The Terror Below Hayseed Manor

by the7Saviors

Chapter 4

It took a good hour or so to reach our destination, and by the time we had, the afternoon had grown far later than I would've liked. Thankfully the shop was still open and the kind old stallion was there to give us a warm greeting. The stallion, an earth pony by the name of Kickshaw, had overseen the shop for many years, as had his father and grandfather before him and so on.

His family wasn't originally from Equestria, though they had kept much of their culture alive and well within the shop. According to the old stallion, his family had arrived from somewhere far to the east, and it showed in the shop's decor and design of Kickshaw's attire. The curio shop had been inherited from another individual who'd sold it off to Kickshaw's family many years ago for reasons unknown.

It was far from the most well known or robust shop in or near Manehattan, but the stallion took pride in both the shop itself and his own contributions to it, as well he should. Kickshaw had a knack for unearthing some of the most bizarre and exquisite oddities I'd ever laid eyes on, and I found it a shame that he hadn't gotten more business over the years.

I took the liberty of introducing Moon Dancer to the stallion and Moon Dancer, contrary to her earlier sentiments regarding the tome, wasted no time in questioning Kickshaw about its origins. Her demeanor caught both Kickshaw and myself by surprise and I took note of an odd sort of recognition in my friend's eyes as she looked at the shop owner. I asked if either of them had met before and Kickshaw, evidently as baffled as I was, admitted to never having seen Moon Dancer before in his life.

Moon Dancer for her part, ignored the inquiry entirely and pulled the mysterious tome from her saddlebags before placing it on the counter before the stallion. His reaction was immediate and worrying in the extreme. The moment his eyes fell upon the book he scrambled away, his eyes wide with horror and disbelief and his wrinkled old face pale beneath his sandy brown coat. I cast an anxious glance between him and the tome before turning to Moon Dancer, who now for some reason wore an expression of what may have been triumph.

I looked at Moon Dancer standing there in anticipation and the horrible sensation that I was missing something began to creep its way into my mind. It was almost as if Moon Dancer had known all along that Kickshaw would react in such a manner once he'd seen the book. I began to wonder if she'd gained some kind of unusual intuition or perception, and deeper within the recesses of my mind I wondered if that abnormal perception had something to do with the tome.

But no, that was ridiculous!

Moon Dancer had already deduced by magic that the book held no such power, and she was nothing if not thorough when it came to her spellwork. No, I thought, it must just be my imagination and inherent distrust of that morbid book. I once again tried rationalize my anxious thoughts away, but it was much more difficult in the face of Kickshaw's reaction. When the stallion next spoke, his voice was low and quavering, and his words did nothing to ease my mind.

"By Celestia's brilliant sun, it isn't possible!" he croaked, taking a few tentative steps back toward the counter where the book lay, "I'd heard stories and I've even seen illustrations of it, but to think the wretched thing actually exists..."

His eyes remained fixed to the book and slowly, reluctantly, almost as though afraid it would scald him at the merest touch, he reached forward and pulled the book closer for a better look. He fell silent for a long moment and simply stood there transfixed. I knew, and was certain Moon Dancer knew as well, that he had more to say, and so we waited for his response.

Eventually he pulled his shocked and horrified gaze from the tattered cover of the tome and looked between the two of us. With a hint of fear and urgency in his voice he asked us where we'd obtained the tome, and Moon Dancer obliged him an answer, telling him of the enigmatic stallion in the black tailcoat. Upon hearing his name, the blood drained from Kickshaw's face completely and he shook his head in absolute denial.

"Sound Mind, you say? Surely not," he replied before turning away and retreating further into the shop. He continued to mutter audibly even as he made his way into a dimly lit room locate behind a dark grey curtain, "impossible... must be a different stallion with the same name... has to be... no conceivable way he could... yes, just a coincidence is all..."

Amidst his mumbling and murmuring I could hear the sound of various objects being haphazardly sorted through. I called out to Kickshaw, curious as to what he was up to behind that dark curtain, but received no response. Moon Dancer and I didn't have to wait long before he returned carrying what looked like a small portrait in hoof. With another wary glance between us, he placed the portrait down face up beside the tome and asked with no small amount of trepidation in his voice if this was the stallion Moon Dancer had been referring to.

Within the frame sat a terribly old and faded black and white photograph of two stallions standing before a familiar structure. There were some minor differences in design here and there, but as a whole, there was no mistaking the unique form of the curio shop in the picture. In the foreground was a grim faced stallion with features and an outfit similar to Kickshaw's. I quickly deduced that this must be a photo of some great ancestor of his taken many years ago, but he was not the focus of my attention.

No, it was the stallion standing beside him that piqued my curiosity and caused me further unease. I could only guess at the stallion's coat and mane color given the obvious age of the picture, but with that black tailcoat, those dark glasses and that charming smile, I had no doubt that this was none other than the stallion that Moon Dancer had spoken of. This had to have been Sound Mind, yet something was wrong, and it only took Moon Dancer's confirmation to point out exactly what it was.

With an air of astonishment, Moon Dancer told Kickshaw that yes, this was indeed the stallion who'd visited her home and gifted her the book. What's more, his features had been every bit the same as in the photo, his face unchanged from back then. Not at all comfortable with the conclusions being made, I was quick to point out the possibility of an ancestor with an inherited name and uncanny likeness to the stallion Moon Dancer had met, but Moon Dancer seemed determined to believe otherwise.

"Your friend speaks sense, young lady. This can't possibly be the same stallion," Kickshaw said, giving Moon Dancer a nervous, placating smile, "you must understand, this photo was taken just over two hundred years ago in commemoration of the day Sound Mind had officially bequeathed the shop to my family. This must all be mere coincidence and nothing more."

But Moon Dancer remained unswayed by Kickshaw's words, and having heard the underlying nervousness in his voice, I began to wonder if Kickshaw himself truly believed in what he said. I only knew I didn't want to believe that the stallion Moon Dancer met and the stallion in the picture were one and the same. I didn't want to think about what that might've implied and so I opted to push the conversation toward the subject of the tome and our research into its illusive script.

Unfortunately, hearing what Moon Dancer and I intended to accomplish only incited a greater fear in Kickshaw, who strongly urged us to abandon the task. He looked us dead in the eye and warned against the venture with a grave frown and low voice.

"That book is evil, mark my words, ladies. You mean to decipher its secrets, but they will bring you nothing but madness and misery. I heard tell from my grandfather that the tome was once housed in this very shop long ago, before my family came to Equestria. I heard tell it was given—not sold, but given to a customer by Sound Mind back when he was still owner of this shop.

"Again this is only hearsay, but it was said that customer lost her mind only weeks after having obtained the book. She became obsessed with it, did terrible things because of it. It consumed her life and the lives of others around her, or so the story goes. I don't know where the fiction ends and the facts begin, but it was clear that cursed tome changed the mare in some way, and not for the better."