Those Who Have Gone

Flam

I've been sick in bed for almost a month now, my condition was only getting worse with ever passing day. To think that this all started from a simple fever, and now I'm barely even able to lift my head. I spent every day lying in bed, trying my best to fall asleep. My sheets were always damp from my sweat, and my skin always felt clammy. No matter what I did, the pain wouldn't go away. But I had to keep fighting, for my brother's sake. I see him stand over me, a sad expression plastered on his face. He was constantly worried about me, and there's nothing I can do. What would happen to him if I let this sickness get the better of me? Leaving my brother all alone, without his dear brother to support him. The thought of this makes me feel much worse than my sickness ever could. So I fought. Fought my sickness, fought my pain, fought my desperation.

Sometimes when I woke up, I saw him lying in his bed, covered in dirt and bruises. I could that he was doing manual labor,a lot of it, and I knew exactly why. He was making bits. By now, our reserves must have run dry, and he needed to make bits for both of us. But more than that, I would only see him at night, proof that he spent all day working. Why did he have to spend all day doing hard labor? The way we live now, he could easily just work a few hours a day, and we'd be set. I ask myself this, but I knew exactly why. He needs to pay for my medical bills. He told me the doctor said I would be better in a matter of weeks, but I knew right away that he was lying to me, his face said it all. I just played along so as to not worry him. But I know that I won't get better unless I get some medicine. And the way we've been treated in this town, the doctor probably charged twice the actual amount. What am I to do? Do I tell him 'It's alright brother, no need to work so hard. I'm a dead colt anyway'? No, I couldn't possibly. So I simply laid here silently, letting him work himself to death.

However, lately I've noticed something strange. Despite Flim looking more and more tired with each passing day, I felt that he was somehow, happier. As if he had found something to look forward to. While I had no idea what it was, I didn't particularly care. Seeing Flim so happy made me happy as well. So I never bothered to ask him.

But one night, I woke up for no real reason, and saw something very peculiar. Flim just got into bed and fell asleep. And after a short moment, a strange green glowing mist seeped through the walls and started going into his body. Somepony was using magic on him, but there wasn't a thing I could do. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I could only lay there and watch an unknown assailant use a strange spell on my brother. I figured worrying about it would do me no good, so I went back to sleep.

When I next woke up, I saw the light coming through the single window in our room. I must have been hallucinating or something, because I then saw several shadows gathering in the light. They were pony sized, but seemed to have both horns, and wings. "This can't be right." I thought, as I tried to lift my head to look at the window. I struggled will all my might, I was felt like something terrible was going to happen to me. With great effort, I slowly turned my head to look. I started to sweat, and my breathing became loud and shaky. I could barely see the window from the corner of my eye. And there, I saw several monsters, terrible dark creatures, with the bodies of ponies, but pitch black, and covered in gaping holes. They began climbing through the sill, gathering right on top of me. My vision began to blur, and I was scared beyond my wits. I squeezed my eyes shut as hard as I could, saying to myself that this was all just a dream.

Suddenly, the door loudly swung open. "Good Morning brother dear!" Flim trotted through with a few bags on his back. I slowly opened my eyes, and saw that all the terrible creatures were gone. Flim put the bags down near my bed, and looked at the window. "Brother, did you open the window? You shouldn't strain yourself. Please, if there's anything you need, just ask, and good old Flim here will take care of it right away." I was flabbergasted. Was it all really just a hallucination? Flim noticed my dazed state, and expressed his concern. "Flam, you look pale. Do you need some water?" His face was filled with concern.

"what? oh, uh, if...if you would be so kind." With that, Flim ran out the door to fetch some water. A few moments, later, he came back with a glass of water. He was holding both the glass, as well as a straw using magic.

While that strange nightmare did worry me, I also noticed that Flim was suddenly full of energy. Just a few days ago, he couldn't use magic at all, let alone hold things in his hooves. "Could this be connected to that strange mist I saw go into his body? If so, why would somepony do that? Everypony in this town knows who we are, so why would they help Flim? Is this some sort of sick joke?" I couldn't shake off this feeling of uneasiness as I sipped the cool water.

A few days later, I woke up to the sound of the door opening. The sun was still up, so it couldn't have been Flim, he was still at work. Someone was breaking in! There was nothing I could do. I couldn't run, I couldn't hide, I couldn't even move out of bed. All I could do was lay under the sheets and stare as the door opened. The slab of wood slowly creaked open and I heard hooves against the floor. I covered my head with the sheets and tried to stay as still as possible. The steps came closer and closer, until it came right up next to my bed. I tried to be as still as possible, but I was barely able to control my breathing, and I was shaking violently. I was certain that whoever was right next to me could see the sheets moving.

Then suddenly, I heard a voice, "Brother, are you alright? Are you too cold?" I was surprised, but also put at ease. I poked my head out from the sheets, and indeed saw Flim.

He had on his usual concerned face, so I spoke up, "no, I'm fine brother. I was just sleeping." Flim's face eased up a bit and started walking toward the table. "by the way Flim, why are you back so early?"

He stopped moving, and after a moment, turned his head, "The boss wanted me to work at the office for the first half of the day. I came back to gather some supplies before heading off to the construction sight." He turned back to the table.

From what I saw, he seemed to put completely random items into his bag, but I decided to not bother him. While it was just my brother, this was the second time I felt like I was in danger. I decided to tell my brother about my earlier happening. He already had put on his bag, and was heading for the door. "Flim?"

He stopped right at the entrance, "Yes brother?"

"this may sound crazy, but have you seen anything...strange around here?"

Flim turned around to face me, "What do you mean, brother?" His reaction was a bit strange. Has he actually seen these things as well?

"well, a while ago, I saw what looked like black ponies covered in holes. I thought it was just a nightmare, but it seemed so real."

Flim was silent for a bit before he spoke, "Don't be ridiculous brother, how could there be such creatures here? Surely the local authority would have been notified by now." Flim had a point. Surely such monstrous creatures wouldn't be able to hide themselves. Somepony would have noticed them by now.

"you're right Flim, I guess it was just a dream."

"I'm glad you're at ease brother." With that, Flim went through the door, and I went to sleep.

The next time I woke up, I heard Flim's voice through the wall. It sounded like he was talking to somepony, and rather enthusiastically. The next thing I heard was a mare's voice, low and sultry. "my, my, could it be my brother found himself a young mare?" Knowing that my brother started living a normal life made me happy. For the past few days, my condition hasn't been getting worse at all. While I'm certainly not getting any better, I'm at least not going deeper each day. But then, a dark thought came to me, what would happen if I passed on? Flim has practically developed his own life, completely independent from me. In fact, if I was gone, he wouldn't have to work so hard, and would have more time for himself. I've been nothing but a burden to him this entire time. If I were gone, Flim would most certainly have a better life...

Right as I finished that thought, Flim slammed through the door. "I have great news brother!" He ran right up against my bed and continued. "The key to your recovery! A sure fire, without a doubt, way to cure your sickness!" I couldn't believe what he was saying. Could he have truly found a way to remedy me? No pony was willing to help us. Perhaps his mare friend was connected to it somehow.

"well brother, what is it that you found?" Flim took out something completely wrapped in cloth out of his bag.

"I can't show you now, the risks would be too high, but believe me when I say that within this cloth, is an object that will bring you back to health instantly! All I need to do is create a device that can properly utilize its magic!"

This was too good to be true. Could what Flim found actually do such a thing? What was it? Where did he find it? There were too many questions for me to fully believe him. And it wasn't until then I realized a mare standing by the door. She was a rather peculiar looking one. Dark skin, sickly green hair, and strange looking eyes. Something was off about this young unicorn. I had my doubts about her, just like I did about the wrapped object. There was something about these two things that bothered me. They both had strange auras about them. And for some reason, they reminded me of my nightmare. But Flim looked so enthusiastic about it all, that I didn't want to bring up any objections. And plus, even if we've been out of the game, its no easy task to scam a scammer.

So Flim quit his job, and devoted his time to manufacturing his device. Seeing him working so happily helped my condition just a small bit. Enough to give me the strength to partially lift myself out of bed. I was now able to look through the window, something I was unable to do for weeks. Several times a day, I saw Flim going back and forth, gathering supplies, moving equipment, and looking over his plans. While this reminded me of our old days, something about him bothered me. Whenever I saw him up close, I could see dark rings around his eyes, and a green tint around his pupils. Each day, they would get larger and larger. It couldn't be from exhaust, he's doing less physical labor than from his old job. His body started to look a bit gray, and he started to mumble to himself after a while. But what bothered me the most, was that strange mare. She was always with him, following him, not saying a thing. She always had a neutral look on her face. I fear my original doubts may have been well warranted.

One night, I found myself unable to sleep. Everything that was happening made me extremely uneasy. I looked over and saw Flim fast asleep. I lifted myself partly out of bed, and saw the cloth wrap on the table. With great struggle, I lifted the cloth using magic. Very slowly, I unwrapped the cloth, careful to not make any noise. What was underneath bewildered me. It was some sort of, horn. Black at the base and red at the tip. Just looking at it sent chills down my spine. What was it? This strange object? I could feel the dark intent seeping out of it. How could something like this possibly help me?

I was so entranced, that I failed to notice somepony entering the room. "You shouldn't look through your brother's belongings without permission." I looked over to the sound of the voice, and saw somepony in front of the window. It was that mare who was always with flam. The moon light made her a silhouette and her shadow crawled all the way to the other side of the room. She slowly walked over to the table, and wrapped up the horn. She then went to the door, but before leaving, she stopped and said, "You should leave your brothers to his own devises." She closed the door behind her, leaving me fully awake.