A Cloak With No Dagger

by Rusty Parker

3 - The Lost One

A Cloak with No Dagger
Written by: Rusty Parker
Edited by: Wanderwing
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-Chapter 3-
The Lost One

White walls gleamed with the light from many glowing stones that radiated their magic from within. Enchanted as they were, the very color of the crystalline rocks shown from them and splashed over any surface they illuminated. The walls were not painted anything but stagnant white, but thanks to the lights color bloomed magnificently. Down the hall, the gleam of red, violet, pink then red again gleamed happily as a “clopa-clopa” echoed in either direction. It seemed like time was passing by slower and slower with each falling of the stallion’s well groomed hooves.

Head hung low, Joel couldn’t help but worry. Many doors lined the passage, but only one held his interest. He’d lift his head slightly, and lock his eyes onto the hand of the single thing that mattered; the door knob to room D-twenty seven. Imprinted in black, the number gleamed with a combination of red and violet, the colors mixing as they met across the door.

Unsure of how much time had passed, the fair horse fixed his mane and tried to push a stray hair back into place. Regularly, he had no trouble maintaining his mane as to prevent looking like he’d just rolled out of bed, but with what was happening his hair was nearly jumping from his head. He couldn’t believe he’d finally found her… and that now she might well be gone the same as her cousin.

“They’ll come for us soon, Joel,” Cider reassured from the bench beside the door. They were both restless, though in different ways. The young mare was worried sick and seemed to retract into herself much more than he’d seen her before. This was the first time she’d spoken since they’d been told to wait by one of the nurses, and that they were doing everything they could for his niece.

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” he said dryly. He’d been waiting before. It was nothing new, nothing that he couldn’t deal with. The real part of all this that strained him was not having a clue what would happen behind a closed door. He had hope the first time he had to wait. He had hope and was so ready to smile and cry when that door finally did open. Now he knew he’d not smile. He could feel it in his gut; things could go so terribly wrong so fast.

He finally sat down, his cutie mark popping out slightly from his frayed coat. An old looking, wavy piece of paper with a pen feather laying across it was visible for only a second as he corrected his posture. While he had removed his coat and draped it over the bench’s arm, he still was still rather picky about his outfit. He wondered if he seemed selfish in trying to make himself look right when such a tragedy was in the works, though he plainly knew there was nothing he could do to correct that. His little habits were only ways to distract him at this point.

Cider shifted slightly and turned to more directly face him. The lines under her eyes had grown much deeper, though he suspected he was no different. “I know that Yulie is your niece, Joel, but she is very strong,” she paused, having to draw her gaze downward to gain more confidence to speak. “I’ve seen that look before. She’s got some good willpower in her, and you should have seen the cuts on her hooves when I found her. She didn’t stop until her little body simply wouldn’t move anymore.”

“I saw the bandages… I am guessing that was you?” Joel asked and she nodded in reply. “Thank you, Cider. Thank you on her behalf… I’ll have to make sure she doesn’t do anything so crazy again. The worry her parents must be feeling now must be driving them absolutely mad!”

“I could only imagine how that must feel,” Cider noted almost to herself.

Joel, who had been in his own shoes before this, was one to know about worry. The only hope he could hold onto now was that they wouldn’t have to go through his own pain. The stallion tensed up, his back shaking slightly as he held his hooves close to himself.

A few minutes later, as they both flinched at the sudden sound heading toward them, the door swung open. The old stallion, with parted hair that came back down to his forehead in a heap, took in a deep breath and readied himself. The time had come to find out if there really was any hope left in all of Equestria for him.

…

Petals of white and pink fluttered down in a rain as the wind twisted and churned them from the branches. Knurled wood curled its way up the finely cut stone as it reached for the light, where the leaves growing from it could gather light to provide for the tree’s young as they grew and blossomed into seeds. As light sparkled brilliantly through the soft petals, so did the small creek that ran through the garden gulch and spatter onto the fine stone beside it. The water sparkled on the surface, and the brightly colored carp below seemed to beam from the warmth.

Looking into the reflection, the young earth pony could only imagine how she’d manage to deal with another day at school. This day past had been so long and strenuous, she almost felt like crying. The carp nibbled at the surface as she stared, hungry as ever for food from its masters. Sprinkling some pellets into the pond, she sighed heavily as the wind again brought a stray hair from her tightly tied bun to fall before her eyes. She blew at it, too dejected to even bother fixing it.

“You know you should really try to feed these guys a little less,” a voice called from behind, as if from nowhere. Eyes widening, the yellow filly whirled around quickly as she could with a gasp. “Oh no, Yulie? I didn’t frighten you, did I? Oh I knew I should have been a little more noticeable with my approach,” the young mare frowned as the filly’s eyes widened. The fluttering red hair seemed of little concern anymore, and before she could say another word, the mare was on her back.

“You’re back! You’re back you’re back!” she shouted with joy as the light gray mare giggled. Though she wore her hair in a bun much like Yulie’s, she some of it was let loose to fall gently to the side and curled up slightly at the end. The dark green of her mane matched her fine robe, as always.

“I’m glad to see you haven’t forgotten me after so long! You were really young, after all, when I left to take on school on the other side of Equestria,” she paused as the filly frowned and batted at her stray hair slightly. “Oh my poor Yulie… I am sorry I brought that up.”

“It’s okay… I was the one who couldn’t pass the test to get in while you were away,” she said as she sat. “Mom and Dad were so upset, I thought they’d never let me back out of my room.”

“Hey, don’t be so down on yourself. You’re still really smart, silly filly!” she reassured with a smile. Pushing her snout into the filly’s shoulder, she pulled her into a light hug. “You’ll do fine anyway; that school wasn’t really too special to be honest. I expected more,” she noted as she lifted a leg and smiled.

Though the situation she’d been in was dire, the filly couldn’t help but grin at her cousin. It had been years since she’d gone to some far off town to learn from a big, upstanding university, and Yulie almost felt like she’d never see her again. She was simply overjoyed that she was actually back.

They talked at length then, though no real topic whisked the conversation away. As they talked, a strange feeling settled over the yard. The trees seemed to blur into brightly colored clouds against the clouds, and their discussion seemed to be almost of nothing. Thinking about it too much, they almost seemed to only be moving their mouths. Time seemed to pass in an instant.

It seemed more than an hour had passed by the time that Yulie’s fears from her current situation peeked into her mind enough to distract her. She simply couldn’t stop thinking about the pressures her parents were putting on her as she struggled her way through school. They raged within her like a whirling storm.

“Are you all right, Yulie?” she suddenly found her cousin asking. Blinking, she opened her mouth to answer but couldn’t quite find anything to say.

“I,” she stopped and thought, working her thin jaw as she did. “I just feel so bad about school. Mom and Dad never stop pushing me to be better, and they’re never happy with how I do.”

Her cousin gave an understanding and concerned look, and nodded for her to continue. Her eyes were so bright; she knew she couldn’t stop now. Everything came with time, though her description was a little lacking for she couldn’t fully say how she felt or why she was so upset.

“Don’t let them stress you out so much, they are just concerned about you,” her cousin finally said as she hugged the filly. “I know you are smarter than they think; please don’t blame them for worrying about you. It’s tough, but you can make it through.”

Pulling herself away, Yulie looked up to the mare. “You’ll be here from now on, right? You’re… you’re not going off to some other school anymore?”

“Of course not,” she said after a short pause where she looked off to the buildings that lined the streets past the yard. Her voice sounded distant, almost like she was actually speaking from a couple yards away. “I will be right here with you all the way, you can trust me that far.” As she spoke, she pulled Yulie in close and rubbed her head gently with her hoof. Nuzzled as she was, Yulie closed her eyes and couldn’t help but gasp as she cried with joy.

Her one and only friend was here to stay, and as she let her tears flow, she felt better and better for it. The wind shifted directions as she held her cousin close, and it for once was nice to have it shifting through her hair and chill her slightly. For some time they stayed there, simply holding each-other close.

“I am so glad you came back, Angie. Everything was getting so scary and… I… I don’t,” she stopped, suddenly unable to continue speaking. The wind blew fiercely then, and as she opened her eyes, she saw the tops of trees in every direction. Her head still being rubbed with tears in her eyes, she was suddenly out of breath.

Lying before her was a plane of sweetly green grass, which was so lush it practically gleamed. Grey clouds floating overhead, she slowly traced her eyes up to the flowers, which were rich in their blooming. Pink and orange petals and yellow stalks accented the grass brilliantly, and really brought the scene to life. The gleaming marble that was erected behind it was shining with the scene’s reflection, though its text brought her eyes to widen more than any scene.

Here lies Angie Moonbeam, an early and regretful loss to all who had come to know and love her. May her memory brighten our lives as she had done so beautifully, and may we all come to learn from the loss we’ve suffered. Also, may Celestia bless her in her journey to a better place.
976 – 993

Yulie couldn’t stand it, this simply couldn’t be true. She looked around to all the ponies dressed in black, and to the sad faces looking down at her. She wept deeply as she did, but nothing could contain what was to come. She screamed, and she screamed for more time than she could feel.

As her lungs wailed out sad notes, everything around her faded from her mind. She was alone, and she was helpless. Angie had promised her she’d be there, and so swiftly she abandoned her. She wasn’t good enough to please her parents, and none of the other students at school would ever like her. Worst of all, though, was the immense pain building in her forehead as she tried to conceive of her cousin’s loss.

She felt as if bare branches had reached their way around her throat, and were constricting tightly. Soon they would come to constrict around her entire body, and she too would be buried with her cousin. Hiding inside herself was all the hope she had.

Author's Note:

Sorry this one took so long, I have been a bit distracted these past two weeks. The next chapter should be here much more quickly. Thanks as always for reading as always!

-Rusty Parker