Wish: Book II - The Truth

Chapter 2: Reunion of Strangers

“Haha! That’s the Aireal I remember!” Valiari exclaims with glee.

After setting the flaming branch down into the snow with the lit portion poking upwards he leaps towards me, and embraces me tightly. Squeezing the air right out of me I can feel myself being lifted up from the ground. I allow him to continue crushing my torso as I feel my blood rush to my head. Once he finally lets me go my lungs act like a vacuum sucking in as much air as they can. Valiari picks back up the flaming branch with his teeth and leans his head towards me.

“Here, hold this for a second.” He says.

I barely understood him with the stick in his mouth, so I look on at him, and then down at the branch. I can already feel its relaxing warmth from here, but I almost do not want to even reach out for the branch afraid I might touch the flame. I don’t think I’ve felt such pain as a burn, and I don’t think I ever want to. As he still waits patiently for me to take it I cautiously reach out and grab hold of the branch. I am careful not to put any part of my body near the fire fearing the possible charring of my skin.

“Follow me, we need to get ourselves prepared!” He says excitedly.

He makes his way back into the cave as I follow closely behind him lighting his way. My body is thankful to finally be out of the chilling winds, but knows that soon it will be thrown much deeper into the storm. I follow Valiari all the way to the big black bag I saw him digging through earlier, and I notice the bag is much more intact compared to his clothing. It’s covered in many pockets big and small, and with the bag lying on its side the big flap at the opening is hanging open.

“I need to go collect a few things before we go. It’s going to be quite a walk, so we’re going to need plenty of supplies. Just wait right here.”

Valiari hurriedly trots off to the other side of the cave searching behind and around his stacks of canvases, and I nervously wait near the big black bag. I glance back to get one more look at the knives of light stabbing the mountains in the distance. After each strike a crash of thunder follows, and it feels like each one is pounding right onto my chest. I can’t imagine the intensity of the cold beyond this cave, but I suck in a deep breath to toughen my chest and maybe subside some of this anxiety. Valiari trots back over stuffing other little bags and bundles of things into the sack. He leaves again to go retrieve some more supplies, and for some reason I can’t stop staring at the wide opening of the bag. I can feel myself succumbing to my own curiosity as my eyes wish to see what else might be inside. I bounce my eyes up at Valiari as he is still searching through his things, now would be the perfect time to just sneak a peek.

Squatting down I rest my elbows on my knees and try to catch a quick glance at the inside of the bag, but it’s all too dark to see anything. I bring the flame closer to maybe push aside the darkness, and all I am able to see are the couple bags Valiari had just shoved inside. But I want to see what else he’s keeping inside it, so carefully and quietly I reach in trying to move aside the smaller bags. With my hand gripped on one of the little bags I pull it away while lowering my head to see inside. Straining my eyes I can see something all the way in the back of the bag, but I can’t quite tell what it is. Just as I am about to extend my arm into the bag a shouting fills the cave.

“Hey! Get your hands out of there!” Valiari shouts whilst trotting towards me.

Startled, I jolt and quickly retract my hand from inside the bag. I fall back nearly losing my grip on the flaming branch, and Valiari proceeds to reorganize the little bags that had just fallen out because of me. Now resting on the ground recovering from the shock I watch him as he sighs while getting the small bags back in their original place. After shoving them back inside he lowers his head and takes a deep breath.

“Right then, clearly some rules need to be set.” He says turning his head to me and holding up his hoof. “First, no more snooping through my stuff without my permission, understood?”

I then nervously nod my head.

“Second, you do exactly as I say no matter what. Third, and this is probably the most important, when we venture outside of this cave you stay with me; and ‘don’t’ go off alone. Yes?”

Again, with a nervous gulp, I nod my head.

“Okay . . . well I think we have everything we should need for the trip. Do ‘not’ forget these rules.”

Valiari turns away and lifts up the opened flap of the bag fastening the buckle and strap to keep it shut. Getting to his hooves he hoists the hefty bag with a grunt over his back and orders me to stand.

“Come on then, let’s get going.” He says taking the branch out of my hands.

With the sounds of the crackling flames and the bottom of my shoes grinding the tiny pebbles beneath them I stand myself up waiting for Valiari to take the lead. He walks ahead of me as I follow the warmth and light of the torch, and just before we approach the exit of the cave Valiari stops. He turns his head back to the tiny flame in the center of the cave and the frozen pond of water. I halt and wonder why it is he’s stopped, what could have made him stop so suddenly?

“Wait. There’s just . . . one more thing I need to do before we go.”

Valiari leans towards me with the end of the branch extended to me. I grab hold of it before he dashes back into the cave leaving me to stand and wait. I watch as he stops near the frozen pond with only the slight glow of the little flame on the ground to illuminate him. He gets to all four of his knees before the ice, other than that I can’t quite tell what else he could be doing. After a while he uses his right fore-leg to wipe the side of his cheek, and once he gets to his hooves he lowers his head as if in sadness. He walks over to one of his stacks of paintings and grabs the painting I saw earlier, the one of Aria. He rests it down onto the ice as it blows about icy particles into the air, and after one last long look he turns away and walks back towards me. Dragging himself along as he gets closer I can see strips of sparkles from the branch’s light over his cheeks, and him raising his head to look up at me only makes them clearer.

“Okay, I’m ready.”

“W-What h-happened?” I ask.

“. . . I said my goodbyes.”

I am reminded of the story he had told me about the mare, by the look in his eyes and pain in his voice I can tell that they must’ve truly had a strong bond together. My mind can only wonder what such a feeling must be like to experience, but to have it stolen from you must feel like a piece of your heart has gone with it. Behind him the tiny flame is suddenly blown out, but there was not a single breeze that had gone by. Valiari and I jolt turning towards the shadowed place where the flame once lit.

“. . . Let’s get moving.” He says

Valiari turns away and steps into the chilling world outside, while I stay for a mere moment to stare back at the dark. I am lost in wonder as to the flame’s sudden disappearance. Not only that, but I feel as though someone is standing amongst the shadows, watching me.

“Aireal.” Says Valiari freeing me from my trance. “Let’s go now, there’s no reason to stay here.”

Following behind him I cannot withstand the need to glance back as many times as I can to reassure my eyes that no one is there. From the dark passage into the cave it appears that the entrance has been dug into a tall mountain that extends as far as my eyes can see from both sides, or at least, what the small peeks of light will allow me to see. Turning back forward Valiari takes the torch from me and leads our way into the deepening snow. The orange glow from the flame brightens a small section of the blackened world around us. The shadows run and hide, but only so far as a few feet. The intense flashing of the crooked beams of light from the smoky clouds occasionally light up the way, but only for a mere second as it all fades back to the darkness followed by that startling boom in the sky. I caught sight of the trees whose barren braches are reaching out to us as if wanting to be saved, pleading for help. The wind weaving through their hollow bodies sounds like their cries in anguish. But because of their foreboding appearance, the folds in their bark resembling wrinkles in aged skin, and their lanky branches like bony arms wanting to grasp me as I pass by, I hide behind Valiari and the safety of his light.

After what seems like hours of walking my body is tired from the excessive shivering and strain put on my legs, but Valiari is still holding himself up rather strongly. I can feel the cold particles of icy dust still flooding into the top of my shoes sending chills up my legs. The wind sneaks around my neck and down passed my collar to deliver a stream of sharp icy air. My cheeks and the tips of my ears felt as though they were being smothered by flame, but now I can barely feel them at all. As the falling snow cakes itself onto my clothing and hair Valiari suddenly stops. He holds out his torch in my way to bring me to a halt as well. Afraid of the flame touching my body I take a step back awaiting any words from him.

“Stop, did you see it?” He asks.

I then shake my head, and he then turns and looks on with the torch still guarding my path. Streaks of light followed by loud shrieks of the clouds reveal a dingy and utterly destroyed town down below. The buildings appear so tiny from this far a distance. Every last one seems to be either dented or crushed, and all of them are leaning toward us it seems. As if the winds have blown them out of the earth, and the snow has frozen them in such a position.

“This poor little town, it didn’t stand a chance. Let’s go, and be careful, this hill looks steep.”

Keeping his words in mind I follow him down the hill. I dig and plant my shoes as far as they’ll go into the snow to keep my balance, but it feels like at any moment I could topple over. I grab hold of any nearby trees to secure myself as I carefully work my way down. I find that Valiari has already slid down and is still waiting for me to reach the bottom. Not wanting to keep him waiting I hurry the rest of the way down nearly losing my footing. Valiari then continues to lead on towards the desolated town, and with every flash of lightning ahead, the worse the destruction appears. The little houses are all made of dingy rusty metal, and protruding from the sides of the houses facing away from the tall mountains, far ahead with castle resting atop, are icicles of varying sizes and lengths.

Valiari and I weave between the houses glancing left and right into their windows that appear to have become either sheeted in frost, or broken with jagged shards still attached to the sides. This place feels deserted, but every pair of windows on each little shack feels like a pair of saddened eyes staring back at me.

“Hello?! Is anypony here?!” Valiari calls as the wind carries his voice throughout the seemingly empty town. “. . . Hey, what is that?”

Valiari and I stop as he points his hoof to something before us within the torch’s orange glow. Curiously he walks towards it and I, fearing the strange object, follow cautiously behind him. It appears to be a tall mass of snow with an odd shape to define it. Valiari begins to wipe his hoof through the snow as chunks of it fall to the ground. I can see something being revealed as he continues to dig at the snow. Once a clear hole has been dug a solid darkened mass of something lies hidden behind the small shadows. Valiari raises his torch, and as the both of us peer forward the object is revealed to be the terrified face of a pony with its eyes flung open frozen behind a coating of ice staring back at us. Valiari gasps and jumps back out of shock, and I follow suit.

“Wh-What in the-?!” Valiari shouts in horror. “. . . The poor fellow, he didn’t make it.”

Valiari, weary and curious, continues to inspect the statue of the frozen pony even further. Wiping away even more of the snow from its body we can clearly see he’s frozen in a position as if trotting away.

“How strange. It looks as though he was trying to run away, but he . . . froze whilst doing so. That doesn’t make any sense, how could something freeze over so quickly?”

Valiari then turns and scans the area around us, and with a face of shock and horror, he notices something worse around us.

“By the name of Celestia . . . they’re everywhere.” He mutters.

Several more of the lumps of snow are scattered all throughout the town; and with the knowledge that they are all the lifeless bodies of ponies frozen in ice, forgotten by time, sends a fearful shrill up my spine. Valiari’s face changes to despair as he turns away and closes his eyes off from the snowy statues.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” He whispers to himself. “. . . Aireal, let’s go. I don’t think anypony here made it.” He says as he continues his walk through the town.

My eyes have trouble disconnecting from the cold eyes of the frozen pony Valiari uncovered. I can almost feel those empty eyes of his staring back at me, watching me. I can feel the light and warmth leaving me, so I force myself to break contact with the pony’s lifeless eyes and join back up with Valiari. Just as we are about to leave the town something overcomes me. Together, Valiari and I stop and stand motionless. My heart is suddenly excited, and the butterflies in my stomach begin to flutter. Valiari turns his head to me, and I turn to him, the both of us mystified by this unrecognizable feeling.

“You feel that too? I-I know what that is, just where could it be coming from?” He asks.

Valiari turns back into the town mindlessly trotting about in search of the source. We twist and turn around every corner of every building, until this feeling inside grows slightly stronger.

“I-It’s this way, come on!” He urges now galloping away as the flame from his branch leaves an orange tail behind it, and his torn scarf and cape wave crazily behind him.

He’s too fast for me to keep up with, and because my legs are already exhausted from the walk they can barely keep up the work. He goes so far that the dark starts to engulf me to the point to where I cannot see any part of my body as I try to catch up to him. Knowing that this village is completely desolated and deserted, being surrounded by the dark gives me the feeling that I’m being watched from all sides. That all of sudden something in the blackness is stalking me, and ready to attack while I’m alone and vulnerable. This brings me a deep sense of urgency as I push myself through the snow trying desperately to get back to Valiari’s side.

Suddenly he skids to a stop sending a wave of snow spraying ahead of him, and before him is a metal shack similar to all the others. However, this one is different, unlike the others this one is standing straight up. The closer I get the more I realize that this building isn’t as covered in ice and snow as the others. It appears untouched by the elements around it, and even around its borders few blades of grass can actually be seen. I can feel this tingling in my chest and stomach growing stronger, and my skin is becoming warmer. Standing by Valiari’s side I can tell that he too is bewildered by the state of the shack.

“Just look at that.” He says in amazement. “Not even the smallest spec of snow has touched the walls of this house.”

Valiari reaches out and slowly turns the knob of the front door, and with a wicked creaking sound of the metal hinges, the door opens. The both of us enter as we gaze upon how intact the inside of the building is. The orange pulsating glow illuminates the wooden chairs, the rectangular rug, and all the shelves stacked with knick-knacks and books that remain undisturbed. As we continue to walk further in I accidentally stumble over a metal can on the ground as it rolls loudly over the dry wooden floor. Valiari jolts and whips around to me, and after calming himself down from the sudden fear he sighs.

“Watch where you’re stepping, alright?”

“Who is that? Who’s here?!” A voice calls from another room in the small house.

Out from a little hall comes a lightly gray coated mare with a much darker messy mane that droops over her right eye. Her coat is stained with black blotches of dirt or oil, and her face is of fright that only intensifies once her eyes meet mine.

“Who is it Mommy?” A small voice asks from behind her.

“Sweetie get back in your room!” She then turns her attention back to me trying to guard the hall. “You stay away from us! Leave us alone whatever you are!”

“Ma’am please!” Valiari shouts.

“Don’t you shout at me! Just who do you think you are barging in like this?!” She says at the top of her voice.

“Look, let’s all just calm down. We’re not here to cause you harm, we were just hoping to find somepony in this town. Uh-let me introduce myself, my name is Valiari. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope you can forgive me for my rude entrance.”

“. . . Alright, a-and what is that you’ve brought in my house?” She asks in fear.

“Oh! This is my friend Aireal, do not worry, he’s completely harmless.”

Out from behind the mare a small little filly pokes her head around her back. Her mane is short and curls over her eyes with a smooth vanilla white color, and her coat is beige with splotches of dirt or soot just as the mare’s. Her big green eyes stare up at me with the reflection of Valiari’s torch over them. With a little gasp she shows her whole face and smiles brightly at the sight of me.

“It ‘is’ you! Mommy that’s him! That’s Ayreel!” She says excitedly.

“That!? That’s him?! I-I thought you were just making that up!”

“No Mommy I told you he’s real! Can I go say hi to him? Mommy can I?”

“Uh . . . well.” Her Mother trails off in weary thought.

“Don’t worry Miss, I assure you you have nothing to worry about. As I said, he is completely harmless, you have my word.” Says Valiari.

“Mommy please!” She begs while tugging at her Mother’s leg.

“Well . . .” She looks at me filled with uncertainty, and then back down to her daughter. “Okay, go ahead sweetheart.”

The Mother steps aside and the filly instantly gallops towards me. She wraps her little forelegs around my leg gripping it tightly. With her unexpected actions I raise my arms in surprise. Unsure of how to react I try to understand just what is going on. Just who is this little filly? She knew my name, but how? I turn to Valiari expecting him to give me some kind of answer, but all of a sudden he appears just as nervous as me. The filly looks up at me confused, I can tell she’s wondering why I haven’t said a single word or even reacted to her embracing.

“I . . . I’m sorry wh-who are you?” I ask.

At that moment it looks as though I just smashed the little filly’s heart into pieces like glass against stone. Her brows show sadness, and a frown takes over her smile.

“What?” She asks. “I-it’s me, Candle Light! Remember?”

“N-No I . . . I don’t.” I say regretfully.

The filly releases my leg and takes a step back while still keeping her saddened eyes locked onto mine. I can hear her struggling to speak, and her eyes are beginning to flood.

“Y-You don’t?” She asks as the tears begin streaming down her cheeks.

She cannot hold it back any longer, she starts to whimper, and her Mother quickly grabs her to comfort her. My heart is shot with guilt, the longer I witness this young filly’s crying the bigger the tear in my heart becomes. Her Mother stares at me with a mixture of confusion and anger, and Valiari is glancing between the both of us unsure of what to do or say. Until it seems an idea finally strikes him in the middle of his apprehension.

“Uh wait! Wait, wait, wait.” He repeats walking over to the filly’s Mother. “I’m sorry, just let me explain. He’s suffered from a major concussion, and in the process he’s lost basically all of his memories.”

“Oh my.” The Mother says in surprise.

“Alright, um . . . just let me have a word with him.” Valiari then hurries back to me as the filly continues to sob whilst hiding her face behind her Mother’s legs. “Aireal, listen to me.” He whispers. “You know this filly, you and her used to be friends. Believe me, you did. So just . . . just pretend you do, alright? It would make her so much happier, okay?”

“. . . Alright.” I whisper.

“Thank you. . . Alright Miss Candle Light, I believe Aireal has something he wants to say to you.”

The filly fixes her tear-filled eyes onto me, and I wanting to fulfill Valiari’s request, do my best to force a smile. I squat down so that my eyes can be level with hers. I feel I must regain her trust, so I try to come up with the words to accomplish that.

“Oh Candle Light! Yes now I . . . now I remember. H-How could I forget? I’m sorry I didn’t remember sooner.” I say.

Candle Light then leaves her Mother’s side cautiously walking towards me. Her sobbing has calmed, and her cheeks are glistening by her tears reflecting the orange glow of Valiari’s burning branch.

“Y-You do?” She asks with pain in her throat.

“Of course!” I say in the hopes these words sound real. “So, what do you say? Are we still friends?”

She comes closer, silent, but her eyes speak more than her words could. She throws herself into me and puts her forelegs over my shoulders. I can hear a laughter emerge from her struggling voice, and so I set my hands over her back. I feel I have fixed the pain I’ve caused her, but I haven’t healed my own. The guilt is still with me, to know that I must embrace this friendship between her and I despite me never even knowing it existed. But still I hold her, and I let her rid her eyes of those droplets of pain. I look up at Candle Light’s Mother; she looks on uncomfortably with discontent, and with just the turn of my head I see Valiari. I can see by how he’s lowered his head and the gloom in his eyes that he’s filled with just as much guilt as I am.