Chapter One: Whispers of the Past
Into the Void, the dark devours all.
Into the Void, a heart does break.
Into the Void, helpless and so small.
Into the Void, foundations will shake.
Don't you miss them? asked a whispy voice in her head.
"I didn't really get a chance to get to know them." she whispered. "But everyone's gone now, so I shouldn't waste time grieving when I should be moving on."
Oh don't you lie to me, Silver Skyline. To decieve me, is decieve yourself. She frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean? You're the one that burned that village to the ground." she snarled. The voice giggled, it made her skin crawl.
I thought it was fun, didn't you? it said cryptically. Just look behind you, you might still be able to see the leftovers!
Silver Skyline didn't bother to turn around, nor did she say anything. She didn't need to, she knew well what was in her wake. Burning homes, ruined crops and dead ponies. In her heart she wished she could have stopped it, but knew it was far too late now. The small village didn't have much, only supporting around twenty to thirty ponies, give or take.
Despite not having much to spare, the villagers took her in. They gave her what food they could and somewhere to sleep. She couldn't have asked for more than that. Only a few days after her arrival, things started to change. The village's crop fields became useless, the soil had transformed...into vanilla pudding. Some of the ponies started to see her as a witch, casting ill omens on anypony, friend or foe, who crossed her path. She could feel the unease of the village ponies and hear them whispering to one another as she walked by. She couldn't stay, it would only be a matter of time before things got worse. So, only three moons after she arrived, she vanished while the villagers slept. The tan mare only managed to get a few hundred yards away, before a hail of meteorites cascaded down upon the poor little village.
She knew it wasn't her own doing... at least not directly, she was a unicorn after all but her magical prowess was....limited. She could only do simple things like levitate small objects before she was exhausted. No, she knew what the source of this madness was. This....chaos. Discord. Her nose crinkled in disgust at the mere thought of him.
Is that really what you think of your old pal, Discord? He sounded hurt.
Silver Skyline rolled her eyes, still refusing to acknowledge him anymore. He didn't communicate with her in this fashion very often, but when he did, it was almost unbearable. She could hear his voice ringing around in her mind, unable to shut it out.
Oh don't worry, you silly filly. he chuckled. I'll be out of your mane in a moment, but I just wanted to see how you're doing.
She grunted as she continued walking, her shadow dancing around her as the moonlight flickered in between the trees.
"Just fine," she snapped. "thanks to you, my life as been pretty great lately, in case you couldn't notice."
For a few moments, Discord said nothing. But just before she could sigh her relief of his absence, he spoke.
Sarcasm doesn't fit you, my dear. It makes you sound....ugly.
Ha! As if she'd ever care what Discord thought of her. She cared to impress nopony, she only wanted to survive.
I'd love to stay and chat some more, but I have very important things I must attend to. But before I go, I'd like to say one last thing.
"What!?" screamed Silver, finally losing her patience. Discord didn't seemed affected at all as his voice got lower and colder.
I'd like you to know that the next time I find you, and I will find you, it'll be the last time I have to look at that pretty little face of yours... his last few words echoed eeriely. A shiver crept up Silver's spine. She knew eventually he would find her, but she had to do everything in her power to prolong that day for as long as possible.
Silver Skyline tossed and turned in her sleep as her memories of her first encounter with Discord played over and over in her mind. She was just a filly, still unfamiliar with the cruelties of the world. Her parents always had a look of worry plastered on their faces. She wanted to go outside and play, but they always told her no, you never know when He would come back. Silver didn't know who he was, but listened, opting to play with a few small rocks and a stick. Her family was poor, they could barely afford food, let alone some toys for her to play with. The lack of money wasn't enough to damper her mood, however, and she'd often use her magic to knock back the rocks after she flicked them away with a hoof.
The few times she was allowed out, she was always accompanied by her mother or father. Silver was scolded everytime she tried to run and play with another filly. Everypony seemed the same, always looking around as if waiting for something horrible to happen. Her father nodded to the construction ponies as the walked by. They were always fixing some building or making an entirely new one. Before Silver could think much of it, her stomach growled.
"Daddy, my tummy is hungry." she pouted.
"We're almost at the market, honey, just hold on."
Carrots were Silver's favorite. She mostly enjoyed the crunch! sound they made as she bit them in half. It always made her giggle in delight before being told not to play with her food. She licked her lips as she watched her father put several large carrots into his saddle-bag.
"Daddy, can I have one, pretty please?" she asked, pawing at the bag with a hoof.
"No sweety, we just have to buy some milk and then we can go home. You can have some carrots then, o.k.?"
Silver Skyline frowned, but nodded as they walked up to the milk vendor. Her father asked the stallion behind the stand for three bottles of milk.
"Twelve bits, please." the blue stallion said as he placed the bottles onto the counter.
Her father reached into his bag and dropped the bits into the stallions hoof, then put the bottles into Silvers saddle-bag. Her back drooped from the extra weight.
"Oh Henry, it was only twelve bits, but you gave me fifteen." said the vendor as he counted the money.
"The extra is for you, Buck. I thought you and you're old lady could use a little extra with the baby on the way."
Buck smiled widely, and him and Silver's father began to exchange small talk. She didn't care, she was hungry. She managed to squirm a bottle of milk free from her bag, and opened it. She looked up to make sure her father didn't see her, the coast was clear. She held the bottle high in her hooves as she tilted her head back and let the creamy milk slide down her throat. Suddenly, she gagged and dropped the bottle. Her father spun around at the crash of broken glass and his daughter's choked screams. He looked at her and then to the shattered bottle. What he saw made no sense, the milk that had been in the bottle was now...sand. He rushed over to Silver and thumped her on the back with a hoof. She coughed up more sand and gasped for air.
"D-duh-daddy! My tummy hurts!" she sobbed, hot tears spilling down her face.
Henry didn't know what was happening, none of it made any sense. He saw the milk in the bottles just before he gave them to Silver, and now they were sand? How does that even happen? His eyes grew in horror and he stiffened as if the answer struck him in the back of the head.
"He's back..." he whispered.
"Who's back? Henry, just what the hay is going on?" asked Buck getting nervous.
"It's Discord!" her father bellowed, "he's come back!"
He threw off his bags aswell as Silver's before putting her on his back and galloping away. She didn't know who Discord was, all she knew was that her tummy hurt, and she was still hungry. Frogs began to fall from the sky as Silver and her father burst through the door of their home.
"Cherry, close all the windows! Discord has returned!" Henry shouted. Silver Skyline's mother lept to her hooves immediately at the mention of Discord. She galloped all over, slamming the windows shut as quickly as she could.
"I'll close the windows upstairs, take Silver and hide in the back room." Henry gasped as he pushed himself up the staircase.
Without a word, Silver and her mother huddled together in a corner of the back room. Silver still didn't know what all the fuss was about, but her parents' behaviour was making her uneasy.
"Mommy, what are you and Daddy so scared of? Who's Discord?"
Her mother looked at her daughter with tears in her eyes. She didn't want to scare Silver, but she had to say something.
"It's nothing you need to worry about, Silver." she said as she nuzzled her daughter's mane. "Just sit her with me and wait for Daddy to get here."
Silver wanted to ask her mother more, but she was interupted by a loud crash from upstairs. The pair looked up in terror as the roof of their home was torn away and a giant yellow paw reached in. When it pulled back, Silver could see something in it's grip. It was her father.
"Daddy!" Silver screamed and ran after him. Her mother close behind her.
Silver Skyline froze in her tracks the instant she went out the door. She looked up in awe at the enormous figure that stood in front of her. It wasn't a pony, but it had some features of one. The rest of it's body was a mish-mash of bodyparts from ceatures she'd never seen. The creature laughed deeply.
"When will you silly ponies learn that you can't hide from me?" he chuckled, squeezing Henry tighter in his paw.
"Leave Daddy alone!" yelled Silver. She was scared, but she didn't let that stop her from trying to help her father.
The creature looked around, looking for the source of the tiny voice. He turned around to see a little tan filly with a platinum-colored mane shouting up at him. He smirked and leaned down so he was eye to eye with her.
"And who might you be, little one?" Discord mused.
Silver matched his gaze though ever part of her told her to run away. Her mother watched from the doorway, not moving, not making a sound.
"Stop hurting my Daddy!" she shouted again, this time her voice cracked.
Discord laughed again, his foul breath brought tears to Silver's eyes.
"Why would I want to do such a thing?" he snorted.
Silver was angry now. She didn't like him for hurting her father, she didn't like the way he talked to her or laughed at her. And she definetly didn't like his rotten breath. She felt her frustration boil over, and she lashed out. She lunged at his right eye, attempting to puncture it with her horn. That would surely make him let her father go. Discord reacted just in time to save his eye, but not he didn't move quickly enough to avoid getting a deep gash down his nose. He reeled backwards and howled in pain. He spun, his tail flicking about wildly, and it smacked into Silver's house, ripping loose more of the already destroyed roof. Discord reached for his face, dropping Silver's father in a broken heap on the road. Discord finally began to slow his rampage, and he spoke quietly.
"You little whelp..." he said through a ragged breath, "now I need to go clean the blood from my face, and when I get back, this pathetic place you call home will be ashes beneath me. I promise you that."
Then he vanished with a loud pop!, and then silence fell over them. Silver immediately began to run to her father's side to see if he was alright.
"Silver, wait! Discord will be back any sec--" her mother shouted after her, but was cut off by the sound of breaking wood.
Silver turned around to see her mother looking upward in horror. The house gave another series of cracks and groans. Silver's mother was frozen in place as their home began to buckle. In a flurry of splinters and dust, the house crashed down on her mother.
She licked the inside of her mouth trying to get rid of the taste of morning breath. Almost there, she thought, as she entered an opening in the forest. She had been walking for days almost non-stop to get here. It was a quiet little patch of grass, surrounded by some of the tallest trees in the forest. She had been here long before, and if there was anywhere she felt at least a little at ease, it was here. She walked silently up to a wooden plank that stood in the center of the opening and sat on her rump just a few feet away from it. She sat there, smiling sadly as tears burned in her eyes.
After a few hours, she stood, and reached a hoof toward the plank to brush off the moss. She smiled again, turned, and left with her head hanging low.
The plank simply read: Here lie Cherry Sundae and Henry Hardhooves , the bestest Mommy and Daddy in the world.
