Shattered Past

by thunderclap

Siren Calls

The path in front of Jake was rugged and underused. Fog hung low on the ground and occasionally swirled in front of his face, testing his already strained eyes. The night was clear and a vivid full moon lit up the world around it (albeit a very small amount). Jake averted his gaze toward the bright sphere and could make out what appeared to be a horse head on its surface. Jake could feel part of his body become weightless for a moment and caught himself before he had fallen off a cliff that had suddenly appeared. Jake put himself back onto the path and muttered something about paying attention.

Jake quickly became absorbed in making sure that he stayed on the trail. He never took his eyes off of the ground ahead of him and navigated the sharp twists and turns that the path seemed to take at irregular intervals. This continued for about ten minutes or so when his concentration was broken by a strange noise. “…ake.” Jake twisted his head in every direction, trying to find the source of the disturbance. “Jake.” The sound called out again in an all too familiar voice. He turned to his right to see the woman from his dream standing thirty feet away from him.

“Doc?” Jake asked, in complete disbelief.

“That’s right Jake, it’s me. I finally found you.” The woman returned, beckoning him with arms held wide.

“Why are you here? You told me to leave.” Jake said as he slowly made his way toward you.

“I didn’t have a choice, it was all for you, now please, come to me, Jake.”

“I don’t understand, what happened? Why did you have to do it? And more importantly, who am I? What’s going on around here?” She was only twenty feet away now.

“Come, Jake, and everything will become clear.” Jake kept moving forward, as if in a trance. He was almost ten feet away from the woman when his mind lashed out at her. In an instant the scene of the woman in a clearing was shattered. Only to be replaced by a deadly drop and a hideous creature sitting on a spire shaped outcropping of stone in the middle of the chasm. Out of all the things he had seen since he had first woken up this thing was definitely the worst. It had a large leathery head with bulbous bloodshot eyes. The thing’s head ended in a vicious curved beak. Its neck was long and had the same gray, leathery skin as its head. Then it had mottled dark purple feathers, and strange wings that resembled a bat's and a long limp tail.

The thing cawed at Jake, upset that its ploy didn’t work. It started to flap its wings and was about to take flight when Jake reached out with his mind again. If things turned physical then his tired body would probably give out on him. Jake struggled against the creature’s strong will. This wasn’t just a creature of instinct. It was clever and thought on its feet. Jake wouldn’t let that stop him; he eventually found his way into the creature’s thoughts and bombarded it with subliminal messages to leave him be.

The thing attempted to resist but stood little chance against the relentless assault that Jake was throwing at it. The creature cawed in anger once more and left. Jake decided that this was probably a good time for a rest and lied down feeling mentally drained.

Meanwhile

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were sitting inside of their clubhouse, wondering what could have happened to their newest member. They had arrived back there almost immediately after school, to patiently await Jake’s return. Now it was well after the lowering of the sun, and still no Jake. The three fillies had convinced their families to allow them to have a sleepover in the clubhouse, making sure to hide their true intentions. “Where could he be?” Scootaloo asked impatiently.
“I don’ know.” Apple Bloom replied. “We said fer him to come back this afternoon and he still hasn’ shown up.”

“I know, let’s face it he probably ditched us.”

“You don’ know that, maybe he got lost,” offered Apple Bloom.

“Or maybe he was eaten by something in the forest!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo kept making suggestions while Sweetie Bell was working on something with the sewing machine she had brought with her. At some point she had had enough and turned away from her work to stop the other two crusaders.

“Stop it you two, I’m sure Jake is fine. He probably has a good reason for being late.”

“What reason could he possibly have?” Scootaloo asked incredulously.

“You’ll have to ask him when he gets here.”

“Hey, Sweetie Bell,” Apple Bloom said, trying to get a look at what her friend was working on. “What, are ya doin’ over there?”

“Yeah, you’ve been sitting on that sewing machine all night.” Scootaloo agreed, forgetting her agitation for a moment.

“I was just making a scarf for Jake. “

“Why would you do that?”

“Well, it can get kind of cold out in the forest at night, and I thought it might help.” Sweetie Bell said, shuffling her hooves nervously. “And, Hearts and Hooves day is in two days away from tomorrow, so I wanted to give him something so he can celebrate too.” Scootaloo picked up on her apprehension and decided to call her friend out on it with tact, sort of.

“Sweetie Bell has a crush on Jake.” She sang with a little tune.

“Shut up! I just don’t want him to feel left out!” Sweetie Bell defended blushing slightly, her voice growing shriller with each syllable.

“I’m sure you don’t.” Scootaloo replied, cocking her head to the side. “I can just imagine what you’ll say when you give it to him. Oh Jake, take this scarf and be my special somepony.” Scootaloo said, raising her voice an octave to mock Sweetie Bell’s. This infuriated her and soon she and Scootaloo were locked in a heated debate. Apple Bloom, sensing this argument could go on all night if she let it decided to be the voice of reason.

“Calm down. We’re all a little mad that he isn’t back yet, so instead of fightin’ we should work on Ms. Cheerilee’s Hearts and Hooves day card to take calm down.” Her friends exchanged glances for a moment before nodding reluctantly.

Jake was still sitting with his legs dangling over the edge of the cliff, thinking about what had just happened. ‘That was way just insane. How did that thing project those images? Could it have looked in my head?’ Jake’s brow furrowed at the thought. ‘No, I’m pretty sure I would know if something was reading my mind. After all I am a telepath. Maybe, it produces a gaseous hallucinogen that causes you to see the things you most desire, to lure you to your death.’ Jake nodded at his proposal. ‘That makes sense, if it was emitting a hallucinogen then the breeze would carry it a fair distance. All that being said I think I should give that thing a name. Hmmm… wasn’t there a story that was sort of like this? Yeah, these ladies would lure sailors to their death with a really beautiful song. What were they called again?’

“Sirens!” Jake exclaimed out loud. He laughed at the idea he had just thought up. “A fitting name if I do say so myself.”

Just like that Jake picked himself up from the cliff face and continued towards the abandoned castle that Steve had assured him of. Eventually Jake came across a rickety rope bridge that spanned a deep ravine, the remnants of a stone castle poking up not too far away. “Something tells me that this does not bode well.” He muttered to himself. He examined the stone supports on his end, testing them to make sure it would hold his weight. Once he was satisfied that the bridge would hold he took a few tentative steps and the bridge held. Jake released a breath that he wasn’t even aware he had been holding and finished crossing the bridge. Jake strode towards the stone ruins and placed a hand on the cold stone.

“I wonder why someone would build a castle in the middle of a place that everyone seems to hate?” He thought to himself. He stepped through the doorway to see what little remained of the castle’s interior. The roof was completely gone in most places, vines grew along the support beams, and bars along the large windows were falling out of the empty frames. Strangely, something that appeared to be a staircase had survived and led further into the castle. All that was well and good but Jake’s attention was being pulled towards the center of the room where a strange altar-like device loomed above him. Jake took a few more steps toward the altar where he noticed five empty holders. They were the same size and circled a large stone sphere in the altar’s center.

‘Did someone loot this place or something?’ Jake thought to himself. ‘Whatever was here must have been insanely valuable for someone to risk going through the forest.’ Jake stopped looking at the altar and made his way toward the staircase. Jake walked along the corridors to see rotting tapestries that would have depicted pivotal moments in history if they weren’t discolored and destroyed with age. Jake navigated his way through a series of corridors and passageways until he found what had once been the throne room. The room started off in an elongated hallway flanked by crumbling pillars. At the end sat a high topped throne with a depiction of a crescent moon on the back rest. Behind the throne was a window that gave an impressive view of the night sky. Jake took a quick seat on the throne and began to cough from the dust that flew up from the disturbance. “*cough* Man, either this place hasn’t been used in years, *cough* or someone really needs to fire the maid.”

“Yes, this castle is in a sorry state I’m afraid.” Replied a male voice

Who’s there?” Jake called out, scanning the room for the disturbance.

“Relax my friend; I mean you no harm.” An instant later a bright green light filled the room, and in the middle of the room stood a tall, green pony with long wings and a horn.

“Who are you?” Jake asked, still wary of the stranger’s presence.

“I am called Physica.” The pony said, its green and brown mane flowing behind him. “But, who you are is a question you would like the answer to more, yes?” He continued, fixing his large chocolate, brown eyes on Jake.

“How do you know that?!” Jake questioned, reaching for his knife.

“Because I saved your life, that’s how.” Physica chuckled

“You did?” Jake asked. Physica didn’t seem to be lying, but there was something in the way he spoke. It was like he was trying to hold something back.

“Oh yes, Jake. When I found you, you would have most likely died had I not interfered.”

“Well, what all do you know about me?”

“Not much I’m afraid. However, there may be a way for you to find out more.”

“What? What can I do?”

“There are two princesses, they watch over the entire country. If anyone were to know anything about something like this it would be them. You should go to them and see what you can learn from them and then report back to me here and together we might be able to find your family.”

“Where can I find these princesses?”

“That will be the easy part.” The room filled up with green light again and when it receded, Physica was gone. Jake slumped into the throne and placed one of his hands on the side of his head.

‘He didn’t seem to be lying, so why do I feel so uneasy?’ Jake thought miserably. ‘There’s something about him I don’t like. He just pops in like that and then dangles a way for me to discover my past, just like that. That seems way too convenient. Whoever this Physica guy is, I don’t think I should trust him, yet.’ With that Jake got up from the throne to find a quiet place to get some sleep.

Comments

[Crimson Flame]

interesting story so far. keep up the good work.

[TenshuraX]

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