The Fiend that heralds Dark Skies

by Skijarama

Chapter 17 - Bedtime Stories

Drifter didn’t stop to greet anypony in the halls, even when some tried to ask her questions about the upcoming assault. She always bluntly redirected them to Luna or Shining Armor without stopping her brisk pace. However, once she entered one of the many guest halls inside the castle, she slowed her pace significantly. She saw the room ahead and stopped outside of it.

She could hear the foals talking on the other side.

“I bet this place is beautiful in proper sunlight.” Wonderboom said in fascination.

“Probably…” Palmwood replied dryly. Drifter heard Wonderboom shift around slightly.

“Are you okay, Palmwood? You’re kinda… I don’t know… out of it?”

“I’m fine… I just wish Drifter didn’t have to go.”

Drifter winced and slammed her eyes shut. After a few moments, she took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. She lifted a forehoof to the door, paused and then knocked softly before slowly pushing it open.

When the door swung open all the way,, Drifter was greeted to the empty, distant stares of Palmwood and Wonderboom. She locked eyes with them for several moments before sighing heavily, her ears falling flat. She closed the door quietly behind her and took a step toward the foals. “So… I’m going to be leaving tomorrow morning…” she said gently, looking between the two, looking for any sort of reaction.

Palmwood grimaced and looked away. Wonderboom simply nodded quietly and looked at Palm with a worried expression. Silence hung in the air for almost a minute before Drifter sighed and trotted over to a small, foal-sized bookshelf. She scanned its contents for a moment before looking over her shoulder.

“So, I have a question for you two. Did your mother ever read you two stories before bed? You know, back before… all of this?” she asked curiously, her eyes settling on Wonderboom as she perked up and nodded vigorously.

“Yeah! She’d read us a new story every time, and she always used to get more and more books for us every time she went to the bookstore!” she proclaimed at the fond memory, before her ears fell. “But… she’s gone, now. We don’t get stories like that anymore…”

Drifter frowned and looked away, but couldn’t help the small smile forming on her face when she decided her next course of action. “...Well, I might be bad at it, but…” she plucked a book from the shelf and looked it over. Satisfied with her decision, she turned to the foals and showed it to them. “Maybe I could give it a try?”

“Really?” Wonderboom asked excitedly, hopping off of the bed and scampering up to Drifter with a big grin.

“If you two don’t mind, then sure.” Drifter nodded and then looked to Palmwood expectantly. “What do you think, Palm?”

“Uh, you two go ahead. I’m not quite as into that sort of thing as Wonder, though…” he said with a mild shrug before looking out the window at the Crystal Empire.

Drifter let her smile fade and nodded softly. “Okay. Well, we’ll be over here if you change your mind.” she then turned to Wonderboom and guided her to look at the shelf. “Now, I already grabbed one, but if there’s one you’d rather hear, go ahead and-”

“That one!” Wonder declared before pressing her forehoof directly into a book that had somehow completely slipped under Drifter’s awareness. Drifter followed the hoof and gasped subtly when she saw the book in question.

“Heh… wow. Would you look at that…” she muttered reminiscently, pulling the book from the shelf with a fresh wave of nostalgia washing over her. A smile spread on her face as she looked over the almost pristine cover on the seven hundred year-old storybook. “Where did they get a copy in such good condition? It’s in even better shape than my copy, which I keep as well preserved as possible...”

In Drifter’s hooves was a copy of the first publication of The Mare that eats Monsters. It looked like it was preserved almost perfectly, though there was some very notable damage on it, still. Wonderboom got onto her hind legs and hung her forehooves on Drifter’s foreleg to get her attention. “C’mon. Please?”

Drifter smiled and nodded warmly. “Okay, kiddo. C’mon, over here.” she set the other book down and led Wonder over to the filly’s bed, setting her down on top of the blankets and then sitting next to her. She flipped the book open to the first page and smiled as the familiar words reached her eyes. “You listening?”

“Uh-huh!”

“Okay, then… Deep in an old, beautiful forest, the small, happy village of Hollow Shades was soon to begin its annual midnight celebration, a tradition held close by the bat-like ponies called thestrals that live there. It was to be a happy time, three days dedicated to offering thanks to Princess Luna for the night in which they could so wondrously thrive…”

Wonderboom leaned in instantly, perking her ears up to listen with her full and complete attention as Drifter recited her own story. Her soft smile grew even wider the further into the story she got, the back of her mind making connections all over the place.

“When a strange cry caught her attention, Dancing Leaf was unsure what to make of it. She followed the noise, becoming separated from the rest of the group. She soon found an infant thestral filly, hiding under an old, dying tree, with no blankets or clothes to keep her warm. She was afraid and cold.” Drifter recited, remembering how her mother had once told her how she had been found, oh so long ago when she was still just a filly.

“‘Oh, you poor thing…’ Leaf had whispered to her, gently picking up the lonely filly. ‘Who would ever leave you alone like this?’”

Drifter looked down to Wonderboom, then over to Palmwood, who himself was listening with interest from where he was across the room. She smiled to both of them and continued to read.

I won’t leave you two alone, she thought to herself. I promise I won’t.

“As the moon began to raise into the air, a gentle breeze sent some of the fallen leaves of autumn drifting and dancing across the ground, the little filly finding adorable joy in the way the leaves moved. For this reason, as well as how she was left alone, was the filly named Moonrise Drifter by her new, adoptive parents...”

It didn’t take long for Palmwood to get interested enough to trot over and join them on the bed. He looked into the book with fascinated eyes and smiled at his sister. Drifter gladly welcomed him to join them. As Palm settled down, Drifter wrapped her wings over both of them in a warm, soothing embrace. It was like a nice blanket for them both, relaxing their minds as Drifter returned to reading the book.

“So absorbed was he in his advances that he momentarily forgot Drifter. In a terrified rage, claws grew from her hooves. She brought them upon the fiend, surprising him and making him fall as she stabbed him. ‘If you eat my mommy and daddy, I’ll eat you!’ Drifter had said to the fiend.”

“...Even to this day, so much later, little Drifter continues to fight the fiends. She fights them and defends us from them so we can live happily and safely.“ Drifter finished, closing the book and looking down at the foals snuggling into her sides. She gave a charmed smile as Palmwood looked up at her sleepily.

“It was good…” he mumbled out drowsily before a face-splitting yawn escaped him. “I liked it... “

“Can you tell us another one? Please?” Wonder asked as well, also looking decidedly sleepy while pawing Drifter’s shoulder adorably.

“Sure, kids. What do you want to hear?” Drifter asked softly, nuzzling both of them on their heads affectionately. Both of them hummed pleasantly and cuddled into her even more, gladly returning the nuzzles.

“Um… something nice and, uh… romantic…” Wonder suggested, only half-awake now. Drifter giggled at the way the filly’s words were beginning to slur together.

Palmwood grumbled in mild annoyance. “No way… no kissing. uh, something with action in it…”

Drifter held in her laughing and gave them both a soothing squeeze. “Actually, you two sound absolutely exhausted. You should get some sleep.”

“Nuh-uh, Drif… I’m not tired.” Palmwood tried to retort before another yawn shattered his argument.

“Actually, that sounds good…” Wonder added, closing her eyes and setting her head down.

Drifter smiled and nuzzled Wonderboom’s mane gently. “Goodnight, little Wonder.” she then looked to Palmwood who, despite his earlier proclamation of not being tired, was already asleep. Her smile grew even wider. “And goodnight you little bonehead.” she giggled softly and nuzzled him as well.

Lying there, wrapped in her wings, a bedtime story fresh in their minds for the first time in over two months, they looked so much more peaceful than she had ever seen them be in the entire time she had known them. Drifter felt her heart melt happily at the sight and was unable to make herself leave their sides. Finally, she decided to simply lay her head down and get some sleep herself, pulling the foals slightly closer with a gentle tug of her wings.

She hummed contentedly and closed her eyes. I’m not your mother, you two. I never will be. But somepony has to be there for you… I volunteer gladly. With that thought firmly nestled in her mind, Drifter fell asleep with a wonderful feeling bubbling away in her chest. For the first time in a long, long time, Drifter felt something very special. Something she hadn’t felt in centuries, at least.

She felt the love of having a family.

“Hey you two, it’s time to wake up.” Drifter’s voice called softly to the two foals the following morning. Wonderboom murmured drowsily and glanced up at Drifter, wiping the sleep from her eyes with a hoof.

“Not now, Drifter… five more minutes?” Palmwood grumbled, burying his face deeper into the blankets.

Wonderboom gasped lightly when she saw Drifter adjusting the last of the straps on a suit of Nagascale armor she was now wearing.

“Palmwood, please… I’m not going to get another chance for this and I don’t have a lot of time.” Drifter said softly, reaching out and ruffling his mane after she finished adjusting her armor. Palmwood looked up and blinked in surprise. Drifter smiled warmly. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

“Drifter…? It’s time for you to go, isn’t it?” Wonder asked in barely a whisper. Drifter instantly lost her smile and nodded.

“I’m afraid so… Everypony is mobilizing, getting ready for the assault. I had just enough time to come up here and say goodbye.” she said softly, sitting down and looking at the two foals with sad eyes.

Palmwood hopped off of the bed and looked at the ground. After scuffing at the floor for a moment, he spoke. “Just… come back safe, okay?”

“I will.” Drifter said with an ocean of determination in her words. She held out her forelegs to the two foals. “Come here, you two…”

Wonderboom hopped off of the bed and swiftly tackled Drifter, wrapping her in a tight hug and burying her face into the hybrid’s chest, crying softly. “I… I don’t want you to go…” she wept quietly.

“I know, sweetheart, I know…” Drifter looked to Palmwood and didn’t need to say anymore. He lunged into the hug as well, holding both of them tightly. Drifter gave them both a strong squeeze, nuzzling each of them atop the heads. “I’ll be back soon…”

Wonder let out a whine as Drifter stood up, the hug fading as she did so. Palmwood carefully pulled his sister into another hug and shot Drifter a look. “You’d better be...”

Drifter smiled and ruffled his mane gently. “I will… I promise.” with that, she turned and made her way for the door. She stepped just past the frame and looked back into the room longingly. “Bye…”

The door closed.

Comments

[tom117z]

In Drifter’s hooves was a copy of the first publication of The Mare that eats Monsters.

Figured that'd play in from the chapter title.

‘Who would ever leave you alone like this?’”

“As the moon began to raise into the air, a gentle breeze sent some of the fallen leaves of autumn drifting and dancing across the ground, the little filly finding adorable joy in the way the leaves moved.

I enjoy imagining cute little filly Drifter.

“I… I don’t want you to go…”

reactiongifs.com/r/2013/06/leaving.gif

The door closed.

Let's hope not forever.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Why?! Why the feels!?