The Colt Who Turned Back
Scarlet and Mister followed close as Eerie led the other two mares into the embrace of the woods. The afternoon sun searched for them through the dense canopy, fingers of light only occasionally stroking their hides as they passed below. On the other hoof, the light pierced through the ghosts rather indifferently.
Mister’s form seemed wispy in his anxious anticipation. His little face was set sternly, like he was being escorted to something solemn, like a trial. Scarlet managed to stifle a pained sigh, opting instead to put a kind hoof on the colt’s back as they floated along.
Eerie didn’t stop until she found a nice dark spot completely shrouded in the shadow of Foal Mountain. Judging by the way Sunshine shivered, it wasn’t just cool here. The air nipped.
Moonlight Raven hummed her approval as she and her sister settled down on the grass before a large angled rock, whose mottled gray surface was blanketed in places by dark and spongy moss. Eerie quickly scaled this and sat facing her audience, but not before setting her basket and the ghosts’ haunts behind the rock, away from the other mares. Scarlet puckered her lips but said nothing.
There were days when it seemed Eerie’s mistrust was insurmountable.
“All right, you assholes better shut up and listen because I’m not repeating myself,” Eerie muttered with a nervous flick of her tail.
Now that did it.
“Eerie, if you’re going to be Mister’s speaker, the least you could do is tone down your venom,” Scarlet chided with a huff.
She patted Mister’s back. The colt had turned his eyes downward, his lip stiffening like he was trying to maintain his composure.
“This will be hard enough for him to hear,” Scarlet went on with a deep scowl. “You’ll not make it easier with your rudeness and vulgarity!”
Eerie’s ears wilted and she slouched a little. “All right, Scarlet.” She looked at Mister. “I’ll try and do this right, Mister. I’m just…” She winced. “I’m not good at this stuff.”
She eyed Moonlight and Sunshine sideways. They gazed back at her nonplussed. Scarlet supposed it would be a bit confusing only hearing one side of the conversation all the time.
This was new ground for them. In all their years helping ghosts, they’d never encountered any sympathetic believers. Yes, an exorcist or two, but they hardly gave any room for civil conversation.
“It’s been… brought to my attention that I could do this more… civilly,” Eerie muttered with obvious effort. She gazed warily between the pair before her. “I really mean it, though. Listen to what I’m about to say carefully because this is probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in my life… And that’s saying something. So please, just… don’t make it harder.”
Moonlight and Sunshine exchanged looks. The goth nodded her head once, firm and clear, her blank face somehow conveying a strong resolution. Her sister bobbed her head eagerly, her eyes wide with the need to please.
Scarlet smiled at them both.
From what she’d observed of them, they were certainly an odd pair… but perfectly sincere, too. Oh, if only she’d been more steadfast in her refusal to help Eerie’s silly plan! Perhaps then they’d all be back at the house, chatting about their mutual interest in helping ghosts? There was no way to tell.
All Scarlet could do now was be as supportive as possible as this somber business was seen to.
Eerie took a long moment to gather her thoughts. Scarlet could only imagine what she was thinking about.
Their investigation into Mister’s past, delving deep into old town records? The day they first found Mister’s blanket at a yard sale? Or perhaps Eerie’s own terrible childhood?
“Mister Double was… an amazing colt,” Eerie murmured. Her gaze was soft as she slowly scanned the surrounding trees. A small breeze stirred her overgrown coat and messy orange hair, and she tilted her head back as it did, her eyes falling shut for a moment.
When she looked at the others again, her expression looked weary. Sorrowful.
Mister floated just a little closer, his eyes wide and his ears perked forward. His short and puffy tail was flagged high.
“He died before any of us were even born,” Eerie continued, a doleful gloss overcoming her eyes. “Back when the first railroads were still being built, and a lot of the towns and cities we know of today either didn’t exist or were just getting started.”
Eerie looked at Mister Double and smiled. Scarlett could feel her spirit flicker with sympathy at her friend’s effort at bravery. “He was from a little nameless village just on the western edge of the bayou that surrounds Hayseed Swamp,” Eerie said, just the tiniest emotional creak entering the tail end of her sentence. “What we know of as Dodge City today.”
Scarlet floated down and settled onto the grass next to Moonlight and Sunshine, her face solemn. She knew this story. But hearing it like this was like manifesting a long ago time. She could almost feel the ages turning, like a dial, onto that lost era.
"He was the youngest of seven siblings, and even though he died young, you could argue he did more than any of them ever could have hoped.” Eerie sniffled and she closed her eyes, tears clinging to her lashes. "He faced evil and won. He stopped a monster."
Mister Double raced through the village to reach the bridge leading toward the woody swampland, his little hooves clopping loudly on the flagstones. Behind him, his friends Black Clover, Sweet Bug, and Lil’ Bulrush were out for a day of fun. They were young blank flanks, each from humble families that worked the mines and the small farms. They were used to making the most of what little they had. Though, if you asked any of them, they were rich. Who else got to enjoy a swamp filled with gators and horned toads?
As they neared the bridge, an adolescent colt milling with his friend watched them approach with wide eyes. He jumped into Mister’s path with a loud whinny, his green mane falling wild into his startled gaze. “Woah!” he cried. “Just where do you dummies think you’re going?”
Mister felt his friends collide into his backside. Grimacing, he squinted up at the colt. “What do you mean, Sprout? We’re going to the swamp, like always!”
“Didn’t you guys hear?”
Mister looked over his shoulder at the others, then looked back at Sprout with a nonplussed expression. “Hear what?”
“There’s a–” Sprout grunted as his friend knocked hard into his side. “What’s the big idea, Cobalt Hoof? I was trying to tell ‘em about the–”
“Monster, right?” Cobalt Hoof interjected with a meaningful wag of his eyebrows. His mane was curlier than Sprout’s, and a cool blue.
Sprout blinked owlishly at him. Then his mouth made a large circle. “Oooooh! Yeah, the uh,” he snickered, “Monster!”
“You’re lying. There’s no monster!” Black Clover argued behind Mister.
“Yeah, you’re just trying to scare us again!” Lil’ Bulrush chimed in.
Sprout’s grin faded and he shook his head. “No! Really! There’s something bad in the swamp. The sheriff’s been looking for it all day. A royal messenger came with the news early this morning and everything.”
“Oh yeah?” Mister challenged. “What kinda monster?”
“Uh…” Sprout shrank and looked uncertainly at his friend. “Can’t we just tell ‘em?” he asked quietly.
Cobalt raised a hoof to his mouth. “You want to tell them about the eye-eating?”
Sprout shook his head with alarm. “No, not that–!”
“The monster eats eyes?” Mister asked, his body quivering.
Cobalt advanced on him, his nostrils flaring. “Sure does! Golly, it just loves foal eyes! They’re so tender and delicious to him!”
“Just stay away from the swamp you scamps,” Sprout said with an exasperated look at his friend. He gazed at them all seriously. “Play in the village today. I mean it.”
Mister and the others turned away, their ears and tails sagging. Being in the village was not nearly as fun as the swamp. They had adults always glaring at them disapprovingly for being too loud or just being in the way.
“Hey,” Lil’ Bulrush said, looking at a pair of mares whispering near their thatch-roof house. Their faces were pinched with worry. “Come to think of it, I think all the grownups look kinda worried!”
Black Clover spat on the flagstones next to Mister. He had dark green hair that fell about his head in a messy bowl cut. His rear leg was bandaged from a tumble he took down a rocky cliff last week. “Gee whiz! I bet they’re all in a fuss over nothing!”
Sweet Bug looked at him, her purple eyes flashing with fear. “But what if there is a monster? Do you think the Royal Guard is coming?”
“If the monster’s already here, they ain’t gonna do much good,” Clover contested.
“Don’t be scared, Bug,” Lil’ Bulrush said to her with a shy smile. He had a cropped brown mane and his ear had a chink in it from that time a gator had nearly bitten it clean off. “I’m sure our village has a plan.”
“They don’t need a plan because there ain’t nothing out there,” Black Clover said with a little stomp of his hooves. “They’re all just being a bunch of ninnies!”
“If you’re so sure of it, why don’t you go out there alone?” Lil’ Bulrush challenged him.
“Fellas, don’t fight,” Bug pleaded, but Black Clover pinned his ears and went to Bulrush with a whipping tail.
Bulrush scraped the flagstones with a hoof, his ears pinning, too, and they pressed heads together, snorting like bulls.
Mister Double shoved his way between them. “That’s enough, guys!”
Black Clover and Lil’ Bulrush stared at him. “That’s rich coming from you, pretty colt!” Clover spat.
Now Mister’s ears pinned back. “Pretty colt?”
Clover snickered and sauntered up to him. “Yeah, you heard me! You’re too much of a chicken to do anything interesting!”
“You saying I haven’t got any moxie?” Mister snarled at him.
Black Clover smirked. “I don’t have to!” He held out his bandaged leg. “My leg says it!”
Mister Double faltered. Black Clover had gotten hurt because he’d saved Mister from a rock slide. Mister had frozen out of fear, watching the boulders tumbling toward him. His friend, brash though he was, hadn’t hesitated to rush to Mister’s aid. That was moxie.
He had to show them he had it too.
“All right!” Mister snapped, rallying his nerve. “If you think you’re so darn brave, then we’ll sneak out into the swamp! Let’s go!”
Black Clover shook his head. “Nah. Not now.” His smile turned wicked. “Tonight!”
Mister’s eyes widened. He looked at the others. Sweet Bug was shaking her head fervently, her pale lilac ponytail bobbing frantically. Lil’ Bulrush also looked surprised. He glanced at Mister and smiled uncertainly.
“Well?” Clover pressed, his eyes narrowing. “What’s it gonna be, pretty colt?”
Mister snorted hard through his nostrils. “Meet at the bridge at sundown, then!”
Black Clover smiled wolfishly. “Fine! See you then.”
The rest of the day was uneventful. It passed slowly for Mister, who dreaded the setting sun. He didn’t want to go into the swamp. But he didn’t want to lose anymore face with his friends.
So he went.
Slipping away from his family was easy in a house so full of ponies. There was too much to keep track of, especially in the chaotic din that was his siblings’ raucous play. They were crammed, nine strong, in a little thatch house that only had two rooms. He only needed to wait for a squabble to break out, as it always did with his brothers and sisters, and he seized his chance.
He kissed his little sister, Breezy Puff, on the forehead. “If I’m not back by tomorrow, tell Mama and Papa I went into the swamp, okay?”
She nodded. She was just out of diapers, but she spoke well for her age.
He smiled and waved a hoof at her. She smiled and waved back. He slipped out of the window and never saw her again.
Mister met Clover at the bridge. The other colt seemed surprised that Mister had shown up at all.
“You ready, pretty colt?” he asked, scowling. His voice quavered a little.
Mister puffed out his chest. “Ready? Hmph! You bet! I’ll even lead the way!”
“Be my guest,” Black Clover sneered.
Mister trotted past him, his head held high and his tail flagged. They marched together deep into the swamp. The shadows grew, and the darkness became a thick veil around them. Only where the eastern cottonwoods seemed to stop crowding them, the moonlight reached weakly past the heavy storm clouds. The wind pulled at their fur, and the modest light spell that illuminated the tip of Mister’s horn flickered uncertainly with every chilly rake of the breeze.
“Let’s go back,” Black Clover finally said behind him. His words were clipped.
Mister looked back at his friend. “You ready to tell the others I’m not soft?” He asked coolly. He tried to tamp down on the tremors that shuttered through him.
“I’ll tell ‘em anything you want, Mister!” Clover hissed at him. His eyes were wide under the fringe of his mane. “Let’s just–!” He broke off, his expression lengthening as his eyes grew to even greater dimensions.
Blinking, Mister turned.
Through the curtain leaves of a black willow, a pair of glowing red eyes glared at them.
He felt the fear strike him like a bolt in his little chest.
“Run!” Mister screamed.
Scrambling, the pair took off back the way they had come. They charged over the damp ground, and with Mister’s light, they kept clear of the water’s edge, where the aquatic plants tangled and the bracken stench of algae rose up.
We can make it! Mister thought as he raced as hard as he could. We can–
“Mister, wait!” Black Clover shouted behind him.
He looked back just as they broke through some bulrushes to a small clearing. Clover had fallen far enough behind that Mister only spied him thanks to the grace of the weak moonlight. His face was contorted in terror…and pain.
His leg! Mister realized with horror. He can’t run fast!
When he saw the large dark form burst from the inky black cover amidst the cottonwoods to descend upon a screaming Black Clover, Mister’s horn flickered out, plunging him into the shadows. This didn’t happen because of quick thinking. No. He was just terrified and lost his grip on the spell. He could feel the piss leave him, the sharp stink of it tickling his nose as it pooled around his little hooves.
He stood paralyzed as the hulking beast with the glowing eyes picked his friend up by the nape of his neck like a cat, eliciting howls of pain from the little colt, before it turned and bounded off into the trees.
Mister Double remained there, trembling so hard it was difficult to breathe right. Tears streamed from his eyes, and all he could think about was his mother and father. How much he wanted to see them again. How much he wanted to see Breezy Puff again.
He told his legs to move and they obeyed him sluggishly. He stumbled in the dirt, wincing at even the slight sound his scuffling hooves made on the ground. What if the monster came back for him too?
He neared the treeline. He could go home. Get help.
Black Clover’s anguished scream ripped through the dark, making him go still.
Mister looked over his little shoulder. Silent sobs wracked through him.
He knew his friend would be dead before he even made it back to the village.
He wiped at his face. Slowly he turned facing the way the monster had gone.
Could he do it?
With a will, Mister made the light of his horn flicker back to life.
Did he really dare?
When the light enveloped him, it wasn’t even a question anymore. His flanks tingled. He rose into the air, and for a brief, blissful moment the fear left him completely. The wind swirling about him wasn’t cold, but warm and crackling with energy.
Mister’s hooves touched the ground again a short moment later. Blinking dazedly, he turned his head and looked at his flank. In the moonlight, he could see… He had his cutie mark. It was two rearing dogs, fierce expressions on their faces.
He frowned, confused. Then his expression cleared.
Mister’s ears flattened on his head. He scraped at the ground with a hoof and stared ahead, determination burning in his eyes even as anxiety gnawed at his gut. With a little yell, he took off running after his friend. After the monster.
Because he didn’t just dare…
Eerie looked at Mister with tears in her eyes and a shaky little smile on her lips. “He double-dog dared.”
Silence rang around them. Even the breeze seemed to still, leaving the trees quiet and motionless.
Sunshine Smiles spoke first, her voice thick as tears streamed down her face. “He saved Black Clover?”
Eerie nodded, her brow tightening as she looked over at Mister. “You wanted to know how you got your cutie mark and what it meant, right?” She swallowed hard. “Do you need me to keep going? Or can we stop?”
Mister gazed at her thoughtfully. He looked next at his flank, then up at Scarlet Orange, his ears drooping. “But… I haven’t moved on!”
Scarlet gazed at him sympathetically. “It can be difficult for a ghost to truly know what they need to leave this mortal coil, hon.”
He looked at Eerie, his eyes large. “I thought learning what my cutie mark meant would be enough.” His face contorted with anguish. “Why isn’t that enough?”
Eerie sighed. She looked at Mister with great weariness. “You weren’t worried about your cutie mark at the time, Mister D. You were worried about your friend.”
“But… I saved him, right?”
Eerie looked away, unable to hold her gaze on his pitiful spirit. “You did.”
“Was he… okay?” she could hear his phantom tears, and she wished fervently that she could be dead. If only so her heart could stop hurting.
Eerie’s lips pursed and she closed her eyes. “I may as well finish the story, then.”
Mister only had to follow the screams. They spurred him, terrifying in their piercing clarity, driving him through the mud and water pools till he was shivering in filth. It wasn’t until Black Clover’s voice cut out abruptly that he halted, his heart loud in his ears. His coat of hair was slick with sweat.
Somehow, the silence was so much more terrible.
But he was not without hope. Barely ekeing through the powerful dark, he could make out a soft orange glow. Hugging the ground, he crept forward, his ears perked and turned to what lay ahead. The glow became clearer. Brighter.
Amidst the cinnamon ferns, he could see light filtering through the window of what appeared to be a tiny wooden shack. It took a moment, but Mister recognized it to be one of the various sites he and his friends played at during the day. It was a small cabin outpost built by settlers that had long been abandoned when the village had been established. He recalled his parents discussing that evening how the sheriff and his men had searched this place. Clearly the monster had returned after those hunting him had left.
And now he was holding Black Clover there.
Was he alive?
It hurt Mister’s stomach to think of the question, but he realized he needed to know before he did anything more foolish than he already was.
Scanning nervously around him, Mister moved forward with careful steps. When he reached the window, he reared up and peered inside.
His stomach dropped when he saw Black Clover on the floor of the cabin. He was tied up with thick rope, and dark blood pooled around his head. Mister stared, feeling faint, feeling like his breath would leave him forever as he wondered if Clover was alive. Then his friend twitched, his face contorting in pain. One eye opened, spying something in the corner. Mister felt bile rise up in his throat when he realized Clover’s other eye was but a gaping wound. The other colt curled up on the floor, and his good eye rolled shut again with an agonized, trembling squeeze.
Mister licked his dry lips. Even in the soup of fright that bubbled in his barrel, he still managed to feel relief his friend was still alive…but now what?
Clover couldn’t run, so even if Mister untied him, he’d likely just get captured again.
Then a large shadow moved across his friend. Mister’s eyes widened when he saw the monster, illuminated from behind by a fire lamp. He ducked, feeling the strength leave his limbs. He wasn’t sure he could bear to look again, let alone walk.
Except…the monster looked an awful lot like a pony. A stallion, to be exact.
Taking a deep breath, Mister dared to rise up and look again. His mouth fell open.
He was right. In the room with Black Clover was a tall dark unicorn stallion with shadow brown fur, a black mane, and a hulking figure. His body looked filthy and unkempt.
He paced across the floor, regarding Clover now and again, but mostly he stared down at his passing hooves as he tracked back and forth.
Mister could hear him talking to himself all the way.
“Can’t see,” he said, his voice a guttural growl. “Can’t see.”
Mister flinched when the stallion kicked Black Clover suddenly and viciously, screaming. “Damn your eyes! I still can’t see!”
He picked Clover up with his magic, the colt surrounded by his blood-red aura, and the stallion growled at him. “I suppose I need the other one, after all…”
Black Clover’s limp body came to life, his good eye snapping open wide as he arched and screamed. His eye…it was getting bigger. Almost as if it was being pulled out.
Mister didn’t really consider what he was doing. He just knew he couldn’t sit around and do nothing.
He shouted and slammed his hooves into the window.
The stallion whipped around, his aura vanishing from Clover and dropping him to the floor with a loud thud.
Mister quailed, backing away from the window.
The stallion approached, and his eyes were glowing.
“Who is there?” He rumbled, his eyes scanning outside.
Mister blinked at him, his body slowly unfurling from he had cowered. He gazed at the stallion with wonder.
Was he…blind?
Mister took several steadying breaths. They hurt his lungs, he gulped them down so deep.
He could lure the stallion out. He could do it.
He could do it, he could do it!
He opened his mouth to say something. Anything.
As it happened, there was no need. The scoundrel looked down, his violent eyes glazed and rolling moist in their crusty sockets. His perked ears quivered in Mister’s direction. His black lips pulled back, revealing grimy rotted teeth. With a loud whinny, he smashed through the window and snapped at the colt with hungry lunges.
Mister finally found his voice and screamed, scrabbling to get away. White terror seized his thoughts, and he altogether forgot his goal.
The stallion squeezed through the window, glass shards shredding his sides bloody. “Come here!” he roared. “I’ll taste your sight yet!”
Mister fought his way to his hooves, every inch of him quivering. He dug his hooves into the dirt and took off as fast as he could for the trees. Behind him, he could hear the stallion give chase. His leg wasn’t injured like Clover’s had been, but that didn’t mean that Mister could outrun him.
Wait… Black Clover!
Mister whipped his head back to see the crazed stallion gaining on him. He took a sharp turn, using a tree surrounded by briar bushes to shield him from the incoming stallion. He swiveled stiffly and went the other way, tiptoeing to hide behind a jagged boulder jutting from the earth, but not before levitating a branch near the briar bushes with his magic and keeping it there.
This was an old tactic of his that he’d perfected from countless games of hide and seek tag.
The stallion went some hoofsteps in the opposite direction before realizing he couldn’t hear Mister anymore. He snarled, stomping the ground with his hooves before going still and listening.
Mister tried to creep back for the cabin. If he could untie Clover…
He heard the stallion starting toward him. Not chasing, but his hoofsteps sounded quick, like he suspected where Mister was.
In a panic, Mister snapped the branch he’d levitated.
His pursuer whirled around, returning toward the tree and briar bushes where Mister had given him the slip before.
This was his chance. There was enough distance between them. He could make it.
He could do it!
Mister sprinted, breathing raggedly. He made it to the cabin, leaping through the bloodied broken window, then crashing gracelessly on the other side.
Black Clover stirred, whimpering. Mister shoved a hoof over his muzzle. “Shh!” he hissed.
Picking up a glass shard, he cut the rope that bound his friend.
Outside, he could hear the stallion whicker and snort. Looking at his friend’s leg, Mister felt his stomach squeeze. Black Clover still wasn’t safe, but he was too hurt to run.
“Hide,” Mister hissed.
“Mister…?” Black Clover lifted his head, blood dripping from his hollow socket. His other eye was swelling shut as well.
“Hide!” Mister insisted before opening the cabin door and taking off again.
“Hey! You big galoot! Come get me!” Mister shouted to the fiend nearby.
The stallion reared back with a great whinny and brought his hooves back to the soil with a thunderous stomp. Drool slathered from his gnashing rotten teeth.
Mister just kept running. He knew he couldn’t make it back to the village before the stallion caught him. His only choice was to head to the creek that fed the swamp. He could lose him there. The water current was loud enough to muffle his sounds, and if push came to shove, he was an excellent swimmer. His ears perked. He thought he could hear other ponies shouting from far off. He couldn’t make out where they were coming from. They weren’t close enough to help. The stallion would catch him. He’d hurt him.
He had to keep running.
The stallion was closing in. He crashed through the swamp, tearing through the brush and sloshing noisily through the pools of swamp water.
The creek was in sight. Mister drove his legs as hard as he could, his hooves striking the passing earth with teeth chattering force. He could smell the brackish water. He could hear the effervescent gurgle of the current!
He screamed, leaping for the creek.
He could do–!
Something solid smashed into his head. Mister collided with the earth with ruthless force.
After that, there was only blinding pain.
Moonlight Raven watched Eerie shudder, her face contorting in grief and disgust.
“Did he make it?” Sunshine asked in a teeny voice.
“No,” Eerie said, looking down. “He didn’t make it.” She took a deep breath, her muzzle scrunched. “The stallion broke his hind legs, before ripping out both of his eyes and eating them. The voices Mister heard? They were the villagers closing in. His friend, Sweet Bug, had caved and told her dad what they were doing. Only… Only they didn’t make it. They arrived just in time to see the stallion throw Mister into the river to drown.”
“But he didn’t drown,” Sunshine whispered, hanging her head. Moonlight looked at her sidelong. It always made her wary when her sister’s shiny aura dimmed to a desolate gray. Like her sibling was invading her realm of darkness.
The veneer of sorrow ill-suited Sunshine Smiles.
Eerie gave one small shake of her head as she answered. “No. He didn’t.” She looked up at the place where Moonlight could feel Mister’s ghostly aura hovering nearby. It pulsed with fear…and pain.
Did the colt remember how he died? Could he feel his bones breaking? Taste the blood in his mouth?
Moonlight bit back a contemplative hum. She had experienced enough irate stares to gather that ponies didn’t appreciate it when she displayed anything but grief and dismay at such fascinating events. Not that she didn’t think it tragic that a foal was murdered so brutally. Then again, she thought existence itself was tragic, so what difference did it make in the end?
What intrigued her about Mister’s killer was what he seemed motivated by. Was he truly blind? What made him believe that foal eyes would restore his vision?
“The villagers subdued the stallion. Mister… He was carried away by the currents for a quarter of a mile before they finally caught him.” Eerie wiped a tear away from her face. “His mother wrapped him in his favorite blanket and held him as he died.”
“It wasn’t rain,” Sunshine squeaked through tears. She looked at Moonlight, the fur on her face matted with her grief. “Ravey, the last thing Mister felt was his mother’s tears.”
Moonlight couldn’t help but smile a little. Such a beautiful tragedy.
“Is this funny to you?” Eerie snarled, her ears pinning.
Moonlight shook her head, looking at her with her usual hooded gaze. “No. But as far as deaths go, at least he was held by somepony who loved him.”
Eerie considered this for a moment before dropping her gaze. “I suppose.”
They sat in silence for a while.
When she thought enough time for the others to process their feelings had passed, Moonlight raised a steady hoof. “What happened to the killer?” her voice maintained its even composure. This was not something she would expend her chi on.
“They hung him,” Eerie sneered. “Right then and there. He’d been terrorizing the countryside, killing foals and consuming their eyes for months. He’d been captured and was on his way to Canterlot for imprisonment when he escaped the guards to the swamps near Mister’s village.”
She looked up, her ears perking as her ghostly companions said something to her. Her eyes softened. “Yes, Mister. You saved Black Clover. He lost an eye, but he was alive.” Her brow furrowed. “Is he… still alive?” She shrugged. “I think so?” Now her eyes widened. “You want to what?”
“He wants to see him, doesn’t he?” Moonlight asked, her ears swiveling forward with interest.
“Yeah,” Eerie eyed her sideways, her gaze narrowed with distrust. “Why?”
Moonlight raised an eyebrow, the smallest hints of a smirk on her lips. “I think I can help.”
Back after two years! Boy that feels good.
This really was the thing that stopped this story from continuing. I wasn't really sure how to go about detailing Mister Double's past. Ultimately, I'm still dissatisfied with it, but I don't regret my decision to gloss over his actual death. Ya'll don't need that, and neither do I.
Anyway, if you're new here, hi! Thanks for joining my strange little story. If you're a returning reader, welcome back. No matter who you are, I would really appreciate some comments. They help me stay motivated. Whether you do or not, thanks for reading.
Happy Halloween!
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What a nice treat for Halloween!
Glad to see that this is still being worked on, it was nice to finally learn about Mister's past.
11736939
I'm glad you're still with us! Mister’s story was so difficult to write, so it's reassuring you found it interesting. I held off on updating just for Halloween. Seemed appropriate
You're back!
Unlike the show, I tend to imagine that Equestria's medical knowledge and technology is akin to the late 19th/ early 20th century in our world. A big city like Manehattan might have early procedures plus whatever bonuses from magic and alchemy. In a little farming community probably just a singular doctor/healer/hedge witch who relies mostly on herbal remedies and the like.
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That sounds reasonable! Are you saying that because Mister didn't receive medical attention?
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Well, I'm no doctor or anything. My parents have worked in the medical field, though, so if I put my mind to it, I can kinda sorta make low-level guesses in situations like this.
Mister almost certainly experienced cranial trauma and after having his legs broken and the subsequent "swim" no small amount of cuts, bruises, and likely internal trauma/swelling/bleeding as well.
Given the status of Equestrian medicine at the time, any one of those might have been treatable in a place with the right resources and ponies. In a village like his, though, the best bet would be sending for help and keeping him warm/comfortable as best as possible. If help arrived quickly enough or a high-level thaumaturge could safely teleport him, great, but I wouldn't have counted on it.
Another factor is communication speed, in our own world during the mid 19th early 20th century the largest cities might have the option of early telegraphy or even telephone boards, but out in the boondocks a messenger would still be your best bet and even then to get from say my house to my grandmother who is around 6-8 hours away by car would be a 2 possibly 3 day journey.
Sure, Rainbow Dash can seemingly fly from Ponyville to Canterlot in under 5 minutes, but she's an outlier, most Pegasi hover around 70-90 mph (I googled it
)so still looking at around a days journey to get a messenger to the city and back. Help itself, who's to say unless said Pegasus could airlift Mister to the nearest city, but given the state of his injuries would be a risky proposition.
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Ah, gotcha! Yeah, he definitely got a pretty devastating hit on the head and it's reasonable to guess that he had internal injuries as well. I was trying to suggest that this is a fairly early stage of modern Equestria. Mister's village would eventually become Dodge City, but at the time it was just this little impoverished settlement. They certainly would have had a healer, but they wouldn't have had the resources to help him, and without the major modes of traffic that current day Equestria takes advantage of, it's just as you say--the odds of him getting help in time would have been slim. If this had happened to him closer to a well-resourced city center, he totally could have been saved, though, you're right.
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You did indeed make mention of this, I just happen to be a world-building addict so sometimes over thinking comes with the territory
Happy to see this return!
Finding Clover I think is a natural desire... he probably has or had a lot of guilt from that night, and some long-due healing might be in order.
At the same time, this was a nice ongoing characterization of the two groups, and I had no difficulty falling back in love with them.
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Hi there! Thanks for jumping into the story again. Yeah, I really look forward to giving Mister some closure, the poor colt. It was a relief to find a way forward with the story. This part was very challenging, but I was happy to write Moonlight Raven again! I didn't realize how much fun it would be to write a high-functioning psychopath. 😂
It's been so long since I first read this that I'm going to reread everything else first before I comment on the new chapter, but I should enjoy the process.
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Ah, yeah, sorry about that. I'm always glad to come back to a story after a long break, but then people have to re-read it all just to remember what the heck is going on.
Me included. 😅