swirls of sunbeams

by the silent symphony

05: definition_of_her

Fluttershy was in anguish.

7 days ago she had returned from her quest with Twilight Sparkle with the Elements of Harmony, she came back to visit Hem and tell him about everything. She found 18 dead birds scattered around his bridge, 18 of HER birds. They had died from the teeth of a pony, her friends were spread about the bridge where Hem once lived, he was gone.

Of course she was skeptical at first, but after those 7 days with no sign of Hem coming back and nobody knowing what happened, she was driven to her mind's end.

She had nightmares of Hem every night, biting into the flesh of all her birds and ripping them apart with his hooves, stomping their remains into the ground.

That night she lay down on her bed, dreary of sleep--having buries the last of the birds earlier that day--she feared o go to sleep for she knew mos certainly that there would be Hem in the dark abyss, ready to torment her once again, but her eyelids begged for the unconsciousness.

An ever-decreasing fight for sight she battled. Every tick of the clock, every swing of the brass pendulum cranked her sight of vision slightly smaller until the darkness swallowed her and she descended.

She was in her house.

It was most definitely a dream, she knew for certain. All the colors had drained, and a gray husk was left in its place.

Hem was there. Behind the door. Knocking.

"Please let me in!" He pleaded, "Fluttershy its me!"

"No!" Fluttershy shrunk into the corner

"Why?"

"You killed my birds!"

"Let me in!"

The knocking and knocking and knocking and knocking and knocking and knocking.

"There's a beast that's come from the woods." Hem tried to explain, "He's coming for me, please let me in."

"There is no beast!" Fluttershy rejected

"He is there! I'm not making this up, please.. open the door."

"I cant risk anything, you...you.. you took-"

"OPEN THE DOOR!"

The slamming of hooves on wooden door increasing, pounding the ears of Fluttershy into her skull. Reverberating shocks of agony.

"PLEASE."

There was a scrambling of frantic pounding and again more knocking. the walls were shouting with sirens of fault and the windows were collapsing.

A deafening roar was heard for a split second before Fluttershy was awoken from her slumber.

Awoken by a knock.

Only a small knock. As if the knocker was frail or simply could not knock loud enough as needed.

"..who is it?" Fluttershy asked meekly, still recovering from her dream encounter.

"H.." a voice started, then took a sharp inhale, "its..hem."

Fluttershy's pupils dilated, a fever of sweat and nausea immediately took her. Her bright fur turning the pale white of a ghost.

The quiet night turned to a bristling darkness, the smooth moonbeams turned to sour and ragged streams of light seeping through the windows.

"What do you want?" Fluttershy pleaded, was she still in a dream? usually she knew when she was sleeping, and this felt all-too real, she shouldn't be sure.

"Please, let me in," Hem asked in an exhausted voice, "I'm injured, its taken me all day to get from the forest to here, I've had to crawl in between the limping."

"You didn't seem to care about those birds injuries!" Fluttershy found herself in a raised tone, one she often could not force herself to have.

Hem assumed she was talking about the dead crow in the forest;

"The dead bird? I-I don't know what happened to it."

"So you do know about it."

"Please.. I can barely stand-"

"Your just going to come into my life once again," Fluttershy had grown into an increasingly frantic state, "And then what, kill all my friends then leave again?"

"I only left for the night, Fluttershy, whats gotten into you?"

"You've been gone for seven days! And you've been in my dreams since the first day i saw you, terrorizing me to my minds end, go away."

"No, I don't think i c-can walk tha-" Hem's words trailed off.

Fluttershy looked down at the floor where she was cowarding, a pool of tears had formed at her feet, she looked into the reflection to see her face.

"..you've been the only one who cares!" Hem shouted, and there was a thud as if he had fell against the door, "I've.. been s-so.. cold.."

Fluttershy still looked at her own reflection, a tear splashed into the surface, making her face distorted and ghastly.

This isn't you this isn't you this isn't you

She finally got hold of some of her sense, and looked up. The night had turned to morning, it was strange for it had been no more then an hour since she had laid down to sleep.

The night was silent again, the slumber of the trees and peaceful light had returned once again, and she slowly made her way to the front door.

Hem had stopped talking, she couldn't even hear him. The knocking had stopped.

"I'll let you in.." FLuttershy called out, "but you mustn't be violent."

She unlatched the door, and very slowly it swung open.

On the welcome mat lay Hem.

His body beaten and broken, a bone stuck from his leg, dried blood soaked his skin and his pink shade had turned to pale except for the blood stains which were dark.

But his eyes.

They were no longer the dark mysterious eyes of the warm Hem.

They were the eyes she had seen in her dreams.

Dead and lifeless.

Desolate.

Author's Note:

hi.
thank you for reading this story.

i'm sorry if it seems incoherent and if it didn't have the happy ending you may have wanted.
but it has really helped me to express myself. i enjoyed writing it.

~ vincent

Comments

[My Little Epona]

Ooh.............this was a really cool story. The last chapter could have used some editing (once again, I'm always available if you'd like some help!) The ending was really creepy and dark. It gave me shivers.
This was a really good first story! Keep up the excellent work!