New Faces

Rush was standing outside the pen, staring inside. His mouth was set and his eyes glaring, watching the horses sleeping. It was very early, still nighttime in fact, but he was up when most were still asleep.

Rush had been happy that Chosen had returned, but something was wrong. First was that Chosen had greeted him as always, but hadn’t gone to see the horses.

He always went to see the horses. So, in Rush’s tiny mind, he suspected that Chosen must have become afraid of the horses for some reason.

Rush respected Chosen. He was only a few years younger, but Chosen was like an adult to Rush. And if he, Rush, was brave with the horses, maybe he could help Chosen become brave again.

He carefully open the gate and entered, taking care to step softly and slowly. He made his way to their sleeping forms and stood there, watching.

When they were asleep they were not scary. They seemed peaceful. Rush smiled and hesitated before slowly reaching out to one. He gently touched it, and when it didn’t move rubbed. The fur was soft and warm and he smiled.

One shifted and he jolted back, taking a few steps away before taking a deep breath. They hadn’t woken up. All three were…

He counted again, and noticed that the bird horse was missing. Then he heard a gentle sound behind him and he simply froze.

He trembled as he slowly turned to look behind him. He gave a soft gasp when he saw it. The bird horse was right behind him, its eyes half lidded as if it had just awoken.

He couldn’t make a sound, his heart thundering in his chest. Up close, it seemed even bigger, only a little smaller than he was.

The pair stared at each other for a moment, and then the bird horse’s eyes softened. Then she hummed, and Rush hesitated in his fear, listening. It was calming, almost as if the horse was trying to tell him that it was alright.

He swallowed and decided to try. He reached out, half expecting to get attacked. She tipped her head and continued to hum when he touched her, pressing her head into his hand.

Rush gave a gentle giggle, and the bird horse smiled at him.

He noticed motion, and turned to see Chosen entering the pen. But something was off. He almost looked… translucent.

“Chosen?” Rush asked, the bird horse turning to look.

Chosen saw him, and then stared. “It runs in the family.” he muttered. “Great.”

He glared, and rush backed up a little.

“Change of plans.” he said, and rushed the pair. They only had time to gasp, and suddenly found themselves elsewhere. Just on the outskirts of the Everfree, next to an apple orchard.

Rush was abruptly tossed into a deep pit, and yelled as he hit the ground. He looked up, to see Chosen glaring down at him. The pit was almost twenty feet deep.

“That was meant for something else, but you’ll do fine. Imagine, if you hadn’t been curious, you’d be safe.”

“You’re not Chosen!” he yelled. Chosen chuckled.

“I’m not. Sit tight; no one’s coming to save you.” He turned away, and Rush heard, “As for you…”

Then a snap. And a scream, followed by more snapping and worse screaming as Rush huddled in the pit and tried to block the sounds.

The screaming stopped, and turned into a pained sobbing. Rush heard a laugh, a dark laugh, enjoying the pain. It grew until it almost sounded mad, and then faded, whatever was making it leaving.

Rush was crying from what he had heard, the child shocked and horrified. He looked up, and tried to climb. The pit was too thin and he too weak for him to be able to. He kept trying until He couldn’t anymore, and just started screaming for help.

His cry went unheard.

I am happy. I walk in a field, a perfect field. Clouds hang in the sky and fog obscure my sight, but the place is bright and wonderful. I feel peaceful, more so than I ever have been.

I find a river, a wide river, flowing peacefully. I smile at it, and look past it to just barely see the far bank. That side looks even better, but before I can step in the water, I see another centaur on the far side.

“Chosen, no!” it calls, the voice somewhat desperate. “Stay there! Don’t touch the water!”

I hesitate, wondering. As I watch, the centaur paces back and forth before leaping into the water.

The river is calm, and not deep at all. I can see that easily. But the other centaur fights as if caught in rapids, as if the river was impossibly deep.

I stared in confusion until I notice her beginning to sink. I have to help!

I call the water, but it isn’t listening. The centaur is drowning, and the water isn’t listening to me. Teacher told me not to, but…

I demand it to listen, and force it to obey. A tide of water bring the centaur closer, and water angry at me, but I do not care. Another tug, and she is on my side of the river.

I hurry to her and help her up. “Are you alright?” I ask. She looks at me and tears appear in her eyes.

“Chosen.” she says, and I recognize the voice. I had heard her before, in the big stone building.

She hugs me, and I flinch, but… there is something familiar. So very familiar.

I hug her back, and my own tears threaten to come. I don’t know why.

We stay like that until she lets go and smiles at me through her tears.

“Let me see you.” she asks. She smiles a little more after a moment.

“You have grown so big and strong… Martuk must be so proud of you.”

“You know father? Who are you?” I ask.

“I do know him, I know him very well. My name is Fast Rabbit.”

“… How do I… I know you, in a way. Why?”

She sighs. “I wish I could tell you, but I cannot. You have a female relying on you.”

A female? Who is…? “Trixie!” I yell.

“Yes. She needs you, and you, her.”

The beast! The fight… I… this place…

“Where am I?” I ask in fear.

“This is called the far fields Chosen.”

“Then I…”

“Not yet. It is not your time Chosen. You need to return, and live. You need to save them. Feel it; you are alive, your heart still beats. Focus on that, remember your life.”

I nod and then do so. After a moment I do feel a heartbeat again. I feel things again, but I feel one thing more than anything else;

The break. It is within me, and I think it is keeping my heart beating. I pull away from it, and look back into the eyes of Fast Rabbit.

“I…”

“Let her help you.” she says, “The magic is nothing to be afraid of. She wants to help you. Go back to her Chosen.”

I trust her. I do not know why, but I trust her. Maybe even more than I trust father. I begin focusing again, and ignore the magic within me that time.

“Live Chosen!” I hear her say, her voice growing fainter, “Help them! Help them all!”

“And when you see your father again, tell him that his prey watches him still!”

The fog envelops me, and then darkness falls. A sudden pain grips me and I groan against it, shifting to try and reduce it. I hear a happy gasp.

“Chosen! Thank Celestia.”

“Chosen, don’t move too much. You are very hurt, and Trixie is not a healer. Keep breathing! It is very important!”

I manage to open one eye in my pain, and see Trixie, her horn alight. We are in a cave of some kind, and the white filly is nearby, happy. Both look… worn and dirty.

I close my eye again, and shudder. The pain is like fire in my veins, and a horrible pain in my chest. I can barely think.

“Rest Chosen. Trixie is not going to let you die! Come on…”

More magic comes to me, but it sooths the burn. The pain lessons. Maybe Fast was right; magic is nothing to be afraid of. So long as I know it is Trixie.

But she is incapable of truly healing me. The pain remains, just a little less. I need time to recover, and something is telling me that I do not have much time. I can do nothing but wait and hope.

Perspective, pony

Soft was not happy to be woken during the night by the creaking of the gate. She had been sleeping slightly apart from the others, and saw a tiny one enter the pen and creep toward them.

She got up and moved away, and then crept up behind it, wondering what it was doing.

It touched Good, and seemed happy. Soft wondered what it… he, was doing, and then froze when it did so.

She relaxed as he turned, and tried to appear nonthreatening. He trembled in obvious fear, and the terror in his eyes was easy to see.

He was no monster. He was just a scared child. Scared of her. What could she do? An idea came to her instantly. She hummed.

He calmed slowly as she kept humming, and when he reached a trembling hand out, she helped him to touch her and rub her head, smiling. After a moment he smiled back and giggled, like a foal would.

She saw him look past her and growl something. She turned and saw the other one, but something was wrong. She had never seen that expression on his face, the one of surprise.

And then he scowled, and she yelled when he charged the pair of them. Everything went white, and she grunted when she hit the earth.

In front of her, she saw the beings ahead of her, the smallest stunned. The other changed, grew larger and threw him down a deep pit.

A conversation seemed to occur, and then the other turned to look at her.

She was paralyzed from the sheer malice in those eyes. The hate it seemed to have.

“As for you…” it growled, stomping over.

“Wait!” she yelled, and tried to move. It moved faster, and caught a wing in its grasp.

She screamed when it snapped it like a dry twig. She screamed worse when it did the same to the next.

It tossed her, and then, one at a time, stamped on each leg. Soft screamed until she could scream no more, and sobbed, every limb limp and useless.

“I hate it. Hate you all. Anything else would have been fighting, but you ponies… you want to be friends, even after so much.” it growled. “And now it comes to this;”

“If I have to break you myself, I will do so. If I have to make you suffer as nothing has, I shall. If you won’t do it to yourselves, then I will be more than happy to take my satisfaction with my own hands.”

“You know, if he hadn’t seen me, then this wouldn’t have happened. I would only have taken the child, and thrown her into that pit to die slowly. The anguish of her parents and the child would have been enough. But not anymore.”

It grabbed her head and forced her to look into its eyes. “I’m not playing anymore. If you won’t play my games, then I will make you wish you had. I am going to burn everything you love to ashes around you, and when you find yourself empty inside, then I will grant you release. Only when you are completely broken.”

“Enjoy hearing the little one’s cries as it starves. I assure you, it is most pleasant to listen to.”

It dropped her again, Soft feeling caught in a living nightmare.

“And if you think your heroes will come to save you…”

It laughed, the worst laugh Soft had ever heard. It kept laughing, growing louder and more insane, until it finally left them, its laughter ringing in their ears.

Soft sobbed, both from the pain and fear. The pain was indescribable, but the fear was worse.

Whatever that monster was, it was only just beginning. It had promised to make her suffer more, and she didn’t doubt that. Not at all.

She heard the other one crying in the pit, screaming out. The meaning of those cries wasn’t hard to guess. And she was going to have the pleasure of listening to a child dying from hunger. She sobbed, her limbs useless, every one. She cried, lacking the strength to do anything else.

And it devoured the pain and despair without end. Smiling at her from the distance. The hunger was bad in Equestria, and it had become desperate. It would never have harmed something itself normally. But Equestria was too peaceful, and the centaur too cautious.

They were not attacking each other, and starving it. It needed more to survive. Trixie had reached her end, as had Sweetie. Chosen was a hard one to take despair from, even when he had been stabbed by the manticore. So it would return to the pair.

Plucking Soft’s wings sounded like a good start. So was positioning her to look into the pit and watch Rush decay.

There was too much for it to do for now, but it would return. It promised itself that.