My voice caught in my throat, and I froze up. Slowly, I raised my head up and off of Tranquility’s chest, and found myself staring into her eyes once more. There was something different this time, though. All of the pain, hurt, and shock was still there, but the deadened, glassy look had vanished, replaced with a sharp and piercing stare. It was one laden with terrible, terrible pain, but it was an intelligent, aware stare all the same.

It meant she wasn’t unresponsive anymore...

And relief surged through me.

“Oh, thank Celestia,” I whispered, tightening my embrace around her to the point where she let out a pained grunt. I buried my face in her chest and started to sob again, this time from relief. I could feel her start to cry as well, her body shaking and her tears dripping onto my mane. We didn’t say anything else to each other for a while, and I don’t think we needed to. The comfort of just holding each other was enough.

Eventually, though, Tranquility broke the silence. “Y-you’re okay,” she whispered. “Is e-everyone else alive as w-well?”

“T-they are,” I answered, pulling my head away from her chest and starting to nuzzle her face and neck. “We’re a-all fine. C-cam pulled us into h-her box and a-away from that monster.”

“W-we’re safe?” Tranquility asked breathlessly.

“F-for now,” I answered, letting my head rest on her shoulder. She let out a shaky sigh and did the same, her wings extending and wrapping around me.

“Geisa Reah,” she murmured. “I… I don’t want to go through that again. I-I thought you d-died, and I thought it was my fault… and then the guilt and sadness consumed me. I-I was in a b-bad place, Fall. It did that to me without e-even trying… and it made me remember…” She trailed off, her throat closing up slightly, if her small gasps were any indication. “The o-only reason I’m back is b-because you s-started crying,” she whispered, her voice sounding strained. “It t-touched my soul and brought me back s-somehow.”

I nodded softly. “I’m just g-glad you’re back,” I whispered softly, tightening my hold on her.

We sat in silence for a little longer. My mind drifted off, and I started to reminisce on our situation. It seemed we’d truly fallen to our lowest. We’d made out of Has’rou, but now we were trapped in a small, pocket dimension of sorts. Our only method of escape would be to jump out of here, and then Ivy would start to chase us again, which would lead to our inevitable deaths… it wasn’t a pleasant thought, but it was reality.

I was brought out of my reverie by the sound of quiet sniffling. I felt a small trembling in Tranquility’s body, too. “You o-okay?” I asked.

“No,” she answered. I felt a hot tear drip onto my shoulder, and she let out a sigh. “I-it’s still on my m-mind… I t-tried to forget w-what it showed me. T-to have it b-brought up again… I’m s-sorry. I’m a g-gigantic mess.”

“N-no,” I protested. “You’re not a mess.” I paused for a moment before pulling my head off of my shoulder. “Do you w-want to talk about it?”

“About w-what?” she asked shakily.

“What the creature m-made you remembe-”

“NO!”

The sheer ferocity of her shout startled me, actually causing me to jerk away from her, even as she jumped away from me. Her eyes had gone wide with her burst of panic, and she had started to take deep, heaving breaths. Confusion blossomed through me. “What?” I asked dumbly.

“Just… just no,” Tranquility whispered, her breathing starting to slow. “I-I… Somepony k-knew what happened, and t-they did all they c-could to distance themselves f-from me and make my life a-as miserable as they c-could… I d-don’t want that to happen again…”

“Tranquility…” I said softly, moving closer to her. “Do you think I’d do that to you?”

She didn’t respond for a moment. “N-no,” she whispered. “But I’m s-scared anyway.”

“You d-don’t have to be,” I said. Before she could protest, I moved in and swept her into another embrace. “You can tell me anything, no matter what it is. Getting this off of your chest might help. I won’t think less of you for it… I promise.”

For a long while, she didn’t answer me, tucking her head below my chin and taking deep breaths. I waited patiently, not wanting to turn her away by saying anything else. I was curious, definitely curious, but if it was going to hurt her, then I didn’t want to know. Instead, I started to run my hooves up and down her back and sides, trying to calm her down even more. It seemed to work, with her moving her wings out of my way so I could. After a while of sitting in that silence, she took a deep, shaky breath.

“I-I never knew m-my father,” she began, her voice soft enough that I could barely hear it. I could tell she was barely suppressing tears, though, and I tightened my hold on her.“I w-was told that when h-he found out I was on the way, h-he fled into the night, not wanting to d-deal with the stress and financial strain I w-would bring. I don’t r-resent him for it. I’m sure he w-was a nice stallion, otherwise, my mother w-wouldn’t have gotten with him.

“I-I know that’s true b-because I knew my mom. She w-was the best p-parent I could have asked for, always looking out f-for me, doing everything s-she could to protect and shelter me from the terrible world w-we lived in. When I look b-back at old photos, I can see m-myself in her… and I’m glad that I do. S-she was an a-amazing pony…” she trailed off, letting out a sigh.

“What did you mean by ‘the terrible world’ you lived in?” I asked softly. I had a bad feeling about what this was leading up do, but I didn’t show it.

“Canterlot,” she answered, a shudder running through her body. “I-it was t-the worst p-place I could h-have been born, the w-worst place a pony like m-me can live. It’s so m-much more anti-thestral than y-you know, Fall… so much worse…” she trailed off again, starting to take deep breaths once more. I felt a few tears soaking into the crook of my neck, and the trepidation I’d been feeling intensified. “B-but in a way, I w-was lucky,” she said eventually. “My mother was in p-poverty when I was born.

“I-I know that sounds bad, and i-in some ways, it was. I-I remember many, m-many nights when we d-didn’t have enough to eat and m-my mother would give me h-her food, and we shared a s-small, one story b-building with a family o-of gryphons, down i-in the slums of the c-city. Mom and I s-shared a worn-out mattress, too, and we only had o-one blanket, even on the cold nights. I r-remember that s-sometimes, I would w-wake up crying because my wings h-had gotten cold… My m-mother also h-had to work incredibly l-long shifts at a local h-hospital just to support us. When I p-put it like that, i-it sounds absolutely terrible, b-but there was one thing that m-made up for all of it.

“We were accepted. T-the slums w-were the friendliest place i-in Canterlot, with ponies, gryphons, z-zebras, minotaurs, and diamond d-dogs living together i-in harmony. I h-had a small group o-of friends, a-and even though w-we didn’t have toys to play with, w-we still had so m-much fun together. We all w-would band together i-in times of crisis, too. Once, I r-remember that a s-stallion got really, r-really sick. I k-kid you not, everyone b-bound together and g-gave a portion of t-their money to g-get him help from a b-better hospital than the l-local one, and because of that, he survived. I-it was a-amazing, and a place I’m p-proud to have o-once called my home.”

“Wow,” I whispered. It was all I could say. The way Tranquility described that place, one which I’d always assumed to be dirty, grimy, filled with crime, and generally terrible, made me feel like I should live there. I felt bad that she’d been in such a bad spot, but strangely, I didn’t think I needed to. It was rather perplexing. “W-what changed?”

“We moved,” she whispered, sharp, terrible hurt in her voice. Instantly, a feeling of dread spread over me. “D-during an inspection from the government at my m-mother’s hospital, s-she did something impressive enough to earn an offer t-to go to a much, much better o-one. H-her paycheck got a h-huge boost with it, t-too. She accepted, a-and after a year or so, a few d-days after I turned four, she said s-she had s-saved up enough money to b-buy a house i-in the upper l-levels of the city. I-In fact, it was o-one level below yours.”

“S-so you got out of poverty?” I asked.

“W-we did…” she said, trailing off. “But I wish we d-didn’t.”

I was afraid to ask. In fact, I was positively terrified, scared of what I could learn, but I had to. “Why?” I whispered.

She didn’t answer right away, tensing up. I started to rub her back again, the trepidation in my soul rising. The tension didn’t leave her body, but she did start to take deep breaths. “Because t-then my mother w-would still be alive.”

I froze, my eyes going wide. I knew that Tranquility’s mom was no longer with us, of course, but I didn’t know that it was affecting Tranquility so much. “W-what happened?” I asked softly, fear prominent in my voice.

“I-I said goodbye to m-my friends in the slums, s-saying I would visit them… and w-we made the move,” she began softly. My shoulder and neck started to get more and more wet, her tears coming more frequently. “I-it was a beautiful t-two story house. I-I even got my own r-room! I-I spent the whole f-first day exploring, l-laughing and p-prancing around, h-happier than I’d ever been before i-in my life. It was b-barren, it was clean, and it w-was better. I-I spent the second day w-walking around the area w-with my mother, exploring… b-but on the third d-day, I r-realized something.

“T-the third day was when I t-tried to make f-friends with o-our neighbors. I-I don’t remember m-much, but I do r-remember something that s-summed up the whole e-experience. I-I said hi to t-the c-colt across t-the street, and h-he turned his s-snout up at me and w-walked away, disgust practically oozing f-from his body. N-nobody was friendly, l-like they were in the s-slums… and that was c-crushing. I-I complained to m-my mother a-about it, a-and she said thing w-would get b-better. It s-stressed me o-out enough that m-mom insisted I take a nap, and a-as I result, I went to bed a-at dusk. T-that n-night…” she trailed off, starting to tremble. A high-pitched whine built up in her throat. “T-that night-” She broke off, starting to cry again.

Concern and a little panic welled up in me, and I tightened my hold on her. “T-take as much time as y-you need-” I began, but was cut off abruptly.

“That night, s-someone SET O-OUR HOUSE ON FIRE!” she screamed.

Instantly, my entire thought process ground to a halt, replaced by one emotion- horror. I didn’t want to believe it, but Tranquility’s broken sobs booked no argument. She was telling the truth.

The horrible, horrible truth.

I didn’t want to believe that the ponies of Canterlot, the ponies I’d been born among and raised by, could do something so horrendous, but in my heart, I knew it was true. I’d seen how Tranquility was treated in school. She was shunted aside, bullied and teased, and thrown out of all of the social circles there just because she sounded like a thestral. It was just an extension of that hatred that would lead something like that, especially if she had just moved out of the slums.

But she didn’t stop there.

Her breathing started to increase to the point where she was hyperventilating, and her trembling also increased. A spike of worry drove itself into my mind, and I started to worry she was having a panic attack.

Then, she started to speak.

“I-I woke up a-and my r-room was filled w-with smoke,” she said breathlessly through her tears, her eyes glazing over. I realized with a start that she was remembering it, and I started to nuzzle her frantically, trying to reach her. “I started s-scream for m-mom, running to m-my door. I-I fumbled w-with the doorknob f-for a few seconds, m-my hooves slippery w-with sweat. I-I opened the door j-just in time to s-see my m-mother collapse o-onto the floor, u-unconscious.

“I-I ran over t-to her, screaming ‘Mama! Mama, get up!’ but she d-didn’t move. I-I climbed o-onto her back, s-shaking her, p-poking her, screaming f-for h-her to get u-up until m-my voice b-broke and I s-started coughing u-up blood, b-but it didn’t w-work. I-I w-was short enough that I w-was below the s-smoke line. A-all that meant w-was that I was a-awake to see w-what h-happened when t-the flames reached u-us.

“T-the first t-thing to go w-was her tail. It went u-up in orange, s-sooty flames a-as an acrid smell filled the a-air. T-that s-set her c-coat ablaze, and I w-watched as that burned away, b-blackening the s-skin and f-flesh beneath it. I started to scream m-more, d-despite my d-damaged throat, crying f-for help, s-someone, a-anyone to s-save us, b-but no one c-came. T-then the b-bulk of the f-flames were u-upon us…

“I-I watched as m-my mother’s flesh b-began to f-flake off, b-burning down to t-the bone. Her l-legs became skeletal. H-her wings b-burned away… and I-I couldn’t d-do anything b-but scream, a-and then the e-embers f-from the fire s-started to fly through t-the air… t-they landed on m-my wings, b-burning through the l-leather, and m-my screams b-became ones o-of agony. I-it w-was then that the f-firefighters s-showed up. T-they h-had to p-pry me off o-of my mother’s b-burning corpse. B-but the shock a-and pain w-was too much for m-me, and I p-passed out. T-the last thing I-I remember f-from that n-night w-was m-my mother’s eyelid’s b-burning off, revealing a dead, l-lifeless stare, before her eyes m-melted out of t-the sockets.

“I-I woke up i-in the hospital, c-covered in b-bandages and i-in s-searing agony. T-the doctors h-had performed a h-half-flanked healing s-spell on me, leaving me w-with d-discolored white p-patches on the leather of my w-wings where t-the embers had b-burned through them. T-there was a n-newspaper o-on my bed, probably l-left b-by a careless d-doctor. O-on the front p-page w-was a picture of my b-burning house, a-and written in the a-air above it in g-glowing, fiery letters was o-one w-word: batshit.

“A-after I had h-healed up, t-they sent me to a-an orphanage. I d-don’t remember the n-name, and I d-don’t want to. The mare w-who ran the p-place absolutely h-hated me, and I t-think it was b-because I was a thestral. S-she didn’t w-withhold dinner from the o-others on a whim, a-after all. W-when I r-reached out to her a-about what happened… she t-told m-me to s-shut up, t-that the d-death of m-my mother didn’t m-matter. L-luckily, I got o-out of there, a-and m-my adoptive parents u-understood… but I still remember… I remember every second of it!” She paused for a moment before her eyes widened slightly, and she broke down, pressing her face into my chest and starting to sob.

I barely registered it, my jaw having gone slack. In a subconscious way, I understood what had just happened. It was like floodgates opening- when the memory started to leave her lips, it didn’t stop until it was all out, and when what she had said caught up to her, it was overwhelming.

That was shoved to the back of my mind. All I could think about was the horror of what she had to go through.

It seemed like something straight out of my worst nightmares, something to tell as a scary story around a campfire, but it was real. It actually happened, and it happened to the pony I held closest to my heart! It was like a splash of cold water, washing away the shock of what I had just heard and replacing it with concern and horror. I closed my mouth, swallowing dryly. I couldn’t believe she hadn’t told me before or seeked out help. The memory had been torturing her for years, longer than I’d actually known her, and it had all come to a head in a brutal, crushing way. She was left in broken pieces, her soul having been shattered by the monster of Has’rou, and she didn’t know how to go on.

So, I made a promise.

I promised to help her heal. I promised to be there for her if these terrible, terrible memories resurfaced again. And I promised to try to heal the trauma caused by those terrible experiences, no matter what it took. It seemed like the right thing to do, and I somehow knew that I would definitely keep that promise.

I was brought out of my reverie when Tranquility pulled her head off of my chest, sniffling. When I made eye contact with her, she flinched away, dropping her gaze to the ground. To my surprise, she let out a soft, despondent sigh. “I-I’ll go now…” she mumbled.

“What?” I asked reflexively, my eyes widening.

“N-now that you know a-about that, d-don’t you want to get a-as far away from m-me as possible?” she asked, fresh tears springing to her eyes. “T-the other pony w-who knows did, a-and I don’t blame t-them. I’m a m-mess! A scarred, t-traumatized mess! S-someone who’d easily be l-locked up in a m-mental ward if they w-weren’t so good at concealing w-what they held inside! A-and now that y-you’ve heard what h-happened…” She closed her eyes, an agonized grimace spreading across her face. “Y-you’ll turn m-me away, and y-you have every reason to. I-I’m one of the messed-up ones, and someone l-like you doesn’t deserve to b-be around or be friends w-with me. Y-you’re too… too g-good, and I’m a screwed-up, w-worthless-”

What I did next was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

I wasn’t sure exactly why I did it. Maybe it was because my emotions were frayed, and I couldn’t take it anymore. Maybe I did it simply to get it over with, and just chose the worst time possible to do it. Maybe there was no reason. I think, however, that the most plausible theory was that I couldn’t stand Tranquility saying those things about herself, tearing herself down and ending up in an even worse spot than before, and I wanted to show that it wasn’t true in the most direct way possible. It doesn’t matter, because in the end, I still did it.

In the middle of her self-deprecating rant…

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, leaned forward, and firmly planted my lips upon hers.

Author's Note

INSIDE THE AUTHOR'S HEAD:

"Sir!"

"What is it, Rational Thought?"

"Are you sure that was wise, hitting them with the backstory and the kiss in the same chapter? The readers are all staring at their screens in shock!"

"Of course it was wise! I've had this idea in my head since before this story was formulated, before Cam was even a passing thought, and before Fall and Tranquility even had names! I've known exactly how this scene was going to play out for ages, and I'm not going to change anything about it!

"But is that wise-"

"It's wise, damn you!"

"Heart, you don't always make the best choices..."

"Screw it. We're going with this, and that's final."

"..."

"..."

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"The comments section just exploded."

"Oh, this should be entertaining..."

I suppose I should explain how this backstory came to be. The original idea emerged from listening to this song on repeat:

After listening to it a few times, I thought "What if the word batshit was a racial slur towards thestrals?" and my mind took it from there. The mental first draft was completed back in early October, and I sat on it for a while.

Eventually, though, I thought "I need to tell a story about this" and boom, the first inklings of The Adventures of a Tone-Deaf Pony were planted in my mind. I continued to develop it, and eventually, I sat down, wrote out the prologue, and posted it.

In a way, this entire story was written around this one moment.

Does that mean I'm stopping? Oh hell no! This has evolved so much in my head that I can't bear the thought of not completing it. We're going on a ride, and it's gonna be a long time before that ride stops.

But, since I hit this point in the story and we're just a few chapters away from the end of story arc 1, I would like to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for sticking with me over seventy-thousand words, three months, and a whole collection of highs and lows. It means so much to me to wake up and see that this story got another like, or another comment, or even another view! Every time I see that notification bell with red on top of it, my heart soars. So thank you. Thank you all so much.

Thestral Language Guide

~Pyrepinna

Also, could you tell me how well I pulled this off?
And do I need to change this story's rating to mature because of this?
Thanks!
Bye now!