Nisarga

Chapter 2

Sweetie Belle was a lot more intimidating than she originally let on. At first, I thought that she was a professional, but all around classy woman. But after her rage-filled rant about her morning, I found that staying on her good side should be one of my top priorities.

After leaving her room, and eventually the house, we walked the streets of Ponyville in the peaceful dawnlight. After walking around the town for about 10 minutes, I got up enough courage to ask the question that I wanted to since we left.

“Um… Sweetie Belle?” I asked quietly, as if just my words could wake up the city. “Where exactly are we going?”

“We’re going to wait for a friend of mine,” she said, stopping in the middle of a large plaza. She pointed towards a lone mare pushing a cart slowly towards us. When we approached her, she looked up and smiled in our direction.

“What are ya doin’ out here, Sweetie Belle?” asked the mare. “Shouldn’t ya be passed out by now?”

“Well, someone woke me up,” she said as her eyes moved to me. “And I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I decided to stay up and help you.”

“That’s mighty kind of you, Sweetie Belle.” Her eyes finally fell on me. “Mind introducing me to your friend?”

“Oh, sure,” she said, as if we were old friends. “This is Bumi. He’s a little new in town and found himself at the boutique a little later than our closing hours.” Her friend apparently believed the bluff and put out her hand.

“Nice to meet’cha. My name’s Applebloom.” I took her hand and proceeded to be shaken vigorously. “What brings you tah Ponyville?”

“Uh… family problems?” I said, more as a question than a statement. “Sorry, I’m just a little tired…”

“I look forward to knowing ya better, but I’ve got tah do a bit of work first.” She kept pushing her cart past us. “I’ll see ya later Sweetie Belle.”

“Wait a second, Applebloom,” she said. “I came here to help.” She blinked a few times and smiled.

Okay then.” A long yawn escaped her. “All ah need help with right now is staying awake. Nobody’s gonna be up this early except fer me and AJ.”

As if on cue, a mare walked by wearing a long coat, only revealing a lock of green hair as she scuttled by. We all watched her disappear around a corner before snapping back to our own conversation.

“Oookay, anyways,” said Sweetie Belle. “Bumi, could you get us some coffee? There’s a shop not to far from here.”

“I know the shop,” I admitted. “But will the really be open this time of morning?”

“Don’t worry,” she assured me as she handed me a bag of bits. “They have some sort of window for small orders. Check around the back for it.”

“O-okay, I guess.” I started walking in the direction of the coffee place I first met Sweetie Belle. Walking around the back, I saw a man with jet black skin and bright white hair sat on a chair behind the wall, clicking away on his phone. As he saw me approach, he put away the phone.

“Hi, what would you like?” His name tag said his name was Silver Rift, a name I couldn’t exactly remember, but definitely knew.

“I’ll have two coffees one with two sugars and a cream, one straight.” I said, remembering their orders from earlier. “Oh, and a caramel cappuccino please.”

“Coming right up,” he said, leaving the chair and my line of sight.

For a while, nothing even stirred my attention from that window. Then, a can was knocked over behind me, making me turn around. Nothing was there except for a broken street lamp. I then turned back to the window. I could hear the pouring of presumably fresh coffee into a cup, so I thought it wasn’t going to take long.

Another rattling caught my ear, but I didn’t think much of it, and shrugged it off. Again, something behind me rattled, this time it was louder and more profound. I tried to ignore it, but the rattling sounded as if it was right behind me, prompting me to look back. What I saw what both scary and thrilling at the same time.

The mare from earlier appeared before me for a second. Under the hood, I could see bright yellow eyes, green skin, and wispy hands. She passed through me, leaving a chill in my spine. I spun around and looked towards the window only to find the person sitting there with the drinks.

“Are you okay?” he asked holding out the drinks. “That’ll be 30 bits.” I emptied out the bag she gave me and gave him the bits. He counted them again and nodded in my direction. “You stay safe out there.”

“Thanks, you too,” I said half walking, half running back from the shop. I looked around for the mare that “attacked” me, but I couldn’t find her. Finally making it back to the cart, I found that Applebloom had nodded off, and that Sweetie Belle wasn’t doing much better. I put the coffee next to Applebloom and tapped Sweetie Belle on the shoulder.

“Hmm…?” she said, realizing she fell asleep. “Oh man, looks like I was tired after all.”

“I’ll help out Applebloom. You can go back to your house.”

“Yeah, like I’m leaving one of my best friends with some guy that tried to eat my soul.” she rubbed her eyes. “I’m completely fine.”

“Than take her with you,” I suggested. “Just make sure you get some sleep, okay?”

“Why should I trust you? How do I know you won’t just steal the cart and disappear?”I laughed at her comment.

“What use would I have for regular food? If I eat it, it wouldn’t fill me up.” I could see her eyes falling and yawns escape her left and right. “Plus, I don’t need to sleep.”

“Fine,” she said. “But If I come back and you’re gone, if I ever find you-” apparently she was too tired to come up with the rest of the threat.

“I-I think I get it,” I said, a smile crossing my face. “Just get some sleep.” She laid Applebloom over her shoulder, looked at me one more time and then disappeared in a flash of green light. I turned towards the cart and pushed it into the empty plaza, waiting for the day to pick up.

When I woke up, I was a little dazed and tired. I didn’t know the time, but I could see the sun, so I assumed that it was about 8 o’clock. Applebloom was still passed out next to me from yesterday, but I could look over her to glance at the time, my heart skipping a beat when I saw it.

“Applebloom, wake up! It’s almost 6 o’clock!” she grunted and rolled over.

“So? I can sleep till’ at least 8,” she said groggily. I shook her and tried to get her to wake up.

“No, you don’t get it! It’s almost 6 in the afternoon!” At that, she sprang up, eyes wide in terror. “We have to get to the cart, now!”

We both got dressed as fast as we could and started heading out of the door. I threw open my drawer and found myself some pants. Throwing Applebloom a pair of jeans, I looked at my bathroom, realizing that this would probably be the first day I could remember in which I didn’t take a shower. Applebloom shook me out of my daze.

“C’mon, teleport us there!” I nodded my head and concentrated. Instead of teleporting like I usually did, a familiar voice popped in my head.

“Man. what a day,” it said.echoing through my head. “I wonder if they slept all day.” the laugh told me that it was Bumi who was thinking about all of this. “That’d be embarrassing.”

“Oh yeah?” I said aloud. “Well, let me come down there and see how much progress you made!” I opened my eyes to see a confused Applebloom. I blushed and closed my eyes again. This time, I felt the familiar pressure of a teleport and the wind start to rush pass. After I opened my eyes, I found myself looking directly at Bumi. Applebloom reacted much faster than I did.

“Give me the apron, quickly!” She grabbed the apron’s strap off of his neck and put it on her own. “Ah, appreciate this, but ya’ll have to act as if I was here the whole time, understand?”

“Uh, yeah,” said Bumi, leaving the stand. “Just a random customer.”

“So, I heard you badmouthing me earlier,” I said to Bumi. “Did you find something funny?” He put up his hands in defense.

“Ahaha, so you heard that…” he said quietly. “I don’t know if that’s bad mouthing, but-”

“Hey guys,” said a voice from behind me. As I turned, I found out Scootaloo was standing behind me. “Hey Bumi.”

“So you guys already know each other?” I asked. She nodded her head .

“Yeah. When I saw that he was taking Applebloom’s place, I had to ask why he was here and who he was.” She crossed her hands and raised an eyebrow. “I thought we told each other everything, Sweetie Belle.”

“Sorry, it’s just that everything happened so fast, and I never had the time to tell you-”

“Ooooh, okay.” she said. “You were just going through a heat cycle-”

“Wait, what!” I yelled. “What did he tell you?!”

“Well, he said that he met you early this morning, that you guys made some kind of connection, and that you know each other better than ever now.” She tapped her foot on the ground. “I think that’s enough to say you’ve got a new special somepony, and I didn’t know about it.” With that, my face flushed red.

“T-that’s not what he meant, trust me,” I said flashing him an angry glare. “What he really meant was a different type of connection.”

“Then what type of connection did you make?” asked Scootaloo as she badgered me for information.

“It’s… complicated to tell, but I’m sure someone like Zecora knows.” I shook my head. “No, she’s out of town for at least another moon…”

“Well,” said Bumi, calling attention to himself. “I think I know a little of what happened.” he cleared his throat. “So, the real reason I went into Sweetie Belle’s room this morning was to-”

“Wait,” I said to him through my thoughts. “Are you sure we should tell people about this?”

“I thought they were your best friends and that you told them everything.” What he said was true, but I wasn’t sure yet.

“I don’t know…” I thought unconsciously. “Maybe Bumi has a point, and I should tell them. One the other hand, Scootaloo’s mouth can run at 100 miles an hour, so I’m not exactly thrilled to tell her....”

“Uh, Sweetie Belle?” said Bumi interrupting my thoughts. “I think they’re starting to get impatient.” I actually sighed. opening my eyes again.

“Go on,” I said out loud.

“Well, I went to Sweetie Belle’s room to… eat her soul-”

“And before you freak out, I’m completely fine.” I said to ease the explanation.

“-but after I finished, her soul wormed it’s way through me and broke free, releasing all the other souls in the process. With no other body to go to, they all burrowed in Sweetie Belle.” There was a stifling silence for a bit before Applebloom broke it again.

“A-ah don’t understand,” stuttered Applebloom. “W-what exactly are you?”

“Not a pony, that’s for sure,” he said, startling them even further. “But don’t worry. For some reason, after all of my souls were extracted from me, I still feel full.”

“What do you mean ‘full’?” asked Scootaloo. “You eat souls?”

“Sorry if that scares you guys. I swear I didn’t mean it.”

“I have a question for you,” I said speaking up. “Why did you choose my soul out of everyone in Ponyville?”

“You were the first pony I saw yesterday morning,” he admitted. “I saw you three enter that coffee shop. You even sat at my table.”

“But the table was empty when we sat at it,” I remarked. “Do you have the ability to become invisible?”

“It’s a lot more complicated than that.” he said. “I don’t know what happened to it, but I used to be able to unconsciously alter perception. Basically, if you stared at that chair really hard for a couple of minutes, I’d slowly start to appear.”

All of us were silent for a moment. From Bumi’s revelation to his perception thing, everyone had something new they learned. It was Bumi who finally broke the silence in my head.

“So,” he started. “Everything alright? It’s a little creepy to be standing like this in the middle of the street.”

“Just give them a little time. they’ll come around eventu-”

“So, let me get all my facts straight,” said Scootaloo. “You’re a soul eating thing that goes around taking the souls of random ponies?”

“Yeah…” he replied slowly.

“And Sweetie Belle was your last target before this happened right?”

“Yes, go on.” She was quiet for a few seconds until a small smile appeared on her face.

“I’ve got to hand it to you. For a soul eating killer, from what I’ve seen, you’re a pretty nice guy.” she looked at Applebloom. “I’m sure you agree, right Applebloom?”

“Ah’m a little confused,” Applebloom admitted. “Ya can’t eat regular food, like hotdogs or apples?”

“Well, of course I could,” Bumi said putting my hands up. “But it would take almost all of this world’s food supply to fill me up the way a soul does.” Scootaloo’s face lit up and a sound similar to a small mouse mouse escaped her.

“What was that?” I asked.

“I have an idea!” she said excitedly. “Say Bumi,” she said putting her hands on her hips. “How do you like hotdogs?”