• Published 25th Sep 2018
  • 413 Views, 7 Comments

Shell Shocked - Featherflutter



After being given the news of being able to go on the student council trip to Vanhoover, Featherweight and Pipsqueak plan and scheme on ways to make this the best trip ever. Though something seems off with Featherweight.

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Content

Chapter 2: Content

Lungs burning, eyes blurred, legs aching, the situation was familiar. The running, never ending, pushed more than his physical limit. It’s all I’ve been doing! I can’t look behind me! I can’t stop. It will run me over! Featherweight huffed as he ran along the same stretch of road he’d been booking down for the past hour.

The stampede, roaring and powerful, somehow managed to increase in volume. The hoofsteps grew louder, the ravenous growls from the frenzied bovine echoed longer in his head. They were right on top of him, screaming, laughing, chomping. The destructive power that came from those hoofsteps behind him were only emphasized as they chugged harder, inching closer and closer until…

Everything fell into slow motion as Featherweight felt one of his backhooves slip and kick a fronthoof out from underneath him. No matter how many times he faced this outcome, it never got any less scary. The fear was sickening and the pain felt all too real as the stampede crushed limbs, pulverized bones, minced internal organs, like an apple grinder, until it reached his head where his last sight before requiem was the sunset by a pond, with a figure at the top of a hill, waiting for him.

Featherweight’s body convulsed a bit as he shook himself awake, trying to escape the inevitability of his dream. The pain stopped, the running stopped, but the stampede kept raging. He could hear it, all around him. His heart raced more than it already was and his eyes went wild as he let out a piercing, visceral scream and shot up from the cot.

Pip snapped his head to where Featherweight hung, clinging to the metal storage safety rail like it was the last thing keeping him from leaving this existence. “W-What’s goin on, Feather?! What’cha screamin for?”

“D-D-Don’t you hear them?! Can’t you hear the stampede?! They’re here. It’s gonna crush us, we gotta get outta here!” Featherweight yelled as tears flowed freely from his eyes, panic rising every second they kept still.

“Stampe-what? We’re on a train, Feather! They can’t be here. A stampede can’t be here!” Pip stood up and tried to pull Feather from the rail.

“We- it’s-what?” Feather scanned the room quickly, finally grabbing some bearings on where he was. It all started to click. He slowly let go of the rail, getting down, sniffling as he wiped away another wave of tears from his eyes. It finally caught up with him. The train wheels! He thought as he finally translating that rhythmic chugging as the locomotive moving on the tracks. When he finally got down onto the carpeted floor he tried to regain some semblance of dignity. He tried to step forward, but immediately lurched back and sat straight on his haunches. The world turned as his body swayed back and forth, grasping for a sense of balance. He held his head low, sobbing.

“There, there. It’s ok. You’re safe. Nothing’s gonna hurt you. You’re safe here,” Pip rubbed the back of Feather’s neck, not wanting to startle the colt anymore.

Stop. Please stop. I don’t want to anymore. I don’t want to cry anymore. It hurts too much. It makes him worry. I don’t want him to worry. Featherweight took deep breaths for a minute before regaining composure. “S-sorry, pip, I probably scared you,” Feather looked down to his cabin room mate, whose expression grew evermore worried.

“Nevermind me, what scared you?! Did you have another bad dream?” Pip asked, to which Feather nodded.

“It’s fine. It’s over. I’m better. Promise!” Feather looked up to pip and gave him an awry smile. “How long was I asleep?”

“About 12 minutes. We left the station 6 minutes ago.”

Featherweight’s soul sank a bit deeper, realizing that his sleep was ineffective at catching him up on his deficit. Well, I can’t go back to sleep now. Not after that! He thought, breath shuddering, energy draining. “Oh.” Featherweight wiped his eyes clean once more and got up into one of the seats. His body twitched at every little gust of air that caressed his fur and everything he thought was there. His blood still raced throughout his body, his legs pulsating in tempo with his heart and his chest nearly bursting. Look at him He gazed up to his friend. “I’m fine now, Pip. It’s ok,” He closed his eyes, that small smile still plastered onto his face. Look At Him! Look at the pony you love! Feather grimaced behind the smile, but opened his eyes to Pip moving back to his own seat. “How long is this ride supposed to be?”

“Hard to say, though, if I had to guess, I’d put it at around 8 hours.” Pip said, having a hard time looking at Feather’s gaut figure. His stomach growled. “Oh right, I forgot we didn’t have breakfast.”

“Huh, I completely forgot, too. I can go out and look for where they serve food.” Feather said, getting up.

“Now, hold on a minute. I can go. You can stay here and try to catch a bit more sleep”

“No!” Featherweight immediately blurted. No sleep! No sleep! It hurts to sleep His eyes went wild again, “I-I need the exercise. Plus, I can get myself a bit more familiar with the train. It’s fine, Pip”

“Ok, well just get me whatever they are serving once you find them, alright? Good luck!” Pip attempted to smile before being interrupted by a yawn. He then stretched out his limbs, still not fully awake.

Featherweight nodded and made his start down the corridor of cabins. They are watching you~ His mind was foggy, but his eyes were cold, looking behind him every few seconds. They know what you are~ He grew more anxious as he felt eyes burrowing into the back of his head. Where is that food place? He picked up the pace along the corridor, so to keep out of sight from everypony else. You love him. Shut up! Everypony knows. I don’t love him. It...it’s just this...this disease inside my head. It’s you, that makes me think those things. Those wrong things. What I say is what you know. We are one in the same. No, we are not! Featherweight murmured and growled as he walked further through, the train interior well lit and vibrant, contrasting that of the muted sleeping landscape that has yet to have the sun grace it with a visit. He tried to focus on finding the food area, but the argument raged on inside his head, bringing more chaos to his already jumbled and fatigued mind.

Finally, he found it. The food kiosk. Even though he was walking, he still felt out of breath. He could feel the heat of his breath warm his mouth as he exhaled. “Hi!” He tried to say as cheerfully as possible, “I was wondering what there was for breakfast.”

The uniformed stallion who looked to be only a couple years older than Feather yawned, “Well, right now, we only have enough food for one ‘breakfast’ meal, since we are due to restock in Canterlot. Let me see what I can gather and we can work from there, sound good?” The stallion asked as he began to look through the few cupboards he had around him.

“Oh, well sure” Feather said as he got up on a stool near the counter of the kiosk. Doesn’t he look cute? Feather went wide eyed and hid his face behind a hoof No! Quit it! His eyes caught quick glances of the teen, his face slim like his frame, sharing a similar physique to Featherweight, except a bit taller. In a way, the stallion looked almost graceful in his movements, adding to the allure. Stunning isn’t he? Maybe you should say something? It might make his day. Who couldn’t compliment such a beautiful stallio-

“Is there something else I can help you with?” The stallion asked, raising a hoof as if to block Feather’s eyes from staring at him anymore, chuckling awkwardly as he shifted his eyes from here to there.

Featherweight sank deeper behind his hoof. He saw the tray that was laid out in front of him. How long had that been there? He thought. “Oh, no. Thank you. Sorry for staring.” He paused for a moment. He moved his hooves to grab the tray, exposing the blush that spread across his face, “It’s just that you have really fluid movements when you work. It’s like every time you stop, the posture is perfect. Again, sorry for staring” Feather said before picking up his tray and leaving the stallion, stunned and growing a blush of his own.

Featherweight walked back with the tray teetering on his back, being supported by his wings, mentally kicking himself for accidentally staring at the uniformed pony. It was nice, wasn’t it? It felt fine, it felt right. No! It was rude and it was weird. I-I don’t like stallions. I don’t like Pip and I don’t like that stallion.

Feather got back to the cabin in a matter of a minute and a half. Why did it feel like it took so long to get there? He thought as he opened the door to the cabin to see Pip scrounging around in one of his bags. “Find anything in there?” Feather asked.

Pip jumped a bit, startled by the colt’s unannounced entry. “Uh, no. Do they have breakfast here?”

Featherweight twisted his body to show the tray, “This is all they had. I don’t feel that hungry, so you can have it.” Feather said as he walked over to give Pip better access to the tray.

“Oh, well thanks.” Pip said as he picked the tray off from Feather’s back. Primed to dig in, he remembered, “Wait? Weren’t you the one who said we missed breakfast when we left? I kinda thought that meant you were hungry.” What happened?”

“I guess I over exaggerated a bit. I don’t feel that hungry right now, so it’s no worries.” Feather smiled warmly at Pip. “Besides, it looks like you really want the food” He said as he pointed to his mouth, to which pip mimicked and felt a strand of drool stick to his hoof.

“Eugh!” Pip pulled his hoof away from his mouth and wiped it on the seat. He giggled, quickly accompanied by Feather. “Alright, you win. Did they say when they were getting more food? I’d hate to go an entire possible 8 hour train trip on just this.” Pip pointed to the porridge, orange, and apple juice.

“Yeah, when we stop at Canterlot, they said they would restock. Until then, that’s all we have.” Feather plopped himself onto the other seat, relaxing his tingling, wearied body.

“Alright. Thanks, mate.” Pip said as he dug into the food.

There isn’t any hunger. I’m not hungry. I’m just content. I’m just tired. Content with being tired. S-so tired Feather, though reluctant, closed his eyes, feeling them spasm underneath his eyelids. He took couple deep breaths, slowly, but surely, loosening his body, preparing it for sleep. Strained muscles groaned as they finally got released from constant tension. The chugging of the train had become a background noise at this point, Feather finally being able to accept it as it is. This was a rarity for him. A privilege he had neglected before the incident. Silence of the mind. No arguments, no love this, love that, no paranoia, no fears. Just…….nothing