Flame of the Fateless

by Cryptic Keyboard

Chapter 19

Chapter 19
Problems Solved and Gained
-Day 34, Week 5, Year 1-
[Gabriel]

That fated town crested the horizon with its own special brand of sinister gleam. The party and I had travelled for four days with me in near total bitter silence, the sting of my misdirection still hung heavy in the air. I had taken the time on the second day of travel to tell them about the root of my fury, skipping out the part about the beacons for now, and Winslow had given a few understanding words as a hasty response. We had then walked, Shimmer, Saffron, Winslow, Aisling and myself all not wanting to make a single wrong move lest is cause another diversion to spring to mind. That had all come to a close when that town came into view.

Shimmer had immediately slinked into a hiding place behind Saffron, not wanting to ever so much as look at the ill-fated place she once called home. This has attracted a few curious stares from our newest additions. At the time they simply ignored it, but as we settled down to rest, Saffron brought it to light.

“Alright, spill it out kids,” she said with an emotionless edge.

“I-I’m sorry?” whispered Shimmer.

“What is with you two, Shim’ is acting especially weird. An’ it’s only started happening ever since that little town came into view. So spill it, what the hell is in that place.”
I relented. “Remember the deal we had, back in that prison? Well that’s it. That is Shim’s broken and cursed home. Welcome to her lil’ slice of paradise, folks.”

“For a broken and cursed home, it sure does look peaceful,” commented Winslow.

“You have yet to see what is inside that library,” I replied; curling up to rest. They wanted to ask more questions, I could feel it, but for the time being I put my head down and let the clutches of sleep drag me far away from the immediate issue.

*

-Day 35, Week 6, Year 1-

Dawn came at a price. As the sun started to spread its influence across the land, Aisling started to flutter and chirrup frantically. The youngling awoke me from a dreamless slumber with her racket; the others were far too out of it for the tiny phoenix to have made a dent in their peace. She hopped around wildly as I steadily made my way back to my feet.

“What is it girl? What’s buggin’ you this hard?” I mused to her; the youngling leapt from her perch and started to hop her way towards a single, old tree. Roots jutted from the earth as they burrowed across the landscape in search of nutrients. Aisling continued to hop until she reached the backside of the wooden guardian, her feathers rippled and she made a strange growling sound. It took a few strides to reach her and to lean around the side of the tree to gaze upon the source of her discomfort.

“Hello there child,” the old Diamond Dog whispered as he pulled a tattered old cloak around his wasting frame. “It is very good to see you again.”
My mouth ran dry, my paws tense. “G-Grotto? Is that…?”

“It is indeed I, young Gabriel. Have you taken the time to think about my last words to you?”

“That is irrelevant right now, how the bleeding hell are you here?”

“I will take that answer as a no,” the old Dog gave a weary sigh. “It is no matter I suppose, it is hardly to be expected that you, of all being, would remember my words. Let alone reflect upon them.”
I stepped about a little bit, my tail flicking around nervously. “What are you talking about? I remember, I remember!” I murmured loudly. But try as I might it seemed that Grotto was being truthful, the words I sifted through my head to find simply didn’t appear. What was I looking for again?

“You are still immature it would seem,” Grotto chortled. “Once again, it is no matter to I. You have time left, we both do. For now however, I recommend that you simply take a few minutes to slow down and think.”

“What does that mean? You can’t give me nothing and expect to work with it…”

“Gabriel? Who are you talking to over there?”
I quickly looked back towards the area my friends were resting in, they had all awoken.

“What? I’m talking to…” I looked back, Grotto was gone. Not a trace remained. For a few seconds I stood in silence. “It… Wasn’t anybody…” This answer gained a few raised eyebrows, but my expression deterred further investigation. Aisling sounded equally confused, from her perch on my head. Grotto must’ve booked it when he heard that the others had woken up, he was fast for an old man. It took the rest of them a few minutes to gather their thoughts and belongings, now we just had to make our way through Shim’s town. My oldest companion clearly held her reservations against this, but it was the only way for me to continue my journey north. Shimmer toyed with something, no doubt the damn rock that she held so dearly. It was time for us to put an end to this nightmarish burg. Shim’ cantered over to me and wordlessly climbed onto my back.

“Can I help you lass?” I asked, amused.

“Just let me do this Gabe, it makes me feel safer than walking,” her words started to trail off, but I didn’t question this. It was no doubt hard for her to have to return to the source of all her woes, safety would be a clear concern for her. Especially considering The Screech was probably still lurking about. Once Shimmer was happily snug in my fur, Aisling having made a few unhappy noises, we started to make our way towards the town. Shadows overlapping shadows, glaring at the wayward travellers that had once more invaded the sanctity of their home. I could almost feel The Screech breathing down my neck. Winslow gave a tiny whistle as he looked around the abandoned streets

A window slowly creaked open, every single head turned to look at it. The wood holding the frame in place had started to rot away, multiple scratches adorning the once fresh polished surface. The town felt dead, deader than it had before. Almost as if it were a corpse that had started to rot away, left to fester in the unknowing sunlight. It felt wrong, it felt unnatural. It felt like I was perfectly at home. Shimmer shivered, clutching the blasted stone to her chest. Saffron’s hooves landed heavily each time that they fell. Winslow kept his staff at the ready. I simply looked around for the slightest sign of danger. A few more random sounds started to float out of surrounding buildings; Shimmer continued to sink further and further into my fur. The situation felt dire without any real reason for it. The town rolled out another series of sinister sounds as the buildings leaned in closer and closer. The shadows curled their fangs, sharpened their claws and hissed out vile intentions as we walked through the already dwindling light.

The nearest exit to the town seemed a mile away, the perception of the horizon seemed to warp as we made our way towards the seemingly impossible to reach exit. A loud crashing sound came from a nearby alleyway; a screeched punched through the air.

“We ain’t got no more time, we gotta go,” I said bluntly, picking up the pace.

“What about that screaming? We have to investigate,” Saffron said.

“No we don’t, I heard that sound before an’ trust me; it ain’t something you wanna get close to.” On that word I continued my struggle to reach the exit to the town. My feet felt sluggish, weighted down by something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Shimmer hadn’t said a word in quite some time; she had her face firmly planted between my shoulders. The gate was only a few metres away now, but it couldn’t have felt more like a marathon level of distance. Winslow and Saffron felt it too, neither one of the equines seemed to be having a good time with the simple task of taking another step after the first.

The sun had long fallen once my paw breached the border of the town and the world was blanketed in darkness.

My paw, however, was not. The lone crimson slash of colour was illuminated as it rested on the opposite side of the town-border. Through sheer curiosity I shoved myself towards the only remaining colour in the world, and was nearly blinded by the sudden violation of my corneas by pure light. The sun sat jovially in the sky, birdsong rolling gently across the lands as the forests echoed with life. I scrambled about in my confusion, Shimmer and Aisling yelping as I tumbled over. Soon after I could hear my other companions following a similar course of action; the sheer confusion of harsh, unforgiving night being slung into calm, merciful day was dumbfounding. Shimmer had practically implanted the damned stone into her chest by this point in time. I shakily got to my feet and turned to look at the town. It looked exactly the same as it had been earlier, cheery and inviting.

“The fuck…. Is going on?” wheezed Winslow as he finally recovered from the shock of the change. “The hell is… That place?”

“I don’t know mate, okay? It wasn’t that fucked last time me an’ Shim’ came through…” I took a few tentative steps back towards the town. I poked my paw over the borderline and waited for something to change. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred whatsoever. I leapt over the borderline and growled to the air, expecting something to attack or cause the world to shift. Again, nothing that wasn’t to be expected happened. I turned back to my party; they gave a slight head-cocking of confusion. Saffron followed me over the line, nothing happened. Winslow was next, again nothing. Shimmer refused to move.

“C’mon Shim’, get back over here,” I ordered softly. She shook her head in refusal. “Aw’right, aw’right. Winslow, y’all stay here an’ keep Shim’ safe. I’ll go show Saff’ the library so she can get an inkling as to what we’re dealin’ with.”

Winslow gave a curt nod; his eyes clouded with suspicion, and stepped back to Shimmer’s side. I turned around and gave Saffron the sign to follow me. She complied without question.

“You know how that looks don’t you Gabriel?” she questioned emotionlessly.

“Course I do Saff’, but that don’t mean we can change it now. So c’mon I gotta show you the worst thing in this place.” We walked without another word until we reached the library; the town didn’t so much as whisper a word of ill-will towards us. We eventually reached the building I was afraid to gaze upon; it looked well all things considered. Saffron cantered up to the door and kicked it down, I gave a questioning look.

“Hey, if it’s as dangerous as you say we should always make sure to announce our arrival. Now come on,” she wandered into the library without another word. I followed after and was about to describe the corpse pile, until I tripped on a coffin. I tumbled over the small wooden box and yelped several times over, Saffron tittered at my display.

“The bloody hell?” I asked as I got back to my feet, slightly flushed under my fur. “The heck did all these coffins come from?”
Saffron’s giggling almost immediately ceased. “I’m sorry?”

“This is all wrong… Last time I came here it was a mess, corpses stacked high as a small tower, blood an’ guts litterin’ the gaff.”
Saffron smiled. “Are you sure sweetie? Not getting a little addled are you?”

“You don’t just forget that kinda show, Saff’. You just don’t.”

“But how else could it be this different?”

I was about to answer when there came a rending scream from outside. Saffron was off like a bolt, I was hot on her heels. As soon as we burst from the library we almost froze, the town had changed. Everything had become a demented caricature of what it should be. Streetlights acting as black-holes, windows dropping glass across the floor, buildings stretching towards the sky with malicious glares and evil sneers; I felt as if I had stepped directly into hell. When another scream was heard the environment reacted, buildings shuddered and the ground bulged outwards like the earth below was a single blight-filled canker.

“The fuck is happening?” I roared over the mash of conflicting sounds.

“I… I don’t know! But we need to find Winslow right now!” Saffron started to run across the constantly shifting ground, patches of the world falling into oblivion. The clouds in the sky had been replaced by bloody smears; the sky was a single brushstroke of deadly black. I felt like I stumbled into Wonderland, albeit an extremely twisted version. Not wanting to fall behind I started to run after Saffron, but the ground disintegrated below me. I leapt into the air and started to Dance instead of run. Saffron’s legs were working overtime to stay ahead of the collapsing ground, I felt abnormally heavy. Winslow came into view, and it wasn’t a reassuring sight.

The Unicorn was standing his ground against what looked like living mannequins, swinging his staff and slinging his spells with deadly results. For everyone that was shattered another simply formed from the shadows that now roamed the landscape. I dropped from the sky, landing on a mannequin and shattering its neck. I noticed that they bled black ink as opposed to blood, that tiny detail made me shiver. Saffron released a guttural roar as she launched herself onto a pair of mannequins, her hooves crushing their bodies as if they were nothing more than paper. She continued her brutal combo with a kick from her hind-legs that obliterated what could’ve been called a mannequin. Aisling gave a few angry chitters from her perch on my head, but was otherwise totally useless in this situation. With no formal plan established the three of us set out to kill everything that was remotely hostile. Saffron fought with hard-core brutality, Winslow with cold and calculated strikes. I just mauled anything that wasn’t friendly. We fought until my paws were matted with ink and Winslow’s horn began to lose its lustre. But still the mannequins would not stop their assault.

I had resorted to impaling them with my horns if they got too close, my shoulders were too sore to keep swinging them. Saffron was the only one who didn’t even seem mildly rundown from the attack.

“This isn’t working!” I shouted bitterly as I gutted yet another mannequin.

“Really?! What the fuck gave you that idea, huh? Was it the endless horde of living dolls or the part where we’re getting tired?” Winslow snapped back without delay.

“Unless y’all are offering a way to get out of here, shut the hell up! Now where the hell is Shimmer?”
Winslow slugged an attacker with his staff, and then pointed to a dress shop with shattered windows. “She ran into there, and these things started attacking me before I could do anything,” he spun his weapon and smashed the skull of yet another mannequin. “That damn stone is doing all this, got that? It’s that freaking stone that she wouldn’t let go of. It’s a…” Winslow was knocked aside by a flailing mannequin; its eyes were stitched shut. Before the creature could so much as raise its leg to strike Saffron had beaten it into inky pieces. She pulled Winslow to his feet and licked his nose.

“Stay alert honey, its dangerous out here,” she simpered before turning around and using her shoe to slash a throat out.

“Don’t worry about explaining now, I’ll go grab Shim’. You two just stay alive,” I shouted to Winslow as I took off towards the dress shop.

The earth roared in denial, dropping out beneath me to try and prevent progress. I Danced my way across the sky to avoid the trap. Once I reached the door it swung open with a pleasant tinkling sound, the interior was far less appealing. As far as the eye could see there were mannequins with holes bored into their heads and their eyes sewn shut, ink splattered the environment. My paws became even more sodden in the black substance that ran as if were the provider of life in this place pooled around my legs. I started to wade through the ink, looking for a single sign of Shimmer. The only clue I had to follow was the sound of soft sobbing coming from somewhere it the shop. The mannequin heads tracked my movement, stitched eyes silently judging the interloper in their home. The ink became thicker and thicker as I made more progress, the world shuddering in fury as I made more and more progress against its trickery. The sobbing started to rise in volume as I got ever closer to the source.

The environment warped itself and buckled, ink pouring in from festering slash-wounds in the walls of the shop. The ink had become waist high at this point, it was getting nearly impossible to move. Aisling clung on for dear life as she squealed in fright at every new development; I had my new goal. I had to get the poor chick out of there. I slogged my body around what seemed like the ninth twist on the path to the source of the sobbing. My effort paid off. Sitting on a tiny island of fabric was Shimmer, her tan coat soaked with ink and her eyes gripped by fear. As I pushed myself through the still rising levels of ink she snapped her sight to me. Wordless sentences were sent tumbling out of her jaw; the stone was nowhere to be seen. I locked my eyes onto hers, pushing my slowly draining body through the murky liquid holding me back. Shimmer continued to mouth nonsense, her coat was dead and wasted where it wasn’t covered in ink. The ink-level was nearly up to my snout now; movement was starting to become close to impossible. But still I forced myself to move, forced my paws to take each new step towards Shimmer with the promise of safety coaxing my brain into operating sufficiently.

The effort made it worthwhile, my paws hit some kind of stairwell and I eagerly pushed my way upwards towards Shimmer’s small island. My fur sagged on me like a heavy blanket, the weight of the ink felt astronomically out of proportion to what it should’ve been. I carried myself up the stairs, looking down I saw that they were not stairs. I was walking on piles of needles, points gladly facing away from my paws. For every step I took, the world released another scream of discomfort. Shimmer cringed harshly in synch with the screams of the world; her eyes were sending tears out in violent streams. Aisling had gone beyond simply vocalising her discomfort, she was leaping about on my head as if the world was ending, which it did seem to be. I slowly started to extend a paw towards Shimmer, but she simply made a soundless scream and backed away

“Shim’, it’s me Shim’. Don’t you recognise your friend Gabriel?” I asked her with as much sympathy as I could muster. It gained no response. “Shim’, I need you to focus on what I’m saying to you, okay? Where is the stone? Where is it?” Again I gained no response from Shimmer; she simply continued to have her strange noiseless fit. Something entered the room. I couldn’t hear it, or see it or even smell it over the overpowering stench of the ink. But I knew it was there, watching me. I slowly started to turn, and sure enough at the end of the room stood The Screech. Only it looked calm. For all the rotting flesh and mottled fur, it looked calm compared to the last time I had seen it. It walked without hindrance through the neck high levels of ink, a strangely sad expression playing across its face. Shimmer saw the thing and started to scramble around on her island, looking for a way to escape from the advancing figure. I didn’t know what to think of what was unfolding around me. It held the constant threat of danger, yet connoted truth. The Screech ascended the pin-laden staircase, the walls contorting in bloody anguish with every step. I noticed properly for the first time that The Screech had a similar head-injury to the mannequins that had been attacking us.

Then it was upon us. The Screech stood not a foot away from me and all I could do was stare at it. Now that it was standing still, it looked pitiful at best. Shimmer continued to whine; forelegs wrapped around the back of her head, like she were trying to stop her skull breaking free from her head. I watched in morbid fascination as The Screech took its place beside Shimmer, nothing but contempt and kindness in its eyes.

“Do not lie to yourself,” it whispered in a soft voice. “You know what reality is, accept it.”

“No… No…” Shimmer whined over and over, her grimace warping to intense levels.

“Please, don’t lie. Wake up. Please just wake up and see the truth. Remember me, Shimmer. Remember me.”
Shimmer started to weep, her voice growing louder. “It wasn’t my fault! I lost my temper! I didn’t mean to… I didn’t mean to I swear!”

“Shim’, what the hell…” I stopped speaking as the world started to collapse around me, the walls buckling under the force of the ink. The tsunami of black swept me and Aisling away, my eyes burning with such intensity that I believed I was going blind. After a few seconds of the torrential washing, I was spat out with Aisling clinging to my fur by her beak. I tumbled and tumbled until landing with a heavy thump.

In a body that was far more alien than my own.

*

-Day 6, Week 1, Year 1-
[Shimmer]

I wandered through the forest with little interest in what I had set out to find; a rare breed of chrysanthemum that dwelled in the woodland. I couldn’t remember the name of the thing, but I knew that it reacted to magic. That bit of trivia was wasted on me however, due to my innate lack of magic as an Earth-pony. So I continued to stumble onwards as I searched for a thing that I would no doubt never find. To my left I heard something crack, a twig perhaps? Whatever it was, it sated my curiosity and diverted my attention towards it. I quickly cantered towards the source of the noise and hoped it was something interesting. A few steps closer and I soon found what I assumed was the source; a small ferret had become ensnared in a tangle of foliage. I sighed and started to help the poor thing escape from its entrapment. It writhed and hissed plenty of times but eventually I was able to free it from its bonds. The thing made a riled hissing noise at me and scampered back in the undergrowth, ungrateful little thing. Something else caught my eye.

I poked my hoof through the mass that the ferret had become caught up in and at the very bottom there lay a small stone disc. It was both hot and cold to the touch, and while the edge was perfectly smooth it had the bumping feel of a serrated blade. The most notable outwards feature was how the entire thing seemed to glow with a simplistic corruption. I thought about tossing the thing away then and there, but something held me back. With my curious goal well and truly matched I turned to leave, finding myself facing a horde of brightly lit chrysanthemums. It actually startled me at how sudden the appearance of the flowers was. I was almost certain that they hadn’t been there before, or maybe they had been and I just wasn’t looking hard enough. Either way I chose to count my blessings and picked a good bunch of them so I could take them back to my shop.

*

-Day 7, Week 2, Year 1-

That boy came by the shop again, the one with the brownish coat. I remember it quite clearly, the way he had tiptoed in and remained ever the eager one even when I discovered him trying to steal the designs to one of my newest pieces. I don’t know what drove that boy to me, I had nothing but clothes that don’t sell as much as I’d like, and a disc that sat in my room at all times. Ever since I had taken that thing from the forest my brain had washed itself of unclean thoughts. All my actions were precise and not a single detail was forgotten. That thing had been a godsend for me, it was convincing me to work after goodness knows how long. Now if only the boy would leave me alone I would’ve had everything I’d desire.

*

-Day 8, Week 2, Year 1-

The boy was declared missing that morning. It was all so sudden I didn’t know what to do with myself. The day after I had wished for him to simply leave me alone he had vanished from the town altogether. It made me wary about, It. That disc I had found in the woods hadn’t moved from a small box under my bed since that day, but every night I could feel it poking my back as I slept. The wretched thing whispered dark things to me as I tried to fall to sleep at night. Nothing good could come of it, except all the inspiration I could ask for. I held onto it for longer still, wishing that nothing more would become of it.

*

-Day 10, Week 2, Year 1-

Life as I knew it was starting to fall apart. An inspector from the police had come to visit me; he believed that I had connections to the missing child. He couldn’t know of the disc could he? He wouldn’t see it as I did, he wouldn’t know of its goodness. I thought too quickly, I acted on rabid impulse. Without missing a single beat I waited until he turned his back and drove a sharpened pin into his brain, a perfect puncture through the skull and into the brain. A glossy red hole glared at me when the deed was done. I had struck with far more force than I had meant to, he had died without a second thought. As his body tumbled his hoof knocked over a bottle of ink, the fragile thing shattering once it hit the floor. The black mess washed over my just-cleaned floor and made an impressive puddle underneath the fallen inspector, how poetic.

Why would I do such a thing just to protect that damned disc? Why was its presence so intoxicating that I found unprovoked murder to be suitable? Why was I questioning that beautiful thing? After all, the inspector was asking for it. He came sniffing around where he wasn’t wanted and needed to be shown the door. I locked up shop and decided to go to work hiding the evidence. The pin could be hidden in my stockroom, no one but me goes there. The body was a different task entirely. I took the inspector - young and handsome now I looked - to my work room so I could think. In the end it was far easier to put him to work for stepping in on my private affairs, so I painted him white and stitched his eyes shut. Lo and behold I had a brand new stallion mannequin to style; the only downside was the grievous head injury that tried to act as a reminder to my crime. All I had to do was put a hat on my newest model, and my guilt was gone.

*

-Day 16, Week 3, Year 1-

More question, more mannequins. Four more ‘inspectors’ had come calling; four more dummies started their new modelling career in my shop. They couldn’t have it! They don’t love it like I do, the Granter of Dreams that lives under my bed. Its ghastly light shed new meaning upon an otherwise useless life. My dreams had been fresh and memorable, my days filled with nothing but good luck and merriment. All annoyances would be gone within the blink of an eye; no guilt either. That was the best part of it by far, the freedom. Nothing that happened would faze me because what I was doing was perfectly normal. No one cared if a few brats dropped off the radar; no one cared if I was a little eccentric. It was all to protect the disc after all. My precious, darling disc.

*

-Day 19, Week 3, Year 1-

Oh my lord, what did I do? They’re all dead or gone; no one is left but me. I left the house and suddenly it hit me, everyone had vanished. I felt sick, I felt like running, I felt like at any moment that sweet little boy should jump out from a doorway and shout ‘surprise.’ But no one jumped out from any of the hiding spots. No one so much as breathed. What did I do that meant I was spared? Why was I the only one left? The disc! I needed the disc; it would guide me in this time of crisis. As I made my way back to my shop I saw something that made me body turn glacial in temperature. The boy was standing outside, his skin was rotted and his fur had moulted into patches that revealed glistening skin underneath. A single soulless eye stared at me from behind a bruised, exposed eye-socket. He looked at me. He wasn’t angry, or sad, or even regretful.

He was disappointed. He stared at me with nothing but brutal disappointment. He knew what I had done; he knew what I had become. He wanted blood. Not from fury, but to serve justice for all those I had wronged. I ran away as fast as I could to escape from him, his voice twisted and maniacal.

“Why Madam Shimmer? Why did you do all this to us?” he crooned as the soil split wide open around me. I let the tears stream down my face as I took refuge in the only available building, the library. Without pausing to look around I clambered up a shelf and got as low down as I could, sobbing heavily and waiting for death. I could feel him moving around, I could feel his eyes on me...

He was the one that killed everyone, yes… He was. He had done all this; he had come into this town and ripped it apart! He had taken everyone; he had caused all the evil to happen. It was him! Him, him, him, him, him! It was true; it was what had happened I’m certain of it! I managed to calm down after realising the truth. I hadn’t done anything wrong; it was Him that had killed everyone. The pile of corpses that I had found when I had arrived was testament to that. That pile had been stinking ever since I had arrived; it had always been here… Hadn’t it? I was sure of it, how else could it have been here? Nothing appears out of thin air like that. It was at that exact moment that I heard the door open, and a large crimson wolf wandered in…

*

-Day 35, Week 6, Year 1-
[Gabriel]

I was thrown from the body and tumbled across the floor, slamming into a few inanimate mannequins. My eyes rolled about in their homes as my sight tried to refocus. My right eye took slightly longer than my left to get back up to speed, but once they were both working in unison I could see what was before me. Shimmer looked broken. She was sitting on the floor of her shop, weeping loudly. That disc, that thing that Winslow had warned me about, was sitting there. It wasn’t moving, it wasn’t even giving off its previous air of dread. It just sat there motionless, deader than the stone it was carved from. I struggled to stand up straight; Aisling was stumbling about on the floor in a daze. She make a small chirruping sound and fell on her face in defeat, the poor thing was exhausted from what I could see.
“Why… Why did I have to do all that?” my friend sobbed, her forelegs soaked with tears. I had no words, how could I? Shimmer had done things that I would never have expected; she had practically deleted an entire town. The disc continued to just sit there, mocking us with unspoken superiority. Once I had regained total control of my legs I marched over to it with the intent to rid us of the damn thing. I reached out with a paw.

“No!” Shimmer screeched, but she was a fraction too late to stop my pad from brushing across the surface of the disc.

For the few milliseconds I was in contact with it, the disc granted every desire, every wish, every mild notion of a dream that I had ever had. My existence become bliss, I had created meaning from the meaningless. I surfed along the force of splendour that it had granted me until I reached a door. I took pause at this door. A large brass plaque on the front of it read ‘The Truth.’ The door was held shut by many, many bolts and locks missing keys. I frowned at it, what did it mean? I reached out to The Truth, but my paw was blocked by some invisible force. Something opened The Truth from the inside, a creature that had no definable form but was perfectly definable as a being. A thing with no sexual organs but identifiable as a man. An adult that spoke with a child’s voice.

“You cannot enter, Gabriel. Not yet,” it said with a slight mocking edge. “You are not ready to find the truth; you yourself are still shrouded by the fog of mystery. What facts do you have? What goals have you set? How can the beings around you help in finding these answers, and more? My dear friend Gabriel. There is much for you to learn, and much for you to discover. Were you only to have a single year to do this, you would quickly realise that the way you use your time is very precious.”

The Truthful Being, as I had decided to start calling it, stepped forwards and placed its hand on a brand-new looking bolt. “You have far longer than just one year, but you also have far more to discover about what you are. You are not of this world Gabriel,” The Truthful Being slid the bolt open. “And that alone, makes you a very special being indeed.”

“I… I don’t understand, what do you mean?” I asked The Truthful Being.

“I cannot lie to you, Gabriel. But I am bound two laws. I cannot reveal what you are not ready to know, or what you have yet to discover,” The Truthful Being said with honesty.

“But those are one and the same! If I am ready to know something than surely I will have discovered it?”

“Read deeper than just surface value, that’s some free advice for you there,” The Truthful Being opened The Truth again, despite it still having many locks on it. “I must leave you now, but rest assured that we will meet again. How soon that day comes however, depends entirely on you.”

The colours of the real world seeped back into view and The Truth faded away to be replaced by Shimmer and the shop. I stumbled about with a sense of extreme nausea gripping my head like a vice. The disc sat on the floor innocently.

“Wha… What the bloody hell… Was that?” I mewled gently.

“I don’t know; that thing... Does things to you, it whispers and controls and tells you everything you desire to hear,” Shimmer said lowly. “It told me what to craft, and how to eliminate the ones annoying me.”

“Let’s get Winslow on this, he seemed to know what to do,” I lead Shimmer out of the shop as Aisling hopped onto the dejected mare’s head to nuzzle her comfortingly. When we arrived outside the scene was almost too peaceful to be true. The birds were chirruping under the warm rays of the sun as the flowers bloomed in full-view of the world. Saffron and Winslow looked almost shocked at the sudden change of environment.

“Well shoot, looks like you DID have it handled,” Winslow cooed. “I was expecting you to screw up.”

“I had faith in you,” the doubter’s partner said with a smile.
I walked up to the pair. “Saff, keep Shim’ happy. Winslow, the disc is on the floor in that shop,” I started to walk away from the group after Aisling leapt onto my back.

“And where do you think you are going?” Saffron asked as if she were my mother.

“I have a small detail I want to check up on,” I said back, walking in the direction of the library. It didn’t take long for me to reach the old building that had started my current woe. Pushing the door open slowly I took in the scene. Coffins. Rows of coffins lining the room, neat and orderly.

I quickly set about trying to pry them open, hooking my claws underneath the lids to pop the tops. Each time I pried one open I was met by the same sight, a pony of some sort laying there with a dizzy look and a strange cloud of blue around their head. Nothing I was said or did would wake them; they seemed totally out of it. It was magic, no doubt about that. I however had naught an idea how to break the spell. Winslow would know, probably. I left the ‘sleeping’ ponies in their coffins and called for my magical friend. As soon as he was certain the disc was safe he came to check out the library, and gave a loud whistle of admiration.

“Dayum... This is one powerful hex working here, I’d shake the hoof of the bastard who did it,” he said.

“I think she is outside, crying like her eyes are made of tears,” I answered bluntly.

“Ah, I see. Well no harm in doing it later eh? Regardless, I should get to work on breaking this,” Winslow said before setting to work.

center]*A few hours passed before Winslow gave in; in his defence he had woken well over half of the coffin-dwellers. I had hidden long before so the first thing the waking villagers saw wasn’t their perception of death. I waited in Shim’s shop until such a time as I was needed, watching silently as the town woke up from its nightmare. Saffron had started running errands, typically fetching food and water for the former coffin-dwellers. Shimmer had been ‘persuaded’ to remain in her room. Persuaded with a bookcase barrier and a lock on the door. This entire situation had gone from naught to one-hundred without a single shred of warning. Part of me wanted to be able to go back to endlessly walking until I reached the first beacon, but instead I had been dragged into something ridiculous. I just wanted to get moving quickly but we weren’t going anywhere until Winslow had woken everyone. So I continued to wait, a wolf among pony clothing.

*

-Day 37, Week 6, Year 1-
[Gabriel]

It took two days for Winslow to be satisfied with his work, and satisfaction to him meant that the town was running as if nothing had ever happened. He spun a fantastic lie to them all, going into excruciating detail about how a warlock had invaded their town and had been storing them so he could use their ‘life energy’ to power a dangerous spell. But thanks to the timely arrival of him and Saffron, they had all been saved. The liar’s gambit paid off, and not a single mare or stallion questioned what had been told to them. Once the dirt had been swept thoroughly under the rug it left only one loose end, the real culprit. We walked in silence to her room, getting the barriers out of the way so we could stand there for five minutes. Eventually I gathered the courage and pushed the door open.

Shimmer was sitting there, staring blankly at the floor. We walked closer to her until Winslow piped up.

“So kid,” he started. “How you doin’?”

“I’m living. That’s enough I suppose. How’s the town holding up?” Shimmer asked flatly.

“Dandy as all things sunny, so how about we hit the road?” I said, trying to get the ball rolling.
Saffron stomped her hoof a little. “Now hold up there Wolf, is she gonna be useful to us?” I turned and intended to speak, but she cut me off. “C’mon, what has she done for us so for? She isn’t exactly the most useful member of our group. I’m big, strong and good with medicines. Winslow is a unicorn, and his magic speaks for itself. You’re... Well you’re you, the Big Bad Wolf.” Something about that ticked me; I couldn’t tell whether it was a good or bad tick.

“An’ what? She was here before you two...”

“That isn’t what I’m arguing here, Wolf, did you forget what she did here?”
Winslow had walked over to Shimmer and was trying to comfort her somewhat, but she continued to stare at the ground.

“Who cares now, huh? It was the dammed disc messin’ with her head this whole time! What is so hard to believe about that?”
Saffron cocked an eye and gave a small chuckle. “Uh-huh, and what’s to say that she doesn’t ‘stumble’ on another one of these discs? Or maybe decides that she doesn’t need us anymore and takes us out when we sleep?”

“Bollocks! Why the heck would she do that now when she could’ve done it earlier, when she had the damn disc?”
Saffron went to retort only for her partner to cut her off harshly. “Oi! The both of you shut your mouths before I zap ‘em shut.” The both of us did as we were told, but continued to glare daggers. An uneasy tension started to build in the room, the peaceful chatter of the now living town doing little to soothe our nerves.

“Alright kids... Now what are we gonna do?” Winslow asked quietly.
Saffron shifted her weight slightly. “I say we leave her, she’s useless to us now.”

“I say that...”
Winslow slashed through my statement. “True, she is entirely useless!” he said cheerfully while trotting towards his partner. “So I vote that we bring her along, and you teach her how to heal others up! All in favour say I, I!”

“I!” I belted out without thinking.

“I...” squeaked Shimmer.

Saffron looked speechless, as if Winslow had walked up to her and stomped on her tail.

“Well it’s been decided, come along honey we should go shopping for more supplies...” Winslow said as he dragged Saffron out of the room. They got a good way down the stairs before she exploded, Winslow laughing loudly as she did. Shimmer looked like she was going to cry, either from happiness or belated fear. I walked over to my oldest travelling mate and gave a grin.

“Well then, shall we get moving Shim’?” I chuckled while turning around. “Jump on lass; I’ll carry you for a bit.”
Shimmer gave a slightly hitched giggle, tears glistening in her eyes. “Sure thing Wolfy, let’s go,” she said while preparing to jump onto my back. I made a slight gasp as her weight hit me and the mare shuffled around to get comfy. As soon as she was satisfied, she nuzzled my neck a little.

“You know we still have shit to talk about, right lass?”

“Of course we do, but we can do that once we’ve hit the road.”

“A fine idea Shim’. Hang on now...” I started a slow trot, my passenger whispering ‘mush’ jokingly. Aisling, having been taking a long nap in my fur, burst out in front of Shimmer and nipped her muzzle affectionately. She giggled and nuzzled at the phoenix.

While it was still obvious that Shimmer wasn’t out of the woods yet, it was heart-warming to see her light up so much. It was another tiny victory on a path so far riddled with mistakes.

*

-Day 37, Week 6, Year 1-
[?]

It watched him. Never speaking and never intervening. A voyeur of superb scale that feasted upon the journey the Wolf was taking. It cracked a smile, leering slightly and whispering.

“Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Time is not your friend my dear, so hurry before you disappear. Your heart shall swell with baleful fire, while your mind will sink beneath the mire. Seek your truth, burn the lies. But remember well, you are in Death’s eyes...”