A Voice In The Dark
I don’t remember much about the battle. Just a hazy medley of images; of the volley of magical fire that lanced out of the darkness towards us as the unicorns counter-attacked; the crisp tang of the lightning as we thundered our response towards them, lighting up the Windspear Mountains like a twisted fireworks display. The cries and shouts of my comrades as we struggled to keep airborne against the assault. The white-hot explosion as it shredded my armour and tore through my wing. The feeling of powerlessness, like a puppet whose strings have been cut as I tumbled down and down towards the cold, unforgiving ground.
And then darkness.
I couldn’t tell how long I’d blacked out for. The fall should have killed me; I had bounced off and over many jagged rocks on my plummet down the gorge until I slammed back-first onto a stone floor. Did I hear the roaring of the battle far above as I awoke? No, I’m sure I didn’t. It was quiet when I awoke. Just me, lying there at the bottom of a cold, dark cave.
Have you ever been in a cave? No, I didn’t think so. The ground’s no place for the pegasi; we were born to soar in the heavens. My father always said that this was why we were the rightful masters of this world, that nature or god or what have you had set us on high over all the other races. The unicorns might raise the sun, but the sun sat in the sky, and that was our realm and ours alone. That was why we had to fight the earth ponies and unicorns, until they understood their place.
Of course, my father said a lot of things.
I lay there, it could have been hours, could have been minutes, just listening to my own ragged breathing. I could feel a wet bubbling in my mouth, and knew it was blood. No matter what I did, what I tried, I couldn’t roll over, couldn’t even drag myself to safety.
There was a speck of light above me, tauntingly out of reach. It was about a hundred metres up, but in my condition it may well have been a thousand. I slowly became aware of the rocky floor and walls that curved up on high like pincers enclosing me. More than that though, I became aware that I was lying, broken and helpless and about to die alone in a hole in the ground.
That’s no way to die. Pegasi should be borne aloft on clouds when they meet their end, not buried under the earth. Our souls need to be set free to fly like they did in life.
I digress though.
I continued to lie there, looking up at the light as my eyes adjusted to my predicament. “Where am I?” I whispered, mostly for my own benefit, to see if my throat still worked. “Am I dead?”
And then something else. A voice in the dark.
“In that case, Hurricane,” the voice said, “I am the devil himself, come to drag you down to the pits of Tartarus.”
I froze. Or at least I would have frozen, had I been able to move at the time. I was not alone in that dark prison! How long had they been there, watching me? Was it someone from my unit come to the rescue?
My heart sank further as a figure shuffled out of the gloom. There was barely enough light to see anything clearly, but my desperate wandering eyes soon fixed on the one thing of any certainty: the horn on its head. It glowed a soft, pale sickly light that bounced off the grimy cave walls and bathed up both in a purple glow. A unicorn. The enemy.
“If it’s a fight you want, then…” I gritted my teeth and tried to move, try to make any threatening gesture – anything. To no avail. I ended my cry of defiance with one of pain. Another realisation stabbed through me. He knew who I was. He knew who I was, and I was at his mercy.
“Look…” I tried to shout louder, but he didn’t stop. He was moving closer now. I could make out more; a thin, gaunt unicorn soldier clad in badly damaged armour. Had he been part of the battle and fallen with me? Or was there another way out, deeper in the caves? “I-if you know who I am, you know my father is Commander Ironwing of the Pegasus Tribe. If you hurt me, if you do anything to me, he will have you hunted down and killed like the sc-”
“I am not here to kill you.” The stranger bent over me, inspecting me with piercing blue eyes. I tried to push him away, but could barely manage a shudder with my hoof. He shook his head. “I am here to help. You’ve got far too much to live for, my friend.”
If I had been stronger, if I still had my weapon with me, perhaps it would have ended differently. But I didn’t. Instead I all I could do was lie there like a broken toy at the mercy of the enemy. Because he had to be an enemy, didn’t he? Unicorns didn’t help pegasi, pegasi didn’t help unicorns; that was how it was. That was how it had always been.
“Why should I believe you?” I tried to rise again. Like a fool I twisted my back, the slight motion sending stabs of agony through my shattered wings. To this day, I remember that dull feeling of minor triumph. At least I still had feeling there.
The unicorn just stayed silent for a moment, illuminated in that strange half-light. Then he looked up towards that tiny speck of light, almost wistfully. “Perhaps it amuses me? Perhaps I don’t want to die here alone? My reasons are my own.”
He pulled out a bag – my bag, I realised, which must have fallen out of reach when I crashed down – and extracted my emergency medical supplies. Scissors, bandages, a vial or two of ointments. Depressingly little.
“But it is a poor thing,” he said slowly. “To die in the darkness.”
In that moment, it became clear. I knew exactly what he wanted – the same as me. He wanted to live. When rescue came as it surely would – I knew my father would not let me go missing for long – he wanted to make sure he would be unharmed.
“Look, if you help me,” I began, trying to extract some sort of bargaining posture and dignity from the situation, “I’ll tell them, when they come for me. You know they will. Even if the unicorns find us first, we’re deep underground, it’s a heck of a fall. They’d break their necks or smash themselves to bits getting down. The pegasi will get to us first, no matter what. I’ll make sure they rescue you too. I promise. Deal?”
Just silence. I grinned inwardly at this, even as outwardly I was wincing in agony as the unicorn tugged at my broken hooves, wrapping bandages around them. He pushed a ball of cotton wool into a wet spot on my throat that made strange, gurgling squelching sounds and I felt my vision blur and my eyelids get heavy.
“No.” His voice was clipped, urgent, as he slapped me around the cheeks and picked my head up. “If you fall asleep, you die. That is how it happens. That is how you die in a place like this.”
“All right. Whatever.” My throat was still raspy, but some of the gurgling had stopped. I took that as a good sign rather than a bad one. I screwed my eyes up to relieve some of the aching, and then looked at my rescuer anew. Just a blue unicorn soldier. No-one I recognised, not that there were many I knew by name. “You know who I am, who are you? I hate being at a disadvantage.”
Frustratingly, my would-be rescuer just smiled. “I am a nameless soldier, amongst thousands,” he said softly, spraying some of that stinging ointment onto my wounds. “No-one important like you.”
“I’m not important.” I winced at the spray, but did my best not to cry out and show weakness. “Not yet. Once my father’s old or, you know… Once then, I’ll be Commander and in charge.”
“In charge of the war?”
“Yeah.” I had never thought of it like that. The war was just a fact. It wasn’t a choice, it was just a part of our lives, like the clouds and the air and the sun. You didn’t question it, how could you? That was how it always had been.
“I fell. In a battle. I still don’t know what it was for.” The unicorn looked up at the speck of light again. It was getting dimmer. And colder, I realised. Night was coming.
I blinked. “The uh, the unicorns had retaken the Windspear mountains and the pegasi were driving them out. You out. It happens every few years, you think you should have the mountains, and we have to chase you off.”
The unicorn looked down at me sadly. “Is that a good reason to die?”
“The uh… the mountains touch the sky, you see, and the pegasi, we…” The words dried on my throat. “Because we can fly, see, we’re above everyone else, and uh… better?” It was more a question; the words of my father fled from my mind.
“But you cannot fly.” My saviour grimaced at me. Through the dimming light, I saw a flash of teeth in his smile. “You lie here broken on the ground. And yet with my magic I could cast a levitation spell and fly out of this pit. Does this mean I am your moral superior?”
I glazed over his words as a sudden panic clutched at my chest. “Please.” I grasped weakly at him, all sense of fight lost. “Don’t go. Don’t leave me here; I don’t want to die alone.”
“Who does?” He settled back down on his haunches besides me. “Don’t worry, I am not going anywhere.”
We sat there all night and talked. He kept me alive, didn’t let me drift off into sleep once. We talked about normal things, not about war, but like we were two friends who had just gone on a camping trip. He told me about his hopes and dreams growing up, and how that had somehow turned into joining the army when his time came, leading him here. He wanted to be a librarian, not a soldier. Who did? I told him about my father and the pressures on me, and how I had found myself fighting thinking it was the right and proper thing to do.
All this time I thought about how he could have just left me there and saved himself, but he didn’t. He made sure I was okay. Perhaps there was hope after all; perhaps there was a world where we didn’t have to fight forever?
Finally, cracks of light burst into our tomb as dawn broke. And voices from above.
I could hear the flapping of wings, knew they had come for me. I turned to my rescuer and gave a weak grin. I was in charge now. “Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you.” I wanted to reassure him, to let him know we were still friends now that the balance of power had changed. They were descending from on high, coming for me. “I’ll let them know what you did, that you’re a friend.”
And he smiled. "It is a poor thing," he said again. "To die in the darkness."
The rescue team told me that they pulled me out of that cave delirious; wounded, but alive, rambling about the unicorn that had saved my life. They said that in the dark pit, half alive, I must have been able to summon the strength to bandage my wounds on my own. I did not believe them until later, when I went back and could see for myself.
For in that cave, there was a unicorn.
But he had been dead for many long years.
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I'm so glad you're writing a sequel to two peas in a pod!
Nice.
So, I assume either the spirit of the dead unicorn aided him; or he took care of himself and, in his delusion, he imagined the dead pony to be alive.
Either way, this was a pretty cool read.
Well... I am now crying...
4228264 So bad
Stuff like this..is the second reason I follow and am in awe of you.
The first is your absurdist stuff. It's so random and silly and spot on.
This stuff. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night and that I remember later, when I speak with friends about authors I enjoy. The stuff that haunts.
4228680
Thanks. And as a writer, the best bit is you never know what you're gonna get!
4228686
so it's like a box of chocolates?
Oh, cool! I normally get the twist endings, but that one took me by surprise. Way to go!
There needs to be more guard stories. royal guard, soldiers, Etc.
Another on the "saw it coming, enjoyed it anyway" pile.
Some of these war story or deep thought one-offs are awesome, and this is no exception.
Well done
I don't know where to start. Well, firstly:
imgur.com/mIdHdaB.jpg
And secondly:
That ending though! He was a ghost?? WHAT THE HELL?
Thirdly (the actual comment):
I loved it. It was very detailed, and each word felt carefully sought out for, creating a deeper feeling to them than they probably originally intended to be. I love how, "It is a poor thing to die in the darkness," seemed to secretly foreshadow the ending. You flawlessly showed how he pitied himself, and the deeper reason to why he helped Hurricane than what everyone around him thought.
Wonderful. An up thumb and a star for you, good sir.
I LOVE that ending! I did not expect that at all and it was probably one of the best twist endings that I've read.
Immediately added that to my favorites.
Well written!
Fantastic. Have a like, a fav, and a follow. "It is a poor thing to die in the dark." So sad, after realizing what he must have meant.
EDIT: However you chose the cover art, you made the right choice. As soon as I saw it, I had to read this.
4232408
Thanks! I made the art myself! Well, made some vectors, mashed a lot of filters and stuff, if you can call that 'making art'.
4232048
Thanks. I always think stories should have a good re-readability, so with my more serious ones, I make an effort to put things in them that makes the reader read the story in a completely different light the second time round.
I liked it well enough, but the ending doesn't really add much in my opinion. It doesn't add any rising sense of fridge horror or moral questions posed by Commander Hurricane, as we get only a scant three sentences about her thoughts on the matter. Whether what happened was tainted by the shock of her own wounds is one things, but not seeing Hurricane's take on the matter, how the experience affected her, dulls the impact.
Even not guessing the ending only adds so much. Everything would have been a shock-induced hallucination. Okay... That still doesn't add much meat to the tale. We still don't get to see how it affects her. It's just something that "happens."
Reminds me of Wilfred Owen's "Strange Meeting."
I like how Hurricane and the nameless soldier essentially have two different conversations at first--Hurricane keeps trying to approach it pragmatically, and the nameless soldier stubbornly refuses to engage her on anything other than a philosophical level. (For of course, the pragmatic level is no longer of concern to him . . .) And then he finally gets through to her, and she can't talk about it pragmatically anymore.
4238796
That's interesting. I've read a lot of his stuff, but not that one.
I only heard about this song afterwards, so I can't really say it is inspired or based on it, but I like it a lot now:
Fear the voice in the dark
Be aware now
Believe in dark wings and dark words
The shadow returns
Fear the voice in the dark
Be aware now
Black shadows they hide and they wait
But they soon will return
*sneaksneaksneak*
>.>
<.<
>.>
4259134
Oh wow Scribbler, that is awesome! Thank you!
Oh, you wrote the comic. I knew you'd shown it to me, I just couldn't recall the context.
Well, now I don't have to be disappointed. :D Well, beyond the "get some new friggin' ideas, mate" disappointment. :V
4283001
I wanted to try my hand at adaption, I'm allowed to steal from myself!
Also check my latest stories, I've been writing loads!
4283750
Yes, you are allowed. :V
And I've noticed! You've been a busy bee, which I highly approve! :D
I enjoyed it. I sort of want to read your original Transformers comic version now, too.
4294348
Apt username!
4294366
Hah, yeah. I avoided mentioning it, but secretly hoped someone else would notice the pleasant happenstance.
O_O
that ending 
I love it! 
This is EPIC sad but EPIC.
The pacing, the story, and the narrative all make this little Fic amazing
I love stories like these short, simple, and to the put, but to how some that have a POWERFUL emotional sense to it makes it even better!
5/5 just amazing
4305294
Thanks!
I remember when this was a Transformers Mosaic.
Just as good now as then.
4305702
It's a small world!
Interesting, and rather well-written, but kind of... disappointing, I guess would be the best word for it. Maybe this is just me, but it feels like this is only a single scene from a bigger story, building up to something without actually delivering any payoff.
This is a solid short fic.
I liked this very much. It has my favorite, good sir!
They way is shut, it was build by those who are dead, and the dead keep it.
This is perhaps one of the better tales I've heard of an encounter like this. Those who are dead wishing and helping those who might yet live out of compassion and acceptance of their own fate. I wonder if Hurricane will ever visit that cave and see that unicorn again, wouldn't that be something?
I think it's about time I did one of these.
That was good. Gives an interesting parallel to the events depicted in the Hearth's Warming pagent, with the six leaders' eventual need to either stand together to live or freeze to death separately.
I've listened to Scribbler's reading of this and, damn, it was good. I figured it took place way before the events of Hearth's Warming. I think the moments with Commander Hurricane and the unicorn soldier just planted the seeds of what's to come later on.
4626262 at first, i thought the opposite, that this couldn't really fit. but, having thought it over, you have a point.
this is a really interesting fic. i listened to scribbler's reading and, well, i was very impressed. that unicorn learned what he tried to teach hurricaine, though she seemed to forget most of it during the time of hearth's warming, since she treated unicorns the same as always, or maybe time just moved on and the unicorns started becoming so up themselves that she thought that unicorn was a rarity and that all others were just as she'd been told.
a good fic, deserving of it's reading, a Favorite and like from me
Wow. I did not see that ending coming.
A great pre-canon Equestria fic. Well-written and a perfect length. Have my fave!
I listened to Scribbler's reading. This is the sort of story I come here to find. I regret that I have but one upvote to give you.
Keep up the good work!
Shit spooky but I have herd of people or ponies getting objects from ghosts or spirits anyway such as Charles green aka angry grandpa this is the name of the video angry grandpa the man in the blue suit
Very atmospheric and one of those endings that seem so obvious after you've read them! I hadn't read the other-fandom version of this, so came into it cold. I'm glad.
A bit predictable, but so well executed.
4259134
There's now another reading, too! This time by Ilya Leonov:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YacUG2EsJ0