurry over to her and dance and play around her before she sends them off home. Then she looks to her father, and he looks back at her; while resisting the urge to run up and hug her. He quickly forces a smile on his face, because she is his daughter. She’s on of the few ponies that know him best which means she can tell when something is bothering him. It’s obvious that his smile is forced and Huney can tell that it is, yet she giggles at him and continues to smile.

“Looks like I caugght you just after your nap, Father. You over slept again. Your dinner’s cold and mother is awfully angry with you, but I don’t have to tell you that now do I?” She nudges before turning to head home “But I know how you are after your naps. So hurry and see how the town’s doing. Mother wants you back before nightfall.”

And like that she’s gone as fast as she came and Walter gasps for air after realizing he had been holding in his breath that whole time. He eyes the skies once more to see that the brilliant yellow light from before has now oragned in what seemed like a matter of minutes. Was it not midday when he awoke? He pushes the thought aside, it isn’t very important compaired to the wrath of his wife. ‘Pull yourself together, Walter. Don’t let some rediculous dream grab hold of your life! You’re a knight, not a child.’ With that he pushes everything to the back of his mind as he makes his final rounds about the town.

Looking to his left his left he sees Nick Knack waving through the window of his thrift shop as the many colts and fillies are shooed away for closing. Walter returns the wave before continuing to the next thing that catches his fancy. To his left comes a familiar sound to his ears. He looks to the source to see the back of green pegasus stallion. He’s in pain, and it’s obvious as to why: there’s dark bruise going across his back and one of his wings. Alongside him is a young silver unicorn mare with her glowing horn slowly following the bruise. Know the two, Walter smiles as they remind him of his younger years.

“Oh..ah..ha careful now hun! A pegasus’s wings are very sensitive!” The green Pegasus raises his voice at the silver coated unicorn healing him with the glow of her horn. “Silver, you know I love you…, so why can’t you use bandages like everyone else!?”

“Oh calm down, Air. You’ve hurt yourself plenty a time for me to know what I’m doing. I’m this town’s nurse for a reason, you know?” says the accented silver mare. Even though she’s frustrated she can’t help but to smile for him as she rubs her glowing horn on his bruised wing. “Honestly, I sometimes wonder what you’d do if I never married you. Every day you end up hurtin’ yourself, and I wind up healin’ you… there, good as new” Her spell flashes off with a click and she smiles before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Walter can only smile at the scene in front of him; what could a pathetic dream possibly do to him when he this town and it’s ponies here to comfort him. As he readied himself to continue the couple turn to Walter. The two say nothing as stare at him with distorted smiles on their faces.

“Ah, Air Catcher… Silver Lining, ar..are you two alright?” Walter asks, startled by their sudden change.

They don’t respond. They just stand there staring at him with a stare that infects his very being. He feels weak like in his dream, so weak like before. He knows there’s something wrong, he can feel his mind warn himof this illness infecting his reality. And now the air is proving to be too much of a burden to hold. It’s becoming stale and heavy, too heavy to even breath, and he can feel it emit from their bodies. It does take long for him to meet their stare with his own, and matter how hard he tries- and he does try- he cannot look away. Hell, by this point he can’t even move. He’s stuck staring at the statue-like pair afraid to look away because of unknown fears.

The more he looks, the more disturbing the two become. He can’t stop himself from blinking now, and each blink brings new injuries and pains to their bodies while the air around them becomes that of a hazy static. The first few blinks snaps off Silver Lining’s horn and stabs it into her husbands neck. Both of them still smiling. Next the wings are slowly torn from Catcher’s back, blood gushes and bones protrude in every frame.The result leaves horid wounds running along his back and his wife in weeping tears. Yet the smiles on both their faces refuses to fade.

Soon the staticed air around them thickens, making their fates play out even faster. The infected are blurs and cuts the couple’s image; in and out like a broken TV. The only things visible through the static are their eyes, and the looks of dispair that fills them.Soon Silver turns to her beloved husband with streams of tears running along her face as she puts the base of her broken horn to his wound. With a click her magic flashes on, and with a flash her magic burst out of control. The sheer shine of the light blinds Walter for a moment. When his vision returns all he sees is static. Nothing but static all around him, surrounding him…, closing in on him. With another flash the static cuts out and the couple stands before him again, but now they’re hardly recognizable.

It’s truly a horrible sight to see, seeing the sight of their own deaths being played out before his very eyes. Silver’s desparate attempt to save the one she loved she seals their fates with her own magic: with a spell meant for healing. Now over half of her face has been burned away by the blast of raw energy. Her skull is exposed with only patches of flesh that barely keeping the image of her face. That same, damned peaceful smile still infects her horid face; even after all that!

When looking at Air Catcher, Wlater’s a bit shock to see little damage on his end. He almost lets out a sigh of relief thinking at least he didn’t suffer the same grousome fate that bestowed on poor Silver. It is unfortunate that the same cannot be said about the other side of the coin of this pony that used to be. There are burns- marks of peeling flesh- running down the left side of his neck to his leg. Around the area where Silver tried to cast her spell. When moving closer to get a closer look, the sight he sees leaves him gaging. Catcher’s body, if you can even call it that anymore, took the majority of the it all. Skin and muscle were melted down to the bone. The burns have dug deep inside of him, melting together muscles and tissues as far down as his spine and rib cage.

Walter feels as if he’s about to black out from the sickness of it all, but he remains conscious as if his mind refused to let him. He backs away from the two ready to give into the maddness: his madness. Then, suddenly through the drowning noise of static, a sound fades in. It’s a cry, the same cry a frighten infant would cry. This cry, instead of adding to the madness, it shatters the raging static. As the static dulls the cry grows, but also it fades. How confused this stallion must be to hear the same cry sound both near and far. Far enough to be a silent whisper, but so close it feels as if the foal were screaming in his very ears. To save Walter from the sight before his eyes his mind turns him to the sound. His eyes are quick to follow, looking everywhere they can to find a source.

All his eyes see is the town, the poor sad town. The same broken shadow he’s seen before- from either his dream or reality itself. The buildings stand like they used to, but due to the lack of care they don’t stand firm, or shine, like they used to. Some are even stained, in and out, with the lives they had housed and protected for oh so long. Those lives, shadows of the ponies they once were, now stand in front of the shadow of their home. Their sight alone is enough to tell their story. These shadows, these poor dead, maimed, and mangled creatures mimic Walter as he pays them no mind. They become his shadow, and that is what he has come to think of them as. Not friends, nor family, just shadows.

Before long the cry is met with the swelling dings and clings of a xilophonic melody: one you would hear from a musicbox. The song of the sweet melody fills the air and captures all that hear its enticing sounds. Then, out of the corner of his eye, the purest light shines from the heart of the town. The second his eyes meet the light a heavenly, hyponotic voice accompanies the melody of the disembodied musicbox.

Hush now, Quiet Now
It’s time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, Quiet now
It’s time to go to bed

Without thinking, or even out of the will of his own body, Walter and his shadows walk. They all walk towards the promising light. Each step they take causes the light to shine brighter and brigther! Though it never becomes blinding, even with a shine brighter than the sun itself it never hurts them. It’s always soothing, and it still is even after it completely overtakes his sight; never does he find the need to close his eyes. The grey cloudy skies clear to a bright blue, and the dirt ground fades to a translucent white as his heart is lifted into heaven itself.

The shadows behind his give in to the light and start to fade, leaving Walter before he reaches his sanctuary. Then the melody slows and it strains as he closes in on the light. The clings and pings start to clang and grind, making it sound like the gears of the musicbox have been infected by rusty. Even so, Walter continues forward. Then the voice of heaven itself, still singing her calming lullaby, becomes more earthly and familiar. It gives off the sweet allure of honey but also takes on the rustic feel of the melody she mimics. The voice sounds worn out, tired, and sad even. It’s almost as if she doesn’t want to sing the fine lullaby. Walter can hear the changes of the song, but it is not enough to persuade his mind to stop and turn back. With a smile on his face, he takes his final step towards the heart of the town…

“Walter! Stop! Walter!”

A familiar voice shatters his ear drums as it calls his name. The force of it all is painful and too much to take. He watches in horror as his world slowly bleeds from white to the darkest of black. The paradise that was in front of him falls, and he falls with it.

Comments

[DstroyA]

wow, a chapter. I forgot that you were an author Soulz
I noticed a few grammar and spelling errors, despite the long waiting time.
And of course the pacing made me get bored pretty fast of course that may have just been me day-dreaming of sleep.

[SoulzOfWriting]

1309445 I hate you too Dstroya :)