Dire Vale: Say Goodbye

by SymphonicSync

Wistful

For a few minutes, there was no sound. She was alone in the suite, so that was to be expected by any normal stretch of reason. Then again, she had learned long ago reason was not normal for her.

After some time, she heard him.

She could tell that he was behind her, making his way around the room. His hooves, or whatever somepony could call the analog in his ethereal form, made a harsh whisper as they met the floor. Flurry Heart knew that walking was a formality for the spirit as he could just as easily drift through the air.

Tired of his stalling, she spoke, "Quit your brooding. I don't know where you went but you'll stay with me for the rest of the day."

The spirit rounded the end of the couch and answered her as it came to look over the top of the backrest "Very well, I take it that there is an inquiry?"

"Don't be coy with me, you heard him as well as I," she snapped at the spirit, "You were there, were you not? You awoke me, and showed me those,.." her breathe caught in her throat as she struggled to the correct word. They were dreams, outlandish and vague, while at the same time memories, blurred and long forgotten. A half second later she continued, trying her best to hide her pause "those, illusions!."

Ducking down and drifting close to her, the spirit's head passing through the couch as he did so, he asked "They are not illusions, they are visions. The fragments of events long past." Placing his hoof against her forehead, the touch spurred a sharp chill as he questioned her further, "What do you remember?"

Taken aback by this confrontational behavior, unlike his normal passivity, she considered what she had seen and answered "At first, I saw you and I, years ago, here. You were singing that song."

"Then?", he asked, pressing further.

"Then, the Warden." She paused and closed her eyes before she continued. "I was small. He was, scared, or something." She sat up on the couch and rested her hooves on the cushion besides her. "How could I tell that from a memory?"

The spirit swayed in a breeze she couldn't feel.

"What do you want me to learn, here?"

"What you already know." he answered.

She stood up and exclaimed "What I know is that nopony will leave me be." Flurry stopped before she made any gestures at the wisp. She didn't have the couch to block the window anymore.

She continued to rear up on her hind legs, stretching her arms as if limbering up. A grimace crossed her muzzle as various scrapes pinged from the motion. The spells cast by the black-clad ponies may not harm her to any significant physical degree, but the magic absorbing sand and force transferred through the material of her sparring gear didn't share that particular trait. It didn't help that their magic came with a strong, painful sting whether an injury followed suit or not.

Her foreleg still rang with the sensation of prickling needles.

Trying to maintain a casual display, she crossed the room to open some cupboards. Her back facing the pegasus on the tower, she spoke to her companion. "The warden despises me. I don't need my magic to see that." Scooping up a glass in her hoof, she mumbled, "Not like it would work. He's got so many blocks around that head of his."

"He has many things to protect, many secrets to kee-" The spirit's statement was cut short.

"What, like he cares about me?!" Flurry shouted out as she turned, slamming the glass down on the counter. She dropped her head, as if she was speaking to her day and not another. "Don't show me lies, ghost. He's done so much to me," she growled out, "no fantasy can make me believe he cares. About anything."

The raspy voice of the spirit answered her. "He's done so much for you. I show you no fantasies, I can only help you see what you've seen before."

Witness be damned, Flurry swept the glass off the counter and stomped towards him. She opened her mouth to yell, but the words caught as he placed an ethereal hoof to her chest. A chill spread throughout her body as her movements slowed. Her form crumpled to the floor as he spoke.

"Rest as well as you can. It's time you learned some truths."

Her aches stilled as her eyes slid shut. She didn't yet know how to do so, but the last cohesive thought to cross her mind was the desire to kill that wretched windigo.