Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Closing Time

"I guess you always were a mare of extremes," said Rainbow Dash.

Rarity merely produced a few wordless sounds of likely agreement, too busy watering a small plant in its little square patch of dry dirt confined by the tiles of white marble that made up the bulk of the garden's walkable surface. But Rainbow did wonder for a moment if watering was the right term, when the unicorn was doing it with blood instead.

She had a look around. Every tree was the same kind as all the others, though some were bigger and some smaller. Smooth grey wood with no bark to cover it, they looked more like they were polished sculptures than living things. Twisted barren branches stretched against the deep green skies like they were trying to claws at them, and roots that bulged from the ground at the base. Yet none extended past its dedicated patch of dirt, none disturbed the delicate order of those marble tiles surrounding them.

There were no leaves or flowers on the trees. Something was there, and by the logic of the dream Rainbow reasoned it was their fruit, but it still felt wrong to call it that. Ropes wrapped around the sturdier branches, the other end wrapped around a neck. From every tree, multiple times from the bigger ones, hung faceless, hairless husks in the shape of ponies, their bodies an even dusty white. Some were unicorns, some pegasi, some earth ponies. Some looked like mares, others like stallions. None had any more defining features apart from those, and in their multitudes Rainbow could hardly tell them apart.

They hung motionless from the trees, the rope always short enough to make sure they wouldn't touch the ground, and always long enough not to have their head too close to the branch. They looked almost like what Rarity used to display her clothes on in her boutique, and Rainbow did not doubt that may have been the source of their appearance.

"Will it grow to be like the others?" she asked, once more drawing Rarity's attention.

Rarity set her watering can down, a finely carved crystal thing of quartz and amethyst that sang a vibrant note as it touched the ground. She wiped a little blood from her hoof to her coat. "In time," she answered. "As all things do, after all, my dear. As all things do after all."

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

I wonder what Freud would do with this...

[FanOfMostEverything]

I really hope this just the result of too much vanilla oat swirl before bed.

[Saix]

I can't tell whether this is something to be concerned about or if it's just something like Shining Armour's...thing.