Chapter 62: Under an old Apple Tree
She was walking over a field of green grass and flowers. The plants swayed softly in the warm breeze under a clear blue sky. It was beautiful, but it was quiet. Nothing but the wind could be heard, and there was no one here besides herself. Purple Haze reached the crest of a small hill and looked into the valley bellow, "Beautiful..." she whispered to herself. But no matter how peaceful this place seemed she couldn't help but think that something was missing, that she was forgetting something very important.
She slowly walked down into the valley, her surroundings suddenly becoming alive as the sounds of birds filled the air and foals could be seen running over the grass in the distance. What was this place? She continued to walk towards a big apple tree in the center of the valley and there, in the shade of the tree sat a familiar figure. She felt her heart beat quicken. It was Scar, she started running towards him, "Scar!".
As she approached she saw the gnoll pick up his head to look at her. His eyes looked sad, "Hello, Purple Haze..." he said with a voice that sounded like he hadn't slept in days, "Scar comes to visit Purple Haze again."
The words struck Purple Haze like thunder, "I've been here before..." she whispered in shock as the gnoll started to reach into his robes and pulled out a small book. Purple Haze looked around herself, suddenly remembering what seemed like countless days. "I've been here... and you were here too..." she started to stutter, "And you read me a story... Scar, what's going on? Where are we?"
The gnoll didn't seem to hear her question, instead he opened the little book and started to flick through the pages with a small sigh. "Gnoll isn't sure where it stopped last time... ah, there. Made little mark in page." He said happily as he found the page he had been looking for. "Now, chapter foo... fooort..." the gnoll mumbled a series of small curses as Purple Haze watched him with a complete loss of words.
"Scar? Why are we here? Scar..."
She was cut off as the gnoll ignored her and simply started to talk again, "Scar is getting better with reading, but is difficult with tired eye..." he chuckled softly, "Now what was word again? Fourteen. Yes, Scar thinks that sounds correct. Is chapter fourteen!" Purple Haze suddenly found herself sitting next to him under the tree. How had she gotten there? The gnoll continued to speak, "Scar knows it shouldn't, but it didn't like this chapter... too sad. Purple Haze needs happy things so Scar changed some words." He smiled at her softly before starting to read from the book, and Purple Haze listened.
There was something hypnotic and soothing about the way he read to her. Once in a while he would stumble over a word and start to mumble curses again until he had composed himself enough to find the correct way of reading it. Sometimes shadowy forms of ponies seemed to pass by close to them. But every time they would approach the apple tree the gnoll would interrupt his reading and chase them off with a low grumble from his throat.
By the time he had finished the chapter Purple Haze was lying with her back against him as he continued to read on. She still didn't know where they were but if he was there to read her stories she would be fine. They were here together, what did it matter where they were?
Scar gave a small sigh and closed the book again, "Purple Haze shouldn't be here."
She picked up her head to look at him in surprise, "What? But I... I don't even know where here is!"
The gnoll didn't seem to notice her words, "Scar needs Purple Haze to come back, gnoll doesn't know what to do without Purple Haze..."
"But I'm right here! What do you mean..." the gnoll started to turn into smoke, "Scar! Don't leave me, I don't want to be alone here!" her surrounding were becoming darker, "I don't want to be alone!" she cried out his fading form, "What do you want me to do?"
Scar nudged her softly with his nose before he completely disappeared into smoke, "Scar only wishes for Purple Haze to wake up." She fell into darkness, "Scar only wishes for Purple Haze to wake up."
---
Her eyes shot open and she sat up straight gasping for breath as thunder struck outside a window, rain prattling softly against a window. She looked around herself in panic, her heart racing as the gnoll's words echoed in her mind. Where was she? Hadn't they been fighting Sombra? What was going on? She felt something on the bed next to her, a soft feeling under one of her hoofs.
She looked down. There, sitting next to her with his huge head on her bed and under one of her hoofs slept the gnoll. Half of his head had been wrapped in bandages and more seemed to go around his chest and arms. He looked terrible, there were black bags under his eye and his fur looked unkempt. And he was thin, she didn't remember ever seeing him in such a state. His fur seemed to big for his own form. What had happened to him?
The blank spots in her memory were slowly starting to fill in again. She remembered their fight against Sombra, Scar's appearance, and the dreams. She had been under that tree so often, and every time the gnoll had been there to read her a story.
Purple Haze saw a little book on the stand next to her bed, one of the pages bent as if to mark it. She reached out and opened the page. Chapter fourteen. She slipped through the pages, many words had been crossed through and replaced by new words in the gnoll's crude handwriting. She smiled softly as a tear rolled down one of her cheeks. She bent down and carefully held his head, "Don't worry Scar, I'm awake now... " she whispered into his ear as she held him close "I'm awake now."
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daww...
HHHHHNNNNNGGGGGGGGG------ dead from feels
14 days I guess. Why did she wake up so long after Scar?
Sigh... Authors always do that. They go from crazy action with an unexplained ending to skipping ahead a bit and starting again from. The eventually go back but its not really the same. They get their readers on the edge of their seat then try and prolong that extreme curiosity longer by skipping the ending. It kinda disappoints me and makes wish to not have even read this chapter until I know what happened before.
All in all I wish I hadn't read this chapter. At least not yet...
....wtf!? I actually cried a bit.....First I thought the Apple tree scene meant that Scar died.....then I was glad when His 'ghost' told Purple Haze to wake up......Then I actually started CRYING a little bit when she woke up and I realized they were both still alive....
My reaction....It wasn't even worthy of a "Yes" not even "All of my Yes"....It was far closer to-
this....I can see this....
#11 is best Doctor for a reason...
yeah, at first i thought that Scar died. then i thought that Purple Haze was in coma or something and Scar's spirit told her to wake up. then everything became good again, and i took in a deep breath.
the zombies want "MOOOOOOAAAAARRRR!!!!" quickly! sate their hunger!
please...may i have another..
Im shivering cold, but my heart feels slightly warmer after reading this chapter
Ow, my feels!
Welcome back Haze. Now tell him before you loose him.
media.tumblr.com/8813b8e7ad0bf200a167f19c9ab8bae4/tumblr_inline_mftvipyCDF1rvwdia.gif
I think this explains this story pretty well.
Getting a little miffed with the "tell instead of show" going on in this story. I appreciate what you're going for when you do this, but it makes it hard to get invested in tense and/or dramatic sequences when the rug gets pulled out from under us before the climax each time.
Still an enjoyable story and I'm gonna stick with reading it, but it does suffer more than it should because of your insistence on this literary device...
Freaking onion ninjas strike again...