There it stood… the thing I hate with a burning passion… But it was also the only pony I ever loved…
False Front : Sunlit’s Choice
By Mirage_Mic
I couldn’t believe I was facing it. It looked at me with it’s blue eyes, they seemed apologetic yet absolutely ugly. Holes all around it’s hooves, a black insectile shell all around it’s body, yet it still somehow resembled Dusk… How? How was this… thing… How did I recognize it as him? Was he one the whole time? Did this thing kill him and take his form?
It spoke to me in a distorted voice that vaguely sounded like Dusk’s. “I see you have a lot of questions, or you would have killed me already…” I nodded in reply, and it’s eyes focused on me. “What do you wish to know?”
What did I want to ask him first? I couldn’t think of what to say, everything was just so… confusing. I let the first thing in mind slip out. “How long…?”
“How long what?”
“How long have you been one of them?” I looked at it with a burning hatred in my eyes, but I still felt that sense of doubt.
“As long as I could remember…” He looked down. “I was just a foal when they turned me into one of them… I had no choice…”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why didn’t you tell me!?” I started to tear up, my hatred turning to depression.
“Because…” He looked up at me. “I knew you’d react like this… I didn’t want to hurt you…”
How was I supposed to believe this? I was scared, confused… angry… sad… hurt… betrayed… I only had one last question… “Who killed my mother?”
He looked down. “Her squad was after me… I didn’t mean to kill her, only paralyze long enough for me to escape…”
It was him… My best friend… my first love… he killed my mother… “Get out… Now…” I didn’t want to see him again… I wanted to kill him…
Dusk engulfed in green and reverted to his pony form and went for the door. “I really do love you, Sunlit…”
“GET OUT!” I couldn’t accept his love… He hurt me too much… He went out that door and as I heard it close I burst into tears… What else could I do?
Hours passed and I was still in tears on the couch, unable to think, unable to move. I was finally in control of my breath but episodically I’d lose it again, bursting into more tears… I started to regret making Dusk leave… He loved me… He cared for me… He could comfort me… He always knew how to make me smile…
A single final tear escaped my eye before I looked at the clock, it was three o’clock the next day… I didn’t bother going to my room, resting on the couch that night.
When I finally got to sleep, I had a nightmare… It started with when I was a filly and was nearly abducted and raped… I was watching it from outside my body… I see why the stallion wanted me, I was an adorable and helpless filly with not a care in the world who was all alone…
In a blink of an eye, the world around me changed to the eyes of an observer of that same filly holding her mother as she bled out of her neck. I looked on in horror, yet as much as I wanted to turn away my eyes were fixated on the scene...
With another blink I saw through Dusk’s eyes as he looked at me yell at him to leave… I was horrified, yet the way I reacted… It’s like it wasn’t me… I never yelled like that in my life, and it scared me… At the time I thought I was talking in a civilized manner, but I was screaming at the top of my lungs, venom and vinegar in my voice…
Within another blink I woke up and shivered a bit, looking at the clock… I had only slept fifteen minutes… It was going to be a long night…
After I had the nightmare a few times, I decided it wasn’t worth it to sleep right now. I got up and looked at the clock, it was midday. Going downstairs was brutal as I struggled to stay awake, my eyes were baggy and my blinks lasted seconds. Once I hit the ground floor I made my way outside and to the mailbox, the flag was up so we had a letter. I was excited, would’ve jumped for joy if I had the energy, so I opened the box and pulled out the three envelopes from within.
I went back inside and started to look between the envelopes. One was addressed to my father, the other two were for me, so I left dad his mail on the counter and went back upstairs, still struggling to keep up. Anticipation was killing me as I saw one of the letters was sent from the royal guard commissioning centre. The other envelope only had my name on it, it was one of those industrial letters that were big enough to hold a small package.
The first letter was my main focus though, I was about to see if I were to become a royal guard or would have to stay home and help in the shop for the rest of my life… I opened it and read it down slowly.
Dear Miss Luck,
We’re glad to inform you your application has been processed and you have been cleared by the Trottingham Branch of the Royal Guard Recruitment Agency to be sent in for basic training. This document doubles as your ticket to Camp Luna, please report to your local recruitment center with this document, your passport, and a single bag with your belongings. It is recommended you bring bits with you in case you need to make purchases. Once at the recruitment center, you will be escorted to the train station along with other accepted recruits by your superior, and be boarded to the next train to Camp Luna.
Sincerely,
Air Marshall Soarin’
Finally some good news… But then came the second letter… I opened it and in it was a re-writable tape and two envelopes, one big and one small, the smaller one had the words ‘Open First’ written on the front and so I did so. It was Dusk’s handwriting… As much as I wanted to throw the letter into the fire, something in me kept me reading the short note…
Dear Sunlit,
Please play the tape as you open the other envelope. I put a lot of effort into this, and it’d be sad to ruin the moment with silence.
Yours Truly,
Dusk
I didn’t say goodbye… I told him to leave and never said goodbye… So to honor the stallion I used to know, I did as he asked. I put the tape in my cassette player and pressed play.
“Hey Sunlit,” Dusk’s voice was on the tape, “I had some spare time so I wrote you a little tune. Here I go.” He started playing his guitar, it sounded beautiful.
I opened the envelope and in it were pictures. I looked at them carefully, they were of Dusk and I, pictures of us doing all sorts of things together. I pulled up the picture of when I was scared of a monster under my bed and Dusk slept on the floor just to keep watch. Then I pulled up a picture of our first time getting snow cones at the farmer’s market during our first summer together, Dusk had a bit of syrup on his chin and I couldn’t help but laugh. I pulled up a picture of me standing at first base during my first school baseball game, Dusk was sitting in the bleachers watching and he’s the one that probably took this picture. More pictures of our memories were enclosed, playing cards with him, going to our first movie, putting a saddle bag on a fishing line and reeling it in as ponies went to pick it up; we were such adorable foals…
How did I ever let such a stupid decision take over… It’s too late now… Dusk is gone… He won’t come back… I ruined everything...
I started to tear up, unable to control myself anymore… I made a mistake and I wanted him back...
“Sunlit?” I had no idea who was behind me or why they were there, but I instantly turned around and hugged them, praying it was-
Author's Note
This story took much longer than I expected to get out there.
I took too long to write it, the first submission was taken down because of copyright, the second submission was taken down for the same copyright due to a glitch in FimFiction that kept the song in there, and hopefully this time it's submitted and passes inspection since the only problem I had was that one copyright.
I originally wanted to have the picture montage go with "You Ruined Everything" by Jonothan Coulton, hence Sunlit's line "I ruined everything", but then I was denied for it, so instead I'll be asking my buddy John to make a nice song on his acoustic or ask him for lessons so I can make one myself with my guitar.
Hopefully you enjoyed it all the same and maybe I won't even need to make a song and leave it all to your imagination like a good author.
