The Mediator

by XenosFire

Chapter 5

Chpater 5

I don’t remember having fallen asleep. I awoke to find myself snuggling my pillow, having been fairly drenched with my drool. I must’ve been dreaming of Mom’s cooking again. I felt something on the tip of my tongue and quickly spat it out; it was a piece of cotton. My eyes widened in surprise and I quickly looked at my pillow. And sure enough, there was a tear in the fabric in the shape of my teeth. Just how hungry did that dream make me? After having wiped the last few pieces of cotton from my tongue using my bare hooves, I looked out the window. The noon sun hung low in the sky, no big surprise given the time of year.

My eyes shot open with a sudden realization. I started panicking, my breathing become more shallow and fast paced. It was past noon, or at the very earliest just before lunch. I had slept through my morning chores. I had slept through BREAKFAST. What had I done? I quickly rushed about my room: making my bed, straightening up the few toys I had laying around the room and brushing out my mane. Maybe I could play it off that I was simply tidying up all morning as a surprise gift for Mom’s birthday? That was my only possible out I could think of. Well, besides simply admitting I slept in, but this plan was the better one of the two.

I walked out of my room, trying to act as nonchalant as I could. As I rounded the corner, the kitchen came into sight. I paused and took a deep breath, calming myself and reciting my story in my head.

“Hey, Mom, guess what I-” My voice immediately died in my throat as I saw Mom sitting at the dining table, her head buried in her hooves. She seemed to be crying. Suddenly all fear I had of my own punishment vanished as I rushed over to her, wrapping my forelegs around her, trying to comfort her. Had my laziness really caused her so much grief? I was the worst son ever!

“Mom, I’m so sorry I slept in! I-I’ll do extra chores for a week-no a MONTH! I can make it up to you I swear! Please don’t cry! I’m sorry!”

Mom sat up suddenly, seemingly startled by my sudden outburst. She shook her head and looked down at me blearily. “Trickle, darling, is everything alright?”

“No! I-I slept in and ate my pillow and missed breakfast and didn’t do my chores and-and,” my brain raced to think of anything else I had done, surely things would get better if I just owned up to my mistakes. That should be just the ticket to get her to stop crying. “I-I, umm, I didn’t brush my teeth last night? No, I did that. Maybe I didn’t-”

“Trickle, calm down.” She looked at me worriedly. Oh, for Celestia’s sake, I must’ve done something horrendous! Did she have to call the guards on her own son? Were they on their way here now? I could see it now, “Local foal devastates family with atrocious deeds.” Or maybe, “‘One hoof too far’, says his tear filled mother. ‘I should have raised him better.’”

“No! You’re the best mom I could ever want! It was my fault, not yours! I’ll go to jail if I have to! But it wasn’t because you are a bad mom!” I suddenly felt a light slap across my muzzle, hard enough to snap me out of my trail of thought. I looked up and into her concerned eyes, her two hooves cradling my head.

“Trickle, what are you going on about? Take a deep breath and talk to me.”

I did just that and spilled everything. The sleeping in, the missing chores, the pillow snacking. Everything laid bare. No punishment was worse than Mom’s crying face. I was prepared for my just deserts. Let the guards come, they shall find me ready to face my crimes. Maybe I couldn’t make her happy by doing what I should have, but maybe if I took my punishment with dignity, it might ease her heart some small amount.

“Sweetie, you aren’t in trouble. I’m not sure why you’d think you were. I mean, yeah, this morning was a lot of information I hadn’t known, and I had no idea you were leaving,” she sighed and shook her head, mumbling something about ‘that stallion’. I was just about to start apologizing again, I knew that the guards were coming, but she cut me off. “You can feel free to talk to me and Dad about it, you know. That was a lot of scary info that our friend,” Mom’s eyes grew slightly hard at that word. “Just threw at us and I’m sure you have a lot of questions or concerns.”

Now it was my turn to act confused. What was she talking about? Friend? Scary? And then it hit me. Everything came to the forefront of my mind. The shepherd, the ‘friend’ as he wanted to be called, had appeared and told us a lot of scary things. I felt the chills crawling down my spine, and I shuddered involuntarily. “Oh yeah, that. That happened.”

“Trickle, do you wanna talk about it?” She hopped off the chair and gently held me, running her hooves through my mane. I was frozen. Everything was flooding back. He had seemed so nice, so friendly. But then the story he told…that was just…

“Evil. He wasn’t a friend, he was evil…” I felt the tears starting to form in my eyes. I remembered now, being carried by Dad back to the house, being laid down on my bed and immediately breaking down, crying harder than I think I ever had before. Dad and Mom tried to comfort me, Mom crying along with me. Eventually I guess I fell asleep, though I don’t remember when. “What he did…why would he do that?”

“Sweetie, I…” Mom, gulped and I felt a few droplets land on my head. “I don’t know. Your father, he…didn’t say much to me last night. But, I do know this.” She released me and looked me in the eye. “I am proud of you. Even though you were scared, you didn’t back down from what you believe in. I don’t think I would have had the courage to do the same. But, there you were, my strong stallion, standing for what was right.” She kissed my forehead several times before nuzzling me.

I took a deep breath. “Do I have to go with him?”

She froze and then started trembling. “I…I don’t know, Trickle. Your father seems to think so, but…I’ll try and talk to him again, ok? I’m sure there’s something we can do. But, for now!” She pushed away after giving me a tight hug. “What do you say to some breakfast? I know it’s a little late, but how does some oatmeal with cinnamon sound?”

I shakily nodded my head, forcing myself to calm down. “Yeah, that sounds nice. Can I have some of those pecans mixed in too?”

“Of course, sweetie! I’ll go and grab those now.” She trotted off quickly, almost tripping over one of the mats that lay under the sink in her hurry.

“There’s no rush, Mom. Don’t hurt yourself!”

“I’m fine, Trickle, but thanks for the concern!” I heard her rummaging through our small walk-in pantry for a few seconds before returning with a small box, small rattles coming from within as she set the box down on the counter. She then reached into another cabinet, this time taking a bit longer before coming back up empty-mouthed. “Guess we used the last of it last night. Trickle, sweetie, would you be a huge help and grab the spare cinnamon from the top shelf where the backups are?”

“I think I can do that.” I walked underneath the cabinet, having found it was easier to be closer to something if I wanted to cast a spell. I focused hard and my horn glowed a soft orange, the cabinet handle glowing shortly after. I poured a little more magic into it and slowly opened it up. I took a deep breath; so far so good. I saw the small glass bottle on the top shelf and once again focused. I never was the best at basic levitation, but that hardly bothered me. I only used it when I had to.

After a few seconds of focus, the bottle gently floated down onto the counter. I released the breath I was holding and smiled. “There you go, Mom! Didn’t break anything this time!”

“Look at you! So grown up now!”

I couldn’t help but beam at that. I knew I was getting better, but hearing it from her just meant the world to me. I hopped onto my little stool next to the sink and placed my hooves on the counter. “Anything I can help with, Mom?”

“At the moment…wait, yes. Can you grab a couple bowls? I’m also feeling pretty hungry at the moment.”

“What about Dad? Will he be having any?”

She paused and gave me a smile. “Sure, honey, go ahead and grab him a bowl just in case.”

I nodded and happily trotted over to the dish cabinet, this one being on the floor so I didn’t have to use magic. I found my favorite bowl, this one having a small chip on the rim, and grabbed it and two others before trotting back to the table. I placed two at the head and then set mine to the right of Dad’s, just like every night. I nodded in satisfaction and then called back to the kitchen, Mom having started stiring the pot using a special spoon Dad made for her. It was shaped like a seven so she didn’t have to have her muzzle as close to the fire. I heard that she had once accidentally set her chin on fire.

She seemed to be working a bit fast though, stirring much harder than she normally did. I watched her for a bit, confused why she was trying so hard. It was only oatmeal after all. “Mom, is everything ok?”

She paused and took a couple deep breaths, returning to her usual rhythm. “Yes,sweetie, just got a little rushed for a bit. Everything’s fine. Everything’s fine.”

I watched her for a few moments, not entirely convinced. But, it she said she was fine, she must be. I looked around the empty dining room. “By the way, where is everypony? Usually Gramma and Grampa are hanging around here at least.”

“Your father is doing something with them I believe. I couldn’t say what it was, just that it was important…” She mumbled to herself again, this time loud enough for me to catch most of it. “Clearly more important…our own son…”

“Did you and Dad have a fight or something?”

She stopped and whirled around, shock on her face. “No, sweetie! We may have had a disagreement, but it wasn’t a fight! Just because we got married doesn’t mean we don’t have different views on some things!” She smiled, though it seemed slightly forced. “We’re still just ponies after all!”

I nodded. That made sense. Sounds like it’d be really boring if two people were the exact same after all. I wouldn’t mind marrying someone different from me. Someone who was interesting and funny and fun to play with. Just none of that gross kissing. I gagged and walked back over to her, just as she was finishing the pot. I could smell the deliciousness inside, my mouth watering uncontrollably.

“Here it is, sweetie, enjoy!” She set the pot on the table and pulled out two scoops of steaming hot goodness before sprinkling some pecans of top. “And just because I feel like it, here’s two extra candied pecans.” I watched as the coveted nut fell into my bowl. I turned back to her, now seeing her for the goddess she most assuredly was. I fell to my knees and grabbed her foreleg, planting a kiss on her hoof. She chuckled and playing bopped my head, “You’re so silly. Now, enough antics, get eating and make sure to rinse out your bowl once you’re done. I’ll be back in a little bit, gonna go clean my face. I’m sure I look like a mess…”

“You’re not a mess, you’re beautiful.” The words came easily to me. It was true after all.

“You’ll have every mare eating out of your hoof if you tell them that.” She chuckled and rubbed my mane softly before trotting off to her room. She shut the door behind her and I turned back around and started eating. It was soooo goooood! She often said she was more of a baker than a cook, but everything she touched seemed to be absolutely delicious. She always smiled at me, called me a charmer, and then went back to whatever she was doing with a smile on her face. I liked it when she smiled. It was much better than the way she was acting earlier.

I paused and slowly chewed the spoonful in my mouth. She said that she would try and convince Dad to let me stay, but she didn’t seem too hopeful about it. Was there anything I could do to help convince him to let me stay and just learn from him instead? I was learning just fine without having a scary spirit teaching me. I set the spoon on the table as I wracked my brain for any ideas. Usually ideas just constantly popped into my head, I never seemed to struggle for them. But at the moment, nothing was coming forth. I just kept seeing that lantern and those eyes under that hat-thing. Well, maybe I couldn’t think of anything right now, but I would for sure later. And if I couldn’t, then my parents would. They always knew what to do. They knew everything.

Comments

[Crystal Static]

Good so far, I cannot wait to see what you do with this premise.

~Crystalline Electrostatic~
6:49_3/7/2018

[Bobobomlp]

This story is one of the better ones simply for the normality of the situation.
its difficult to convey that a strange situation to us can be normal to others.

[XenosFire]

8792598
Hey thanks, bud! I really appreciate it.

[Chemtest]

This is a very good story, and a very unique take on Necromancy.

As one who likes Necormany and has written a Necromancer in the past, this viewpoint brings up a ton of ideas, and I believe this is what my character might have been like as a child.

Very good job.

[Fudgebrownie]

Cool idea. Update ever?

[XenosFire]

9118157
Yeah. I have been trying to get back into writing it, but between my recent promotion, moving to a different state and just life in general, thing have been hectic for quite a while. It's been slowing down a bit, so I am hoping I can get another chapter out soonish

[ChakatRedstripe]

9128107
I take it things didn't go to plan?

[XenosFire]

11059417
Yeah...I am planning on picking it back up. Between Covid, moving, new job that had me working about 12 hours a day, and family stuff, I've had no time to play games, let alone write. Things are looking to calm down after the holidays (finally), and I really want to pick back up writing. It's been a VERY hellish last couple years...BUT things are finally looking up! Will try and have a chapter or two up in the next couple weeks!