Darkness Awaits

Chapter 3:

Incertitude

It was staring at her.

Watching her.

It was exactly as she remembered it - pulsing with an anemic rhythm as it's molten gaze burnt with the luminosity of the evening hearth - warm, enticing, yet licked with the feral beauty of fire. The image peered at her from it's papyrus prison, as her breath caught in her hollow chest, fluttering irrationally as it's' scrutiny continued bore into her from the confinement of the page.

With a hesitant breath she peeled her gaze from the photo, the very essence of her fears, and turned to the text, fearing what the ancient passages would hold for her but driven on by a compelling curiosity.

Lupus were ... rare species of constellasia ... a race created by the astral magic within stars ... known to co-exist peacefully with equines as do more common species such as the Griffon or Minotaur...

Blue hastily scanned the page, lightly skimming the 'identification' section with grim accord and completely skipping 'eating habits' as her mother yawned below.

"Come on Hun, let's get to bed."

Moon hectically shaved the remaining text, her breath hitching in her chest as her hope sputtered and died in the dredges of disappointment.

...Unfortunately *extinct.***

The Voice urged her to hurry as her father hauled himself from the sofa, the squeal of springs announcing his imminent arrival. Above, his daughter's eyes widened in panic, before hurriedly sealing the pages together, all too aware of the approaching hoofsteps making their way up the stairs - and her open doorframe.

She jammed the book beneath her stomach and clamped her eyes shut, slowing her breath to a lethargic pace and hoping her guise would hold.

Muffled light flickered through her furred eyelids as Morning Dew floundered past Blue's bedroom, obscuring the outlook of the lit corridor. She was closely trailed by a taller, heavily built stallion, his silhouette revealing an unkept mane and tail, rumpled after a hard day's work. He lent into her room, a knowing grin barely exposed in the poor light.

"'Night Blue - get some sleep!" He retreated back down the corridor, his hoofsteps strictly followed by a squall of squealing springs as her parent's bed developed a large stallion-sized crater in the plush mattress.

Moon gritted her teeth in annoyance. It was way too risky to continue reading with her parents slumbering in the next room along. With a silent sigh of regret, she removed the the tome from the sheets, regarding it lovingly before leaning over the side of her bed and placing it beneath.

She would read it tomorrow; a thought that collapsed in its' ashes as she facehoofed.

I've got school tomorrow.

The Ponyville Schoolhouse loomed on the horizon, red banner fluttering in the light breeze. It was met with varying reactions, most foals eagerly grinning with delight, whilst the remainder's faces were set with glum anticipation as they eyed the approaching building, its' amaranth walls glaring merrily in the morning glow.

Blue trudged alone in her solitary march, her expression mutual as the bustling group ahead of her chatted excitedly of what the day had in store for them. They paraded up the white marble steps, the occasional foal or filly bouncing with glee. It was beyond her how they managed to maintain such a positive attitude after four years of entering the same classroom, with the same teacher and, worst of all, the same students.

As she entered, she was immediately ushered to her seat by a mulberry mare with a pearl green gaze and an expression continually fixed in a state of cheer, as the trio of ridiculously chipper flowers on her flank implied. Moon had no idea how they were meant to represent teaching, but her talent with colts and fillies was unquestionable. In her hoof sagged a stack of papers boldly titled 'Literacy Test: 1A'. Blue grimly clutched a sheet and slapped it onto her desk as she settled down in her seat at the rear of the classroom.

"Today we'll be testing our skills with a little story writing!" Cheerilee waved the remaining papers for emphasis. The class sat in flawless silence, the colts in particular masking horrified expressions with flimsy, spurious smiles whenever Cheerilee's watchful eye came their way. "You have five minutes to plan your stories, and forty to write them! Good luck!" Their teacher smothered her subjects with an unwavering simper, one eye twitching as she observed their distress. In truth, Cheerilee disliked tests just as strongly as her pupils, loathing the severe lack of enlightening games and fun quizzes. Instead, only the rasp of pencil on paper vandalised the silence.

[You better read it before she finds you snoring all over her test papers!]

Not. Helping!

[Seriously, though, you better read it.]

Moon eyed the instruction sheet with disgust; the topic was 'The Holiday', and required her to write about a group of foals on vacation. It was a pretty dumb idea, as most colts and fillies had never been beyond Ponyville, let alone Canterlot or Prance.

She twiddled her hooves, attempting to conjure a story that would hopefully keep her awake through the treacherous minutes of silence. Her feathers itched as she shifted her wing uncomfortably, sending her bag toppling to the earthen floor as her prized possession clattered to the ground - Daring Do and the Griffon's Goblet. The cover displayed a heroic tan Pegasus in a dark olivine jacket beside a gleaming, silver cup.  Behind her rose a huge, dusky griffon, eyes glowing malevolently from a shroud of mist.

Blue nudged the novel back into her bag with her wingtip, kicking it back under her desk with an aggravated snort as she chewed her pencil, glancing up at the clock as she did so. She had already wasted five minutes. Her somber expression lightened to a friable grin as the image on the cover clung to her mind, the final puzzle piece in her troublesome predicament. The Pegasi filly adjusted her pencil in her mouth and began furiously scribbling onto the empty page.

Forty minutes later...

"Oh my! It seems you've written quite a lot!"

Moon smiled at her teacher's praise, blushing meekly as Cheerilee raised her muzzle slightly higher.

"However, it's all about quality, not quantity!" She proceeded to read her charges' work, her frown deepening at an alarming rate as she skimmed through the text. "Blue, I'm afraid I can't give you any marks for this; you were supposed to write about a holiday, not a griffon!"

"What?!" Moon gaped at her teachers' scorn, immediately flicking back a page and pointing to a single line of rambled text. "Wait - look, see? 'The griffon soared past four fillies, bawling on an abandoned island after their disastrous holiday, however, he payed them no heed as he sailed towards the lonely mountain' " She plopped back in her seat, grinning in a weak attempt to rejuvenate her teacher's previous good mood.

"That's the only sentance featuring a holiday in the whole story!"  Cheerilee retorted hotly, giving Blue a challenging stare."I'm afraid you will receive no marks for this exercise, and I will not be the one telling your parents."

Blue gulped.

Her parents were waiting expectantly beneath the weakly fluttering banner, her mother smiling and waving to the various mares and stallions deserting the school with their foals as the pathway gradually drained of occupants. Moon hovered down the white marble steps, her lip throbbing from the pressure of her teeth clamping down in volatile apprehension.

"How did the test go?" Morning Dew enquired, her smile slightly tugged at the edges, her false tone faltering as she processed her daughters downtrodden demeanour.

Blue narrowed her eyes, buzzing up to her parents with a furious glare. "You mean you knew? You knew I had a test to day and you didn't tell me?"

"Why, didn't it go alright?"

Moon paced her frantic wingstrokes, fluttering them anxiously as she touched ground and twisting her expression to match her mother's. "Fine, actually! Yeah, I think it went really well!"

Her father eyed her suspiciously through pale blue eyes, his hulking stature casting his aphotic shadow over his filly. Flash Light was a durable stallion, heavily built from decades of rugged labour. He had a tufty, cyan mane and a coarse, pale coat, with a flash containing a camera spread across his flank. Despite this, he had been coerced into the trade of a plumber, fixing leaky pipes and household appliances to support a growing family as his beloved's talent was also put to waste as a housewife, and his foals searched for their designated slots to define them in the mundane swell of the commonplace. Morning caught her husbands' eye, a little frown denting her manufactured smile.

"I'm sure it went fine, Flash Light." She aimed the comment directly at the stallion; there was no hostility between the two, but her message was clear: innocent until proven guilty.

Blue broke the silence, her youthful voice dissolving the crackling tension.

"So what are we doing now?"

Her mother smiled sweetly, unable to keep the subtle excitement from her voice. "We're going to see some friends of ours!"

The destination in question was a small, rather regular house, the prim bushes decorating the front lawn neatly trimmed and the drive swept of any fallen, autumnal hues. It was a pleasant little place - despite being in the roughest area in Ponyville. It was cramped between two of the grimmest places in town - incidentally the very ones rented out by the FlimFlam brothers.  Ivy crept from the earth, suffocating the crumbling brickwork in a virulent clamp and steadily claiming an assortment of faded Hearths Warming decorations, hackneyed from decades of blistering summer heat. Their front gardens were littered with grizzled statues of anything and everything - even Celestia Herself peered at Blue with sanguinary malice. The splotches of crimson mould didn't remedy her rapacious complexion.

Quips seemed to be taking Pinkie's example, bouncing merrily behind his elder sister who clipped in the shadow of her parents. She could almost taste their relief as they approached the well-presented home. Flash Light rapped on the knocker, cutting short a wisp of birdsong trailing from the roof. Moon took an anxious step backwards as a flurry of yaps bombarded the door, followed by a furious scrabbling and a muffled exclamation as a shuffling of hooves signalled the arrival of their host.

The latches squealed a pitiful note, before the door opened to reveal a dusty brown pony, with a faded black name and tail and... Stripes.

Ok... How can a pony have zebra stripes?!

His eyes weren't the exotic, thickly-lined shape typical for zebras, but Moon's focus was wrenched towards his foreleg, which was wrapped around a small black lhasa apso with a white bib and dipped paws, squirming and barking maniacally in her owner's embrace.

"Never mind Sisa," the stallion rumbled, his rich Zebrican accent welcoming as his dark brown eyes glimmered with humor, "she's all bark and no bite."

Flash Light leant forwards to shake hooves. "Lumber Weld! Looking younger than ever I see."

Lumber raised his hoof to his neck, ruffling his mane with an incredulous look. "Nah - Ah' feel as old as Celestia!" He chuckled "even the old stripes are fading!" He raised a foreleg, clearly exhibiting his once-black markings, bleached over time to a liver brown. He smiled warmly, retreating from the doorway as the family tentatively entered his home.

To the right rose a stairwell leading to a pair of bedrooms barely visible from below. To the left lay the entrance to what she supposed was a living room, and the hallway was bathed in a warm, homely light. Ahead lay the the glaringly white cupboards of the kitchen, the scent of lavender barely discernible as Lumber Weld progressed into the blare, his tread confident as he proudly displayed his humble abode. A striped mare was bustling to and fro, her creamy fur and beige markings complimenting her blonde mane and startling silver irises.

"Zusie? Have you got the tea brewing?"

Zusie threw open a cupboard, drawing out six mugs balancing dangerously apon her right hoof as she skilfully prepared the kettle with her left.

"It'll be ready in a-" her accent was drowned out by the blustering kettle as Lumber snatched the opportunity to murmur into his wife's ear. Moon strained forwards, ears twitching as she caught brief snippets of the conversation.

"Give her... Quite small... Prove... She's a w..." Blue frowned, grappling with the remaining letters. It had sounded like w... Would? Or... Wolf? She froze. How could they know about her dreams?

Come on Blue, as if a pony... Zebra... With a hammer and a pair of tongs as a cutie mark is going to go prancing around the dreamscape.

It was a rumoured speculation that Luna not only ruled over the night, but the ethereal plane, and after both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo's experiences, she had no reason to doubt the Night Princesses' abilities. For years Moon had hung to the frail hope that she would be visited by the Princess of the Night to soothe her of her reoccurring nightmares... Her gaze strayed to Zusie's mark - a pair of scissors intwined with a lock of red mane.

A hairdresser reading my mind? Buck up Blue, As if-

"You all right there?"

She jerked, cheeks blazing beneath her coat. "Yep, uhm... Fine, thanks?" Moon shied away as Lumber peered at her intensely, hurrying out into the conservatory as her blush dimmed, and her hoofsteps loitered, her eyes widening in awe. The room was a far cry from the pristine surfaces of the kitchen. Instead, thick, gnarled beams lined the rim of the ceiling, from them hanging a variety of ancient Zebrican weapons of every description. Spears, axes, even a crossbow dangled ahead. The very sight of the dyed leather strips wound decoratively around the handle would have sickened the most sturdy of stallions.

In the corner rose a small-scale Zebrican hut, transfigured into a bar beneath a thatched roof, sporting a china gecko, petrified mid-scrabble. Tiers of herbs and spirits inhabited the shelves, some bottles crafted from wood and carved into intricate designs. Opposite, the phthalo-green couch was lit with a fierce sheen of gold. The lion's pelt was flung over the back, shining with a regal air in the diminishing sunlight.

Foal-sized timber statues populated the crevices on either side of the couch, the moulded giraffes standing almost to the height of her father, whereas she could more relate to the mass of hippos at the forefront of the collection. Behind them huddled an array of exotic plants, and in the centre of the room lazed a dining table completely fashioned of driftwood, in keeping with the Zebrican approach.

She turned back to the crossbow, eyes sparkling with admiration as the arrowhead glinted, daylight glossing the lethal edge, sharpened to deadly precision.

"Ah' see you like my crossbow." Lumber's rich, gravelly timbre tore her from her ruminations, jolting her back to reality as she pivoted to face him. Any remarks immediately crumbled on her tongue as her eyes met his intrusive stare. Her ears flickered nervously, and she wrapped her tail around her legs in discomfort. Instantly, his demeanour shifted, his attention drawn elsewhere as she grasped for a slit in the airless silence. She fleetingly glanced back at the crossbow.

"So... Have you used these? For killing... Stuff..." She stuttered as Lumber Weld stared at her incredulously, before breaking into a booming laugh, muzzle facing the floorboards as he hollered his amusement.

"Me? Use these? You must be joking."

Blue frowned as he launched into a string of his native tongue, pointedly addressing her as 'honiahaka'. Moon shrugged. It probably meant 'filly' or something unsurprising.

At that moment, Zusie trotted in, grasping two mugs of tea as Blue heard the appreciative comments of her parents from the room beyond. Lumber took his graciously, whereas Blue's callow limbs struggled to keep hers upright in one hoof, a sigh of relief escaping her lips as she squatted on her tail and raised a second hoof to support the trembling mug. The charcoal filly peered deep into the translucent amber liquid as it sifted alarmingly close to the rim.

"Drink, dear, before it goes cold!" Zusie beamed as Moon took a sip, wings fluttering in shock as the heat scolded her tongue.

"Erm... Zusie?  Could I... You know... Wait a minute for it to cool down?" Blue cringed. She was awful at speaking at the best of times. As she did so, Lumber choked, resting his mug on the table as the arrival of her parents was exposed by a clopping of hooves accompanied by a quicker, lighter rhythm as Quips toddled in their trail. Morning Dew hesitated as she raised her own cup, before catching the moist eyes of her friend and daughter, their mouths draped open as the cool air diffused the scorching sensation, and lowered it from her pursed lips.

"So... Zusie, how's work at Carousel Boutique?" Morning queried, mitigating the pressing tension.

The pale zebra emerged from the kitchen grasping her own mug. "Well, now that you ask, ah'm actually running the place! Rarity's absent so often now with all of her elements whatnot, ah've become her right-hoof mare! To be honest, ah' don't know how she keeps it together!"

Moon withheld her chortle. Rarity had hardly 'kept it together' over the past few months, but it would not bode well for Zusie to speak ill of her employer.

"Ah' must have at least twenty customers a day, demanding dresses and whatnot..." The two mares babbled contently as the stallions discussed the last few months.

"So, how did you end up with Rarity?" Morning enquired, Zusie frowning as she grappled with the memory, struggling to recall the incident.

"Well, it began when we first moved to Ponyville, just after we unpacked, when Lumber decided to go for a bit of a stroll to familiarise with the locals. When she first laid eyes on Weld and ah', she muttered something along the lines of 'garish stripes' before fainting dead in the town centre!" Zusie chuckled, scratching the back of her neck as her gaze grew distant. "Soon after that Apple filly was found with Zecora she insisted-"

"-No, honey, she dragged us," Lumber rectified, rolling his eyes in an amused fashion.

"Yes, yes - she dragged us to the Boutique and fitted us with enough kit to burst our wardrobe as a 'token of apology'. She kept describing her behaviour as a 'horrendous breach of social etiquette' and shooed us off whenever we offered payment. Ah' couldn't believe it when she offered me the job!" Her gleaming silver eyes dimmed, and her ears flattened.

"Very few would hire a zebra-hybrid."

Lumber Weld glanced at her in concern, silently urging her to continue, for both her morale and the tale's sake.

"Trust me, ah' wasn't a mite surprised when she was revealed to be the element of Generosity." Zusie smiled, mostly to herself, releasing a light, content sigh as she reclined into her seat and taking a sip of tea. "Ah'... Think it's not too hot now. Drink up!"

Blue gratefully reclaimed hers from the table, a herbal aroma drifting from the mug, before taking a tentative sip, anticipating the searing heat. She had long learnt an adults 'drinkable' was all to often still too hot for her sensitive mouth, still smarting from her earlier taste. To her fortune, it was only mildly warm, and she licked her lips as she attempted to define the flavours.

Mint? And... Is that hay or oats? And honey? Since when does honey go with mint?

She shuddered at the thought, yet took another gulp as she ruminated.

[Maybe... Oh, I don't know, Luna help you if you get a cooking mark!]

At least I'll have-

"You're being quite quiet there, don't you like your drink?"

The pegasi's former discomfort had returned under the pressure of the hybrid stallion's glare, and she ruffled her wings stiffly. "No, I, um, I... Really like it, thanks!" To prove her point she downed another gulp. And another. Eventually the last of the liquid drained from the mug, the pallid china dampened to a soft grey as the sun began to dip below the hedge line silhouetted through the lucid glass of the conservatory. Lumber Weld retained his ardent eye, observing closely as she felt a torpid bulge rise in her throat.

[No... Don't you da-]

The room descended into silence as the muscles in her jaw tightened, wrenching her mouth open to release a strangled yawn. Morning chuckled, melting the tension with a motherly smile.

"Are you getting tired of our chatting?"

Moon groaned. She hated it when she was referred to like a filly.

[Which you are.]

Blue shook her head. It felt light and airy, and not entirely under her control. It was as if exhaustion was manipulating her very breath. "No, I'm fine-" her sentence was severed as a second yawn clambered from the reluctant filly's mouth. Morning Dew glanced up at the clock, gasping theatrically. "It's that time already!? We better be getting back before dark."

Blue was hustled out into the corridor, her eyes throbbing as they rolled tediously in their sockets. She recoiled as she collided with a writhing, furry cannonball, tail lashing frantically and its white-tipped paws scrabbled at her shoulders, its moist tongue lapping at her cheek. Lumber Weld immediately fastened his hooves around Sisa's middle, lifting her into a cradle as he tapped her nose teasingly. "You're a little too excitable for your own good, pup!" He then turned to Zusie, who's pupils had reverted to alarmed pinpricks. "Ah' thought you kept the dog in the living room?"

The striped mare cringed, an apologetic smile prising her lips apart. "Well... Ah' think she might have sussed out how to work the doorhandle." She whipped her tail towards the door to the left, as Blue smirked.

Heh. 'Thought it was a living room.

Lumber Weld frowned, peering at Sisa as she whipped her tail apologetically.

"But why would she-"

"She's got a jaw infection."

Everypony in the corridor turned to face Blue. Her mind lagged with exhaustion, her face slack as she struggled to remain conscious in the midst of the five ponies and dog - the latter eyeing Moon intently, her tail lashing Lumber's leg in a rhythmic beat.

Lumber turned to his wife with a questioning gaze. "Honey, did the dog eat all of her food today?"

Zusie pursed her lips, before hurrying back into the kitchen and grabbing the dormant bowl of pet kibble. "She hasn't touched it!" She exclaimed in shock, turning to Blue with a bemused sigh. "How did you know?"

"I... I smelt it on her breath..." It was the slender filly's turn to frown, wavering slightly on charcoal stilts as her weary mind struggled with the predicament.

[Yeah... She's got a point. How did you do that?]

I recognised it like... Like a would with a pony.

She flared her wings in irritation.

And I can only read emotions off ponies because I've spent my whole life around them. Maybe it's a Pegasi thing?

That couldn't be it. A creature of the air would not harbour instinctual knowledge of an earth-bound species. Moon's frown deepened.

So I've either spent my whole life around dogs...

Nope. She had always pined for a  dog, but to no avail, and occasional encounters in the park weren't enough to substitute that deep an understanding.

...read about it somewhere?

Blue mentally shrugged, lacking the drive to focus her efforts into the tiny act in her foggy state.

[Probably]

She strained to recall where she had read it, discarding the notion when she couldn't and turning to her weary mind's last concept.

...Or I am a dog.

She glanced down at her hooves, fur bristling as she folded her wings, inwardly chuckling.

'Don't think I've heard of a dog with wings before... Ok, maybe Fluttershy, but that's her special talent-

Her thought path abruptly screeched to a halt as she spun round to face her flank, futile hope illuminating sagging eyes, only to flicker and fade to a dim glow as her stare met a blank canvas of storm grey fur.

Zusie broke the tension with an impatient cough, tearing Moon from her revere as she turned to face her host.

"I think I must have read it somew-" She broke off into a yawn mid-sentance, leading the adults to chuckle. Morning stepped forwards, laying a hoof over her daughter's withers and guiding her to the door, as Flash Light shook hooves with Lumber in farewell.

"It was good to see you again, Weld, and I can't wait to meet your granddaughter!"

Lumber chuckled, the bags beneath his eyes and slightly-thick middle sliding away in the vast waters of good old-fashioned cheer.

"It's still a few months until she's due, but ah'll send over some photos." Lumber Weld raised his hoof in parting as Flash Light joined his family out of the pocket of civilisation and onto the dingy streets of derelict Ponyville.