Ghosts of Skeleton's Past

by Valorousspectre

A rift between us

Chapter 9: A rift between us.

A year passed, uneventful. The tales that Skeleton had told her daughters still occasionally occupied their thoughts as they continuously adapted their perceptions of their mother as, more and more, they began to understand her. As they grew older and experienced more for themselves, natural understanding bloomed. No longer did they think of her as fragile and merely pretty, but strong. Much stronger than she appeared, and possessing of a beautiful heart that could, if needs be, perform even the hardest tasks set forth for it.

It was a curious thing.

But the one who changed the most was their father, Soarin.

A rift had formed between himself and Skeleton Grin, a rift that Skeleton felt was growing larger and larger over time. Even the press had noticed it, and the paparazzi had latched onto it like glue. There was, as of yet, no story or articles written about it due to the possible retaliation of the entire Wonderbolts flight team, but such things always only lasted a while.

For a while, The Wonderbolts had inducted new fliers on a trial basis. Among the ‘contestants’ was the ever overbearing and cocky Rainbow Dash at a personal request from Spitfire and Soarin himself. She had performed easily the most outstandingly, but after it all, she had turned the position down without a second thought. It seemed she had a new goal now and it involved her son waiting for her back at home under the careful watch of his father, the (once) semi-famous music star Rock Ranger. Spitfire had been quite disappointed, but hadn’t pushed her on it. Spitfire had another partner, and dumped them in disgust after learning all he was after was to spend a night in a more intimate way than she was ready for. That relationship had lasted all of three nights before she rather coldly and viciously made an example of him in public in full view of the press.

Needless to say, it was a long time before any prospective mares or stallions approached her.

Skies had played the ultimate prank on her entire school at the end of the year, dumping powdery snow on everypony in the school’s grandly decorated hall. Chaos ensued and the janitor had found her rolling on the floor laughing within the roof itself and had promptly joined her before gently removing her from the roof and depositing her upon the stage. She had smiled sheepishly and glanced at her mother, who had thought the prank quite amusing, but had not found the snow in her mane amusing. She’d apologised to the school and had tried to tune out her sister’s piercing voice on the way home. You guess which one.

Back to the problem at hoof.

Soarin trod around Grin as though she was made of fragile china that would shatter if he so much as touched her. It was even awkward when the pair went to bed. He barely touched her then as well and Grin was well past beginning to worry. Eventually she stopped him from leaving the house one day after the fillies had left with a rather firm hoof. It was a Tuesday.

“Wait. You and I need to talk.”

Soarin gulped and obediently sat down. Grin had adopted a tone that she used whenever she wasn't in the mood for nonsense of any kind. She often used it with Skies when she played a prank that went wrong and she didn't want to admit to it. She very rarely used it with her husband, and he knew she was deadly serious whenever she did.

“You are not going to work today. Spitfire already knows this so don’t try and get out of this. We are going to talk, and we are going to do something about what I want to talk to you about, understand?”

Soarin nodded quickly and Skeleton sighed before taking his hoof in her mouth and leading him upstairs and into their bedroom. Despite nopony being home, she locked the door and led him over to the bed, making him sit down. She sat before him and looked him in the eye. Or tried to. He seemed to be doing everything he could to avoid her gaze and eventually she growled and grabbed his head in her hooves and forced him to look at her.

“Look at me! I’m not that scary and you know it.”

He flinched at her words and looked at his hooves when she released him, this time out of genuine shame. He heard her sigh and looked up.

“Soarin, what’s wrong?”

He shrugged weakly.

“Nothing?”

She looked at him sharply, obviously not buying it.

“Is that an answer or a question Soarin?”

“Answer of course.”

“It doesn’t sound like it.”

He fell silent. The entire room was encased in it, filled with it. It was suffocatingly quiet in the one room of the household that, normally, was filled with at least quiet whispers when somepony was in it. Eventually, Grin sighed, knowing she wouldn’t get an answer to her statement.

“Alright, fine. What have I done then?”

Soarin looked up at her in mild confusion.

“You..? What do you mean what have you done?”

Skeleton swallowed. This was where she had to tread carefully. She hadn’t wanted to use this line of questioning, since it sounded so manipulative and blackmailing.

“Soarin… you’ve been tip-hoofing around me for the past almost eleven months. Even the girls have noticed it, and Fleet told me the other day that you seem edgy and she’s right. I walk into the room and say something and you jump before I even get the chance to finish one word…”

She hesitated, an all too familiar voice echoing in her head. A sentence she never thought she’d ever say, but it was all she could think of.

And it wasn’t technically her voice.

“Don’t you love me anymore?”

Soarin sat up bolt upright before Skeleton could even register that she said that out loud, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. She might as well have scraped it off the floor with a steel spatula. She rushed onwards, trying to justify her damning question.

“You avoid me whenever you can, you’re out late most nights now and you don’t come home until morning, You don’t seem like yourself anymore, tired and constantly on edge or angry with me or one of the girls… Even Skies is avoiding you now you know, you’re scaring her. You never tell me if you’ll be home late or early and I don’t know who you’re out w-“

She stopped right there and her eyes widened.

That’s right little Skeleton. What if he’s out with another mare? What if he thinks you’re boring now? Not cute enough anymore, not mysterious enough anymore. All the thrill is gone and he wants something new! Awwww, I warned you this would happen, but you didn’t l-

“No!”

She snapped out of her reverie at Soarin’s exclamation. He looked appalled that she’d even suggest such a thing.

“Of course I still love you! How could I not? I’m not that bad, you’re exaggerating.”

Skeleton felt a shard of ice pierce her heart, quickly replaced by anger.

Exaggerating!? EXAGGERATING!?

She abruptly stood up, making Soarin flinch, and marched over to her bedside table, reached into one draw and flung a rolled up newspaper at him. He flinched as it hit the bed beside him. It was this week’s date, two days back. He looked hesitantly up at his wife who glared back at him, daring him to disobey.

“Read it,” She snarled at him.

Hurriedly, he unrolled the newspaper and the picture on the front made his mouth drop again.

It was him and Grin from two weeks and three days back sitting in a restaurant. Hauteclaire was one of the most expensive, high class places one could go for fine dining. It was clean, pristine and Soarin knew that Grin absolutely adored it. They’d gone there for their wedding anniversary as Soarin’s gift to Grin. Even in the black and white image, the tension and level of awkwardness between the two was blaringly obvious. You could almost chew on it, it was that tangible. He gulped and looked to the headline.

Soarin’s Marriage, Dead as a Skeleton?

He felt a momentary flash of anger at the blatant poke against Grin before swallowing again.

“Again,” Spoke Grin slowly with a dangerous voice, “What have I done. What is going on Soarin. Are they right? Are we falling apart? I have to say Soarin, you’ve been hiding something from me for the past few months. I tried to let it go, see if it’d sort itself out. But it hasn’t, and now I’m trying to do something about it.”

Soarin’s mind was cast back to that day almost a year ago in the no fly zone of Cloudsdale Common and the words he could remember with vivid detail.

Because mark my words, Soarin of the Wonderbolts. If you so much as harm a hair upon my God Daughter’s beautiful head, I will end you in the most painful and torturously slow way that I can dream up, and I have a very twisted imagination mister Soarin, you don’t want to cross it. There will be no place you can hide, no mousehole small enough, no cave dark enough, no mountain high enough, valley low enough, river wide enough, place dangerous enough, there will be no reality, dimension or timeline you could possibly hide in that will save you from my infinite wrath and I will tear you apart, mentally, spiritually and physically and I will use a pair of rusty iron tongs that I used to use to pick lice, vermin and dirt out of my tail when I was on the road myself, I will cut your heart out using nothing but a rusted spoon and use your entrails to string my tennis racquet, Your bladder will make up my new water skein, do we have an understanding… Soarin the Wonderbolt?

His meeting with her supposed Guardian Angel, who had turned out to be her godfather, had rattled Soarin more than he’d care to admit. His expectance of a much more subdued, peaceful talk had been swiftly upended upon itself and he’d been thrown into a world he wanted nothing to do with.

“So? Is there somepony else? Am I to be replaced with somepony new? Somepony more exciting than I am? More mysterious perhaps?”

He looked back up at her in blank incomprehension. This was almost too much information for his brain to process. Soarin really wasn’t much of a thinker and tended to act before he thought anything through. It made him a hell of a performer, being capable of doing something and doing it well because he couldn’t think of any consequences of his actions until after he was done, but he was no intellectual.

Better looking, more normal, shiny mane, silky soft tail, velvety coat, NO SCARS, NO TEETH, NORMAL EYES. Somepony who’s not a freak. Somepony who’s not you Grin. You’re no challenge anymore, no mystery. If he wants to bed you he need only begin and you’re practically putty in his hooves. Sure you put up a fight sometimes for a little thrill to both of you and you have bitten him on the odd occasion, but he can get that and not be hurt with any. Other. Pegasus. What if it’s Spitfire?

The thought made Skeleton stop in mid rant. She’d been repeating her thoughts, or rather the thoughts of her more primitive, survival based self, out loud, but had cut off when she began to yell about being putty in his hooves when her mind, working faster than her mouth, produced that thought. The very idea of it shocked her and she swallowed hard, trying to keep tears from her eyes.

It could be Fleetfoot as well you know. He’s shown interest in her as well. Oh, it might just be some bitch that he met at a club! He could be in it with some random fanfilly, or multiple of them, for the sex too. It’s possible you know. He could very easily do it. It would explain why he’s been trotting around you like you’d shatter if he breathed on you.

Thick waves of emotion clogged her senses and made it difficult to breathe as she started sniffing. Soarin looked positively mortified, but Skeleton was far from done yet.

“Just thought you’d tame the little Spook did you? Tame the untameable simply because you could, then marry her and use her as a trophy? Just screw her silly because you could? WHAT IS GOING ON SOARIN!?”

She screamed at him hysterically, now standing up with both wings open and an enraged expression on her face. She wasn’t trying to be scary, but she was quite obviously succeeding in it as Soarin drew back in fear.

His mind in sensory overload, Soarin did the only thing he could think of.

He bolted.

Off the bed and through the wall he went, leaving a circular hole as he departed, trying to make sense of his wife’s suspicions.

Skeleton, after processing what had happened, finally broke down and wept.

~*~

Soarin flew.

He ignored the gasps from fans, ignored the annoyed yells from pegasi he cut off, ignored the cat calls and photography flashes. He ignored everything, his mind zeroing in on possibly the biggest problem he’d had in his life.

If you so much as harm a single hair upon my god daughter’s beautiful head I will end you in the most painful and torturous way that I can dream up, and I have a very twisted imagination mister Soarin you don’t want to cross it. There will be no place you can hide, no mouse hole small enough, no cave dark enough, no mountain high enough, valley low enough, river wide enough, place dangerous enough, there will be no reality, dimension of timeline you could hide in that could save you from my infinite wrath…

His thoughts cut off as he instinctively swerved to avoid an airborne chariot, not hearing the disgruntled coach as he swore at him. Normally he would have stopped to apologise, but at the moment he was simply too distracted to care at that moment. The words of Splintered Dreams kept echoing in his mind. All he could think of was those words from almost a year back. A year and still he hadn’t forgotten about it.

I don’t want to hurt her, that’s all it is…

Again his thoughts were interrupted, this time as he slammed headlong into a wall.

And invisible wall.

He hit the wall and fell out of the sky, hitting the ground heavily, the cloud underneath his hooves a lot unlike clouds. Or at least, it felt like it. He took a moment to try and recover, catching his breath. When he finally managed to look up, he felt himself shrink back.

Splintered Dreams stood before him.

Oh ponyfeathers.

~*~

Bright green eyes stared at the blue Pegasus unconscious on the ground before her. Powder blue coat and deep blue mane and tail. He had a very large, very nasty looking bruise on his head. She had a long, ruby red mane and a much shorter tail. Running down one side of her face was a thin scar. With concern etched onto her face, she took the stallion’s tail in her mouth and dragged him into her home.

A small cottage he’d landed outside of after he’d fallen from the sky.

Comments

[Lazygamer313]

Wow, an amazing chapter well done man. The drama is nice and things get more complicated, for both Skeleton Grin and Soarin '. I can't wait to see more man, keep up the good work!

[Valorousspectre]

1346467 Okay, that's a bit of a long shot there XD

1352844 Sort of. It's complicated.

1356273 Murderers normally are.

1357779 Thanks man, working on it. Taking a break from Oneirophobia. Contrary to popular belief, it's NOT easy to rewrite a story.

[bigchibz110]

Very exciting, i really hope you keep it up

[Lars]

Damnit man, just say you found Splintered Dreams and he scared the shit out of you.

Oh yes, and that cottage, that mare. I wonder...

[Thunderscratch]

NOOOOOOO poor grin

[insightguy]

Y U NO CONTINUE!