Baa-Ram-Ewe!

by Darkonshadows

53. A pervasive silence.

Author's Note:

Rocket Knight might have a lot of science fiction in it, but it also has fantasy.

Music- Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis. Battle against the Dead of night.

-Ponyville, School of Friendship, Gallus-

“Well… this is awkward, but I really have to ask.” I was rubbing at the feathers on my head and looking at the table in front of me. “How did you learn to play chess so well? Smolder is never going to let me live this down if she ever hears about this.”

The response was the various clucking noises Edith made and something that sounded like exceedingly smug chuckling.

I wondered if I could eventually find a familiar, maybe with Fluttershy’s help. I thought I was smarter than a cockatrice, but Edith was definitely more intelligent than the average lizard chicken and I would chalk that up to her somehow being bonded to Silver Stream.

-Castle Town, Northwest Corner, Hydrigal, Pom-

When we stopped to start setting up camp in the corner of the walls around Hydrigal’s castle town, my curiosity was getting the best of me… as much as the silence of the entire town making me anxious to figure out what happened here. There being barely any signs of life was creepy.

There was no blood, no bodies, no damaged buildings, no signs of a siege or a scuffle, airships didn’t drop bombs on the town or castle.

This place just seemed for lack of a better term… dead.

I could probably hear a pin drop down the street, the chill in my spine and the nervousness I was experiencing was slowly getting to me.

Hydrigal’s castle town was a large rectangle area line with buildings of stone and glass, what separates this from the castle was a large moat and a bridge. The castle town was surrounded by a wall that also surrounded the castle which had its own walls and one entrance. We currently weren’t in sight of the bridge leading up to the castle.

The castle town had an entrance from the south, the walls surrounded the whole castle town and went on to surround the castle.

Since we had closed off the southern entrance, we hadn’t heard a single noise aside from the ones we created, like the sound of my hooves hitting the cobblestone streets.

Behind the drawbridge we passed through to get to where we were now was a portcullis, there was another portcullis at the entrance to the bridge leading up to the castle and likely another at the entrance to the castle itself. I wanted to check on something related to this thought.

“Ocellus, make sure no one leaves this area for any reason and nobody goes off alone unless someone needs to do their business. In that case make sure that two people are present at all times with one wall between them. If you have to break into a nearby building to make a bathroom readily available. Dodo, since you don’t need sleep, you’re on watch… if anything approaches this area alert someone if it isn’t any one of us.” Hearing an affirmative mechanical warble, I turned to my companion of choice to scout out a few things. We needed more information before something snuck up on us. “Smolder, come with me. I need you to corroborate something with me and we need to look for clues as to what happened to the people that used to be here.”

“Right, I don’t know about anyone else here Pom, but dragons are supposed to be brave. So why do I feel a chill down my back from just being here?” Well that was one thing confirmed for me Smolder, I wasn’t the only one having that particular feeling. “This place screams eerie, not the fun Nightmare Night kind either. There’s just something foreboding going on here.”

“It’s not just you, I think we’re all feeling something is quite wrong here.” I glanced at Jean just looking around with worry, he didn’t seem so jolly at the moment and his hand was constantly resting on his rapier as his eyes looked about for an unseen enemy. This town was supposed to be full of amphibians like him, yet it was silent… not even the wind was blowing through here. “Just stay right next to me, we’re going to check on something real quick while the others set up camp.”

We left the northwest corner walking to the east along the wall, with me holding my torch high and Smolder fiddling with the ribbon tied to her left horn nervously. The others had their backs to the wall, wish I currently did, I didn’t feel safe moving around out in the open.

I had a few spare torches in my bag and some snacks in case something happened. Smolder was here to light another torch for me quickly if needed. I turned right and walked down the main street back towards the place where I saw those unattended cooling pies outside of what was likely a bakery.

When we got there, we saw two pie tins… no pies. Not even a crumb or the slightest hint of dust of what used to be in them. We know nothing had been through this area, not even Shanty would touch the unknown pies and it would have been dumb to do so without knowing whether or not they were poisonous.

“Smolder… I don’t want to alarm you but…” I swept the torch around, the cloudy skies weren’t letting any moonlight in and the shadows of the buildings were making this night even darker than it should be.

“Yeah, I know, I saw them on the way in too…” Smolder stated while looking around at the ground. “Nobody could have eaten those pies without even a slight mess getting on the ground or leaving a few crumbs behind.”

“Right, next w-we’ll c-c-check the entrance to the castle…” Not being able to get the stuttering out of my voice, I quickly turned around and started walking back towards the north with Smolder following me and looking behind us warily.

There wasn’t even a hint of residue in the pie tins, so they hadn’t been licked clean. I stopped for a second and looked back… the pie tins were no longer there. Smolder frozen and was about to look back when I turned without saying a word and continued forward.

I started watching the rooftops and air around the buildings as we came to the archway entrance to the bridge that lead up to the castle, the portcullis was up.

I slowly gulped and made my way across the bridge with Smolder continuing to look behind us as we did, she was the one that was looking into the alleyways and various paths that we passed walking down the main street.

At the end of the bridge we came to a silent looming castle with the portcullis to the castle’s courtyard down.

I didn’t see much through the portcullis as I raised my torch close to it, but something was out here… or at least it seemed like that to us. The pies and the tins that they were in could have just been my imagination… but Smolder had seen them too. We hadn’t touched them or moved them.

We hadn’t heard anything and the pie tins hadn’t moved from their positions, but the cooling pies in them certainly did without the tins being damaged or even leaving a single crumb and when we started to walk away they the empty tins disappear.

I slowly back away from the portcullis with my thoughts disturbed and turned around to cross the bridge again, Smolder following me while looking both forward and back at the lowered portcullis we were leaving behind. My torch held aloft in my right hoof.

“Okay we need to break the silence, because I’m starting to get terrified here…” I passed under the raised portcullis back into the town and turned right to head to the corner our camp was being set up in. “So… how have you been feeling about all our adventures so far?”

“Things could be better, I really just want to go back to Ponyville and sit down to at a table in Sugar Cube Corner with my other friends or maybe be in the dragon lands with my brother.” Smolder was as jumpy as I was as the torch flickered and waved as it slowly burned down, I was about ready to jump at any shadows that came at us. “I would also like to file a formal complaint about our current circumstances.”

I remember facing the shadow monsters and this was beginning to feel like we were being stalked by them, yet none of my senses other than the chill in my spine from all the silence could detect anything other than the two of us and those ahead at the forming campsite.

The wagon was pressed up against the wall and Dodo was sitting a short distance away and swiveling his head to the left and right watching both directions that our camp could be stealthily approached by other than straight up.

He made mechanical trill at seeing us, but stay seated where his was and even glanced skyward, he was quite alert and seemed to be as quite wary as we were feeling. Jean was getting a fire started, Colleen was hugging herself sitting next to it waiting to get warmed up.

Bruno, Shanty and Ocellus were busy setting up a large tent next to the wagon, we were all going to be in one tent. Ocellus finished what she was doing and came over to me.

“Did you find something?” Ocellus asked while her eyes looked beyond us.

“We found the absence of something that we saw on the way in.” Smolder responded while shivering.

“Something is… here… probably…” My tone made Ocellus shiver. “Whatever it might be, it is absolutely silent because we didn’t hear anything moving around.”

“This place is getting spookier by the minute, the only thing that could make this worse is if this place was covered in fog.” Please don’t make this worse for us Smolder.

Jean seemed to have asked something of Ocellus and she responded in kind, he said something back and seemed quite wary of our surroundings. Our amphibian friend was shivering as nearly as badly as I was.

“Well Smolder, he said that it does get quite foggy around the outside of town. We’re going to probably need to set out some lanterns to burn all night long.” Ocellus shivered a bit. “Pom... I don’t feel comfortable with this place. The absence of emotions other than ours makes this all feel really off.”

“Yeah, I think we’re all experiencing it, even Dodo.” I was shaking quite a bit, this place was starting to feel less and less welcoming. We came here to deliver something to King Hydrigal and barring that we’re going to at least find out what happened to the people. “So we found the portcullis to the castle itself closed, but the portcullis into town and to the bridge to castle were both open.”

“So you don’t think we’re alone, but I don’t feel anything other than us. If it was an evil core machine that caused this, then I would have been able to sense it.” Ocellus seemed worried, we should all be worried about what happened.

“I think we should check some of the buildings in the morning, all of us together and none of us should do anything separately or go anywhere beyond our campsite tonight.” It was for the best that we did, because I didn’t want us to be slowly picked off be going anywhere on our own. “I think what’s happening here is not the result of a machine, I think we’re dealing with a magical problem and I sincerely hope that we’re not currently dealing with some form of genius loci or worse… a lotus eater realm.”

“Genius loci, lotus eater realm?” Shanty came to sit down next to me after Jean got the campfire going. “Are the lotus’s being tasty there?”

“No Shanty, most of those things are not good news. Genius Loci are places that generally have spirits that can act in a limited or incredible fashion based on the location. One example would be Huoshan the dragon’s whose body created the mountain that all the longma live on, the spirit made the mountain erupt to protect the people in a dire time of need. A genius loci can be reasoned with and are as the name suggests intelligent. The other two things are arguably worse.” My breathing was starting to become panicked and I quickly slowed it down for it got out of control. “Normal lotuses are edible. Lotus Eaters on the other hoof, are a type of lotus that when eaten will trap you into eating more until you perish and you forget everything else. A lotus eater realm does something similar, it generates illusions that tend to more often than not kill the person said illusions are targeting depending on what the realm is set to do. Lotus eater realms tend to mess with and manipulate the minds to either a goal or lethality. Anything we see aside from the buildings, glass or the very ground we stand on might not be real. We know that we’re all real… so far… but it’s best to keep your senses sharp. What may fool one sense might not fool another if we’re in one of those situations. If this feeling we’re all getting is just outright illusion magic, then it’s only just as dangerous as the intelligence behind it.”

“This place is becoming scarier by the second.” Shanty huddled up against me as we sat around the campfire. “Is there any way to know for sure if we’re in one?”

“Yes, but it takes a while to find that out and usually by accident, if you don’t find out quickly enough… let’s just change the topic.” I turned to Ocellus. “Can you tell Jean and the others about my suspicions?”

As Ocellus did so, I tossed my waning torch into the flames Jean got going and turned to face away from the warmth of the campfire and stared out into the darkness.

Around us was nothing but silence, the crackling fire being the loudest thing around.

-Colleen-

“Is such a thing actually possible?” I asked of Ocellus after she described what sounded like a horror story that is usually told at campfires like this one.

“Does magic exist in this world?” Ocellus lit up her horn and generated really bad fake image of some fruits. “Don’t write off anything as being impossible, especially not when we’re all feeling suspicious about our surroundings… this place is entirely silent and we’re all feeling chills down our backs. Pom thinks it could be a genius loci or a lotus eater realm, but she’s hoping for neither and so am I. I’d rather it be something less dangerous than what we’ve been facing.”

The minute she stopped talking, we heard what she was talking about or more to the point… we didn’t hear anything at all. Well anything aside from everyone breathing or the crackling of the campfire’s flames, even the machine that pulled us here was quite silent and on the lookout for anything amiss.

The lizard was still in the wagon and we’d have to move him to the tent soon. It was going to get cold tonight and even if I didn’t like the lizard being here, I wouldn’t let him freeze to death.

Pom had her back turned to the fire and she was fairly nervous.

“My people…” Having drawn our attention, Jean looked to be quite down. “If it is some magical monster, I would face them standing tall. If I knew which direction that I needed to be facing in that is.”

“We’ll figure something out slime boy.” Bruno muttered crassly.

“It’s mucus.” Stated Jean flatly.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not slimy or a type of slime.” Bruno retorted, while gazing at the clouds overhead. “If we can trust the machine to keep a lookout, then we might be getting some sleep in tonight. So what are we doing in the morning, provided that we’re still alive by then bug eyes?”

“We’re going to be checking out a few buildings in the town and then we’re going to try and get into the castle to see if there’s anything that can be found on what’s going on around here.” Ocellus didn’t seem to be having any head pains, so we’re sure a machine is not doing… whatever all this is.

If they are right and we’re facing something magical… I’d rather fight an evil core machine, at least those things were quite obvious in their movements and easy to see coming.

-Hours later, Shanty-

I gasped and sat up, I be feeling Pom stirred at my movements and soon she stilled to continue sleeping.

I looked around the tent, we had three lanterns active around the campsite, one in the tent and two outside with Dodo. I be getting up and seeing that Colleen was lying next to us at Pom’s hooves. I carefully step around her and by Smolder and Ocellus snuggled together on my way out of the tent.

Looking around, I see the lizard wrapped in bandages for his burns stirred, but he not be getting up. He still be looking alright and breathing.

I go to the entrance of the tent and looked outside. Dodo be sitting there dutifully watching out for us, I approach him and he turned to me and made a happy sound.

I be feeling something odd… as if the fog were watching us.

“Hey Dodo, be seeing anything?” Other than the thick fog surrounding our campsite that is, I be seeing that already. It almost being as dark as it was last night.

Dodo warbled something I took to mean ‘negative’ or ‘no’, he green eyes were sweeping left, right and up. He be a very good machine and our protective friend, he be sitting in that spot all night awake for us and thankfully he didn’t have the problem of parts of his body falling asleep on him by sitting in one place for too long.

Everything was being far too quiet for my liking. It be reminding me of when I was younger, all alone, by myself. It not be breaking me then, it definitely won’t be breaking me now.

I still did not be liking it, the loneliness or the silence as I made my way to the wagon and got some fruit from the supplies for myself. I warily eyed the large and dangerous cat machine, it hadn’t moved once since we loaded it onto our wagon and it is being creepy to me right now.

I made my way over to Dodo and sat by him, he nuzzled me gently with his beak and gave me a soft mechanical warble that was reassuring me that he was here for me.

I be eating my fruit quietly, when something terrifying be happening. The big cat machine, with lifeless eyes, launched out of our wagon and charged off into the fog. The noise from its metal claws hitting the street quickly petered out.

I be looking at Dodo and he be looking right back at me in confusion.

“Did that just be happening?” I didn’t hear any noise of the cat machine running. Dodo nodded to me and warbled worriedly. “We be staying here, I do not want to be going after it by myself and you be needed here to protect our stuff.”

“Going after… whoa…” Pom be stepping out of the tent and seeing the thick fog surrounding us. “We should ask Jean if this is normal, this much fog being in the town just doesn’t make any sense.”

“Pom, the big cat machine be running off!” I pointed to the wagon and she quickly went over there to check. “Dodo keep doing a good job for me okay?”

I quickly made my way over to Pom checking the wagon and she was checking some light claw markings inside the wagon.

“Why now…” Muttered Pom looking less fearful than I thought she’d be, she turned to me. “What did it do?”

“I be getting fruit from the wagon and was eating it next to Dodo, then the machine be launching out of the wagon and running off into the fog.” That was all it be doing, other than that there was the odd silence. No insects, no living beings aside from us. The machine that the lizard had used just suddenly got up and ran off on it's own. “That is all it be doing.”

“Wake up everyone... quickly!” Pom went to climb on top of Dodo and started to look around with her left hoof over her eyes.

I made my way into the tent and did just that.

-Bruno-

“Was that wall there last night?” I asked drawing the attention of Mutt, Slimy and Buggy.

“No… no it wasn’t.” Buggy stated as our corner was now enclosed on three sides by walls, the new wall being to our south having not been there previously. She walked up to it and pressed her hoof against it. “It’s quite solid and…”

She struck it with a hoof and blinked.

“It’s real.” She had a frightened look on her face as she turned to inform the lamb of this.

-Pom-

With some minor exploration, we discovered that we couldn’t actually explore the town. There were walls to the south across every street and alleyway. The claw marks of the panther machine lead it to going across the bridge to the castle, the only direction we could seemingly go in.

Something was herding us and I didn’t like it at all. Shanty and I could try to climb over these walls, but I have a feeling that whatever wanted us to go to the castle was not going to like that.

Let’s test that theory then...

“Shanty, with me quickly!” I leapt at a wall and clung to it, Shanty was right at my side a second later as I charged straight up the wall.

Within seconds a thick fog slid across the top of the top of the walls and a solid roof made of bricks suddenly congealed into existence and spread out above us cutting us from just simply climbing over the wall. Both Shanty and I slid back down the wall.

“Well that just confirms it, something is here and it’s trying to force us towards Castle Hydrigal.” My words were met with stares and Ocellus translated what I just said.

There was silence, like we didn’t have enough of that already.

I didn’t like this one bit, time to test one last thing.

I picked up my bag and pulled a torch from it, I held it out to Smolder who lit it without a second thought.

I moved to the southern wall that wasn’t there previously and held the torch close to it and a hole formed in the wall dissipating into a mass of fog. The bricks looked like they decayed until the light no longer fully touched them.

“Well... that... is curious…” The brick wall scattered into fog as soon as I got the light close enough to it and I glanced at my torch. “Okay, we’re taking the wagon with us to the castle, the bridge can support its weight. We need to have lanterns going at all times around our supplies, the wagon and Dodo. Be on the lookout for the mechanical panther, whatever took control of it might be a problem.”

“I have concerns about all this Pom.” Said a shivering Ocellus.

“You and all of us Ocellus.” I shivered as we set about gather our tent and stowing them away in the wagon.

I was afraid of what was hiding in the fog and what caused the rather unnerving silence in Hydrigal.

Comments

[Herald of Opera]

I was afraid of what was hiding in the fog and what caused the rather unnerving silence in Hydrigal.

Considering the whole "suddenly, ceiling" bit, the fog itself may be the monster.

[Shadowshame]

I just wanted to say thank you for writing this story with the time, effort and thought that you put into it I known that not many people think to say this because you expect stories to exist on a fan fiction site but from airship mauled to this story you have put amazing amounts of effort into your work and I just thought you deserved a thank you.

[Elderlichlord]

I’m thinking that the monster will be some sort of evil spirit such as a Ghast or a wraith. Perhaps it will even be some sort of conglomerate of restless spirits seeking revenge upon the living.