Wish: Book II - The Truth

Chapter 5: Plan

The doors to my eyes fly open at the sound of a voice whispering in my ears. It sounded like it belonged to a mare, but I’ve never heard such a voice before. I can feel sweat running down my forehead and the back of my neck, my heart is jumping about in my chest, and my breathing has become uncontrollable. I’m trying to remember the words it said, for at the moment my memory of it is quite foggy. It said something about . . . lying. Other than that it’s hard to remember what else it was it said. Scanning the room it all appears the same, but the glow from the fire Valiari had put together has shrunk. However the green light from the stone still brightens the room. I see that Candle Light is still sound asleep turned over under her little blanket. I check to my left and to my right, but Valiari appears to be missing. Just as the anxiety begins to build its wall in my mind I hear a whisper from the other side of the room.

“Aireal, over here.”

Valiari is crouched near the dying flame behind the pile of charred ashes beckoning me to come to him. Knowing that the filly is still asleep I take caution while walking to him careful not to kick or trip over any of the open books sprawled across the floor. I find that laying down next to him are the mare and her apparent pet lizard, but I notice that the mare’s eyes are a creak open, and something I didn’t expect was the glimmer of a smile on her face.

“She’s awake.” Valiari continues to whisper. “I talked to her before you woke up, her name is Twilight, Miss Twilight Sparkle. Go on, say hello.”

“H-Hello.” I whisper.

“. . . Hello.” She barely mutters.

“I told her our names, and what we’ve been through. She can’t talk much right now, but in time she should be able to. The little lizard next to her is actually a baby dragon, and she told me his name is Spike. He should be waking up soon as well.”

The mare and I continue to stare at each other, but it’s in her eyes that something feels strange. I can’t quite tell what it is, but it seems like she’s observing me, searching in my own eyes for something. I hadn’t noticed it before, but her subtle smile has disappeared.

“Come on Aireal, let’s leave her alone now. She needs the rest.” Valiari says as I break apart our stare.

Just as he and I are about to walk back to our spots we stop as we notice the room beginning to darken. The green glow is being overtaken by the darkness, and we both dreadfully turn our heads to the lifeless stone as the room becomes colder with every passing second. Valiari and I can see the fog of our breath leaving our mouths, and the little flame is our only source of light remaining, but it doesn’t look like it will last much longer. Then, we hear a sound creep in from the downstairs. The sound of crackling branches.

“. . . Not again. Aireal quick! More books! We need to keep this fire alive!” He urges.

Valiari and I scatter and buzz around the room like flies as we tear apart the bookshelves grabbing as many books as we can. All the commotion startles Candle Light as he lifts up her head rubbing her eyes.

“Valiari? Ayreel? W-What’s happening?” She asks.

“Candle Light go by the fire now!” Valiari orders.

Hurriedly she grabs her blanket and trots over to what little remains of the fire, but before she sits down she screams.

“Ah! She’s awake! Valiari she’s awake!”

“I know that sweetheart now just stay with her. You hear me? Just stay with her!”

Valiari and I hurry back to the pile of ashes and dump the books we managed to grab onto the pile. All while the sounds are getting progressively louder, as well as the thumping in my chest. Candle Light sits cowering hiding her face with her blanket as Valiari tries to get the fire to spread to the new paper it’s been fed. I can hear the crackling growing louder and more violent while mixing with Candle Light’s cries.

“Candle Light look at me, you stay here, alright?” Valiari asks her with his hooves on her shoulders.

She nods fearfully, and he begins rummaging through his big black bag and pulls out a couple of wooden branches. After holding one inside the fire the top of it catches the fire. He then bolts for the stairs, but urgently beckons me to follow.

“Aireal come on, follow me!”

Without a moment of doubt I chase after Valiari down the staircase. As soon as I reach the downstairs Valiari is trotting back forth around the house lost in what to do. The sounds are so loud they sound like they are right here with us inside the house poking around the inside of my ear canals.

“Aireal the windows! Shut all of the windows!” He shouts.

On his command I run to every window slamming their shutters closed hoping that whatever is outside won’t get inside. Valiari hurries to the front door and tries to shut it, but he realizes that because he’s broken the hinges there’s no way it can close properly. So he braces the door with his hooves planting his hind hooves on the floor to keep himself steady. He is almost thrown off balance by something bashing at the door from the other side. Every smash causes the door to bend so much that the last piece of metal holding the door together is bound to split apart any second. Realizing the danger I run to the door and press my back against it to assist Valiari, and I soon endure the sheer strength of what lies behind the door as my insides rattle with every fierce pound.

“I have an idea. Here, take this.” He says with the branch in his mouth.

I grab hold of the flaming branch as he fumbles to bite onto a new one. He holds the top of the branch near the one in my hands, and it soon catches the flame as well. With both of our torches flaming the pounding suddenly stops, and I can tell by Valiari’s face that both he and I are mystified by the instant halting of the pummeling. I loosen my muscles as the sounds outside have stopped, and my shoulder blades are sore from pressing them against the wood.

“. . . I think it’s gone.” Valiari whispers. “Step away from the door.”

Taking several cautious steps away from the door I keep my flame held out and pointed to the door out of fear. Valiari, with his hoof gripped on the icy knob of the door, pulls the door open as it scratches against the wood floor.

“What in the . . . just look at this.” He says while staring at the door.

I can see that the door’s surface has several long and deep scratch marks embedded into its surface. Holding his torch to the darkness ahead Valiari wanders outside waving his torch while checking around area. I stay behind as I watch the torch shake about beneath my quivering hands. I watch as Valiari becomes enveloped by the dark, and the orange glow from his torch is swallowed with it as well. Now, he’s completely out of sight, but I have this constant feeling that someone is still with me breathing on the back of my neck. I glance back fearfully to find that there is nothing there, just the breeze was gently rubbing against my neck. I can feel myself growing uncomfortable, and so I start to quietly walk to the door afraid of being heard.

“. . . Valiari?” I whisper.

Without a response I walk all the way to the door afraid of stepping into the snow. The sounds of clashing thunder in the distance and the hissing of my flame are all that I can hear, and there still is no sight of any orange glow. Before I can whisper Valiari’s name once more something long and lanky reaches around the side of the doorway and catches the torso of my jacket stabbing at my chest. Panicking I swat at them and jump back holding my torch out in front of me for protection.

“Hey, hey! Relax! It’s just me.” Says Valiari peering around the side of the doorway with a big smile on his face.

In his hooves is a large bundle of assorted branches that appear to have been broken apart. Unsure of where or why he has them makes me stare at him in confusion while my breath tries to catch up with me.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you. But just look at all this!” He says revealing just how many broken twigs and branches he’s carrying. “I found these scattered all around the house, and there’s many more still lying around. Now I wanted to show you these for two reasons. One, because I thought it would frighten you to death, and you did not let me down!” He says trailing off in laughter. “Oh, yes, but really I am quite sorry. . . But I just couldn’t resist. Anyway, two, these weren’t here when we first came here. This place was clear of any kind of debris whatsoever. Now, there’s one more thing I want you to see. Come with me.”

Valiari leads me outside into the chilling cold as my shoes fall deep into the snow.  I follow him until he suddenly stops and crouches down lowering his torch to better illuminate the ground. I do see that around us are many scattered twigs all snapped and bent just as he said, but other than that I’m not too sure what else he wants me to see.

“You see that? Not a single track left behind. Now how could something that seemed so large leave not a single trace? None of this is making any sense. . . Come on, let’s get back inside. We need to make sure Candle Light and Twilight are alright up there.” He says dropping the stack of broken branches into the snow.

So, Valiari and I hurry back inside the house, and he tries to position the door carefully so that it stands upright to block the entrance. He blows out both of our torches, and we head back upstairs to find Candle Light and Twilight safe and sound. Twilight has propped herself up against the wall so that she can sit straight up, and Candle Light seems to be looking at something else. The fire Valiari started is still burning strong, but the stone still lies empty and transparent.

“Well, I’m glad to see you two are safe.” Says Valiari.

Candle Light then turns around and gasps at the sight of us.

“Valiari!” She shouts happily while trotting towards him.

She latches onto his leg and starts pulling him towards Twilight.

“Come here come here! It’s awake!” She says.

“Woah, woah just what do mean. . ? Well what do you know? I told you he’d wake up soon. Aireal, why don’t you come on over and meet Spike?”

As he says I walk further into the room and see the small purple dragon sitting up waiting for me to turn the corner. As soon as he gets a good look at me with his big green eyes he fearfully presses himself up against the wall with a face to express it.

“W-W-What is that?!” He mutters.

“Spike, it’s okay.” Says Twilight with her still weak voice.

“Yes I assure you he is completely harmless, go on Aireal say hello.” Says Valiari beckoning me to come closer.

Because of his reaction it makes me feel . . . ashamed of myself. Why is it that whenever someone sees me they act so scared? Am I appalling to them? Am I really that scary? Candle Light’s Mother was furious, and she threatened me as if I was some kind of . . . monster. I refuse to walk any further to the little purple dragon, I just don’t want to meet him. I can feel my heart turning sour as I start to turn away from him.

“Aireal, come on what’s the matter? Why don’t you come over and meet him?” Valiari asks.

“. . . No.” I say.

I almost don’t believe the word actually left my lips. All this time I’ve been following Valiari and doing as he says, and to say no to him just feels wrong of me like if a child denied their parent. But this time I’m ready to accept it, right now I just want to sit by myself. I want to be alone for a moment, maybe longer. Valiari doesn’t attempt to call me over again, and I sit myself down far from them all, far from the light. The border between the shadows that surround me and the light ahead of me feels like a boundary that should keep them away. Valiari whispers something to them before bringing his voice back to its normal volume.

“Well, we know there is something out there, but I just don’t know what. And I believe that light and warmth are what keeps it away. So as long as we stay near the fire we should be alright.”

“Th-That stone, why did it stop glowing?” Twilight asks.

“I haven’t the slightest idea, but whenever it goes out that thing outside decides to strike.” He says while handing the stone to her.

“Hmm, it’s hard for me to tell but I . . . I think its energy is deteriorating.”

“But how?”

“I’m not too sure, but it isn’t going to last much longer.”

Valiari then sighs and presses his hoof against his forehead in deep thought.

“. . . Just what was your plan exactly?” She asks.

“Well, I wanted to check out any nearby towns for any survivors, and after that I . . . I was just going to head to Canterlot Castle.”

“You were just going to ‘walk’ there?” She asks in shock.

“Well, yes that was precisely my plan.”

“Are you insane? A walk to the castle would take days, and that’s not including the hike you would have to take up the mountain. Also I am positive that the train station didn’t survive the storm, so that is out of the question.”

“And just what did you have in mind then Miss Sparkle?”

“I-I know a spell that can transport us to Canterlot, all of us.”

“. . . Well that’s not a bad idea.”

“But there’s just one problem.”

“Wonderful, well we’ve been running into problems consistently so what’s one more?”

“B-Being unconscious in the intense cold h-has stunt my ability to cast my magic, but over the course of a few days, I should recover eventually. So, perhaps if we were to wait it out here until then, I think it would be less of a risk.”

“So you’re saying that staying in one spot, when whatever is out there already knows we’re here, can now have a few days to think about what it wants to do to us before it hunts us down.”

“That’s not what I’m saying, I’m saying that the chances of us surviving while hiding out in here are much greater than if we were to venture out into the blizzard and not to mention the dangerous hike up the mountain. Especially since this stone of yours is in danger of losing the rest of its energy rather soon. It may last a few days, but it won’t last the week or so it would take to walk to Canterlot. And to make matters worse, this poor little filly won’t be able to keep up the trip, she’s just too young and won’t have the energy.”

“. . . I see your point. Very well then, we’ll wait it out here. And until you’ve gained the energy to cast this spell of yours we’ll—”

Suddenly, the sounds of snapping and cracking tree branches can be heard from behind the walls of the tree trunk, and it causes all of us to glance around the room afraid of what might happen.

“Aireal, come with me, and take some of these with you.” Says Valiari laying out a pile of branches he pulled out from his black bag.

As he says I join him and gather them up. He lights one of them using the bonfire and quickly leads me downstairs as the noises continue to grow louder. We hug the walls on both sides of the doorway with his hoof on the knob as he looks up at me and lights one of the torches in my hands with his.

“Two torches were enough to scare it away the first time, it should work again. On the count of three, we’re going out there.”

His plan strikes me with fear and worry as I feel my hands tense around the wood branches in my arms and the torch in my hand.

“One. . .”

Now I can feel nearly every muscle in my body beginning to tense.

“Two. . .”

My heart is now thumping violently against my chest, dreading the sound of the final number.

“Three!”

My blood is coursing violently throughout my body as Valiari thrusts open the door and we throw ourselves out into the snow waving our torches in every direction. I was so full of adrenaline and terror that I hadn’t noticed that the noises have suddenly stopped. Awkwardly Valiari loosens his body and brushes his fear away almost instantly.

“Alright, see? I told you it would work. Quickly, hand me some of those branches.” He says, and I do as he says handing him about half of the pile I brought out with me. “Now I want you to go ahead, light up all of those, and set them up all around the house on that side. I’ll go and do the same on this side.”

Working my way from the right side of the house I do as Valiari did before lighting each individual branch with the other. I see him starting to stab them down into the ground, and so I do the same thing. Together we form a yellow and orange ring of light all around the tree, and afterwards we walk all the way back to the front of the house.

“Perfect, that should keep whatever is out there away from this house. Hopefully they last long enough before. . .”

Valiari turns and loses his voice as he stares up the house. His eyes are locked onto something, and his mouth is hanging open. Curious as to what has caught his attention I myself turn to the trunk of the tree that has been now lit up by the surrounding torches, and at the top of the tree there are these strange objects hanging from the icy branches. Large sculptures made of broken and bent branches and twigs are bound together in the shape of ponies. Each one is hanging by either a vine or rope, and there are exactly six of them. Their bodies appear so carefully crafted, and they have hollow spots in their head for their eyes. There’s something about them that feels perplexing. Watching them swing and turn with the wind and with the sounds of the ropes straining is almost hypnotizing.