the forgotten one

Crossing the precipice, for a moment twilight was blinded by the bright white light, the cleansing light irritating her eyes forcing her to slam them shut. But instead of the usual darkness this would entail, she was giving a glowing pink haze, as the light penetrated through the thin flesh of her eyelids, allowing her to see the steady flow off blood in some of her larger blood vessels.

Walking forward in a blind stupor, the luminous light soon abated, allowing Twilights eyes to flutter open, the purple irises prepared for a bright light, were instead greeted by the cool interior of a worse for wear pub. The low mumbles of chatter began to fill her ears, as the pony’s that surrounded her began to converse, the muffled topics being discussed forming into a low buzz of white noise, as Twilight was unable to differentiate between any of the conversations.

“Where are we” asked Twilight, turning around to see Ratway and Starlight right behind her.

“The Two Headed Swan, finest pub in the slum district” Said Ratway with a smile, clearly having good memories of this not so fine-looking establishment. Before he walked to the counter and took a seat, waving the two mares over.

“So why did you choose to show us this memory” asked Starlight not quite understanding the significance of what was being shown.

“Simple, the gambling board” he said pointing upwards, a large blackboard stained by a thousand chalk squiggles giving it a pale ashy appearance. The days bets clearly marked, in symbols that to twilight looked like gibberish, the only thing making sense being the date, which if she was reading it right was over a thousand years in the past.

“So you brought us here because the black board always shows the days date” rationalized Twilight trying to understand his train of thought.
“Aye” he said before the scene began to flicker, the pony’s around them moving like mannequins, just popping in and out of existence. It took Twilight a moment to realise what he was doing, as a steady throbbing began to creep into her head, looking up she realised he was layering dozens of memories over each other, like a flick book, going through a cycle. The only thing staying consistent was the date on the obsidian board, the days slowly ticking forward in time, days turning into months and then years, it was at this moment she realised he was spending an unhealthy amount of time in this public house.

“Why did you spend so much time here?” asked Starlight, clearly wondering like Twilight why he had memories for several years of him just sitting at the bar.

“because I had no future” he responded bluntly, then a sharp stinging hit Twilights mind, as she let out a wince of pain, then the memory shifted.

Suddenly Twilight was falling, the muddy cobblestones of a grotty ginnel approaching fast as she landed hard, a unreassuring crunch echoing out of her chest as she cracked a rib, the sudden pain reminding her of what had happened in the jungle, making her just want to curl up and cry. Then she noticed the colour of her fur, it was the off white of Ratway’s coat, snapping her mind to the realisation she was reliving a memory from his direct perspective.

“where you at half caste” came the phlegmy voice of a clearly unfriendly pony.

“Buck!!!!!” came the voice of Ratway through gritted teeth, as he attempted to stand but instead crumpling into the open sewer in the middle of the alley, the thick stench of raw sewage assaulting Twilights nose like she had just fallen in herself.

“Bugger me sideways” choked Ratway as he began to crawl from the open sluiceway, using a nearby trash can to try and stumble to his feet, but cringing with pain he instead fell against the trash receptacle with a dull clang.

“There you are you mongrel” came the voice this time much closer, as the ugliest unicorn Twilight had ever seen emerged from her peripheral vision. The grey and brown stallions face pitted by countless smallpox scars, making it look like the surface of the moon. A grey aura enveloping Ratway and violently flinging him around the alley, his body impacting the stone walls with wet thumps, as twilight relived it with him. To Twilight it felt like eternity, until as fast as it had started the onslaught stopped.

“Now listen you crossbreed basterd, if I ever see you again without me money your fooking dead, you hear me, I would knobble you meself if you weren’t already crippled” growled the stallion, before hocking a massive loogie and spitting it directly into Ratway’s face. The green snot sticking to his short fur before slowly rolling to the mud below with a wet splat.

“tell your dad he has 3 days to pay, or I will cut those pretty eyes out of your mother’s face and depending on how I feel I might skullfuck her as well” said the stallion, thrusting his hips to establish the intent.
With his point made the stallion dropped him, the thick mud below squelching as Ratway hit it, and with that the stallion simply turned, whacking Ratway in the face with his tail for good measure and coolly walked away, slowly chuckling cruelly to himself.

With that the memory faded as the mists of time overtook the scene and Twilight found herself back in the bustling Pub, the upbeat manner in stark contrast to what Ratway had just shown them.

“What do you mean no future?” quizzed Starlight, giving no indication that she had also been privy to the beating Twilight had experienced.

“Well you ave seen my cutiemark right” he said gesturing to the mangled rat in a trap, that adorned his flanks. Most of the time Twilight didn’t really look at ponies cutiemarks, but now it was being mentioned she had a gander at the morbid special talent that he had been gifted with, giving it a half-hearted glace. Her mind more focused on to why Ratway would show her something and then not address it, then what had happened clicked, it was memory leachate, something from his mind had accidently crossed over, as she had been unintentionally exposed to a part of his past, and if more was to follow she wasn’t looking forward to it.

“You okay little dove? you got that look on yer mug that something’s troubling you” Said Ratway, having observed that Twilight had just been standing there with a confused look on her face, having for some reason checked out of the conversation.

“Yes, everything’s fine, just making mental notes” she lied, not wanting to give him any indication she had seen something she shouldn’t have, especially regarding the sketchy content she had just witnessed.

“Ait just checking you went a bit bozeyed for a moment there” he said with a relaxed laugh, not giving any indication that anything was amiss.

“What is your special talent if you don’t mind me asking?” said Twilight, seizing the opportunity to reengage with the conversation. Probing to see if he would show her more memories that would collaborate his alleged age.

“Trapping rats, nothing special” he said in a nonchalant manner, as if the core part of who he was meant nothing to him.

“There must be a story to how you got it” said Twilight remembering back to how she had gotten her own cutiemark, the day happy, as not only was she accepted into Celestia’s magic school, but she also hatched spike.

“Not much to say, whacked a rat with a shovel in the grain house, and it just popped up” he said, his tone still showing it wasn’t very Important to him. Twilight also noted to be careful about introducing him to Fluttershy as she didn’t want him to accidently kill any of her rodent friends.

“Would you mind showing us how you got your cutie mark?” asked Twilight thinking he was holding back on something, as from her experience the moment someone gained their cutiemark, it was a lot more eventful then a yeah that just happened moment.

“Sure, but as I said its aint very interestin” he said, his accent creeping in as he dropped the g, clearly not very enthused with revisiting his childhood. And like that the headache returned and all three of them grimaced in pain, as the bar faded away and was replaced by the cool dark confides of a grain shed. The perspective shifting as all three of them saw the events from Ratway’s perspective.

Within the dark interior of the silo, there was silence other then the gentle creaking of wood, and the steady breathing that Ratway was giving, the aforementioned shovel tightly fixed between his lips. The short hilt of the spade, a cool metal, just like the head, which had one side serrated as to be used to cut turf. The green paint that covered the whole length of the metal tool was heavily chipped cool steel gleaming in the candle light of a small lamp fixed atop his head.

The flickering lamp casting a yellow circle of dim light across the room as he scanned for something. His breath slowing further he fished around in one of the pouches that even as a colt festooned his body, producing a stale hunk of bread, unfit for even a bird table. Casting it ahead of him the solid lump of hard bread rolled a couple of feet, scattering crumbs like snow, before coming to a rest about 3 yards in front of him. The whole process not seeming to make much sense to Twilight who had just assumed rattraps would be a sufficient device for rodent control.

With the bait in place, Ratway gave one last sweep of the silos walls, letting Twilight get a good look at her surroundings. The walls were made of drystone walling, the lack of cement not an issue as well skilled hooves had placed the stone in such a way that it remained sturdy without the need for such a conglomerate to maintain structural integrity. The grey stones looking to be shale or limestone, the gleaming of calcified fossils twinkling in the light, as the dim yellow circle passed over them.

following the wall along, the wall the microfossils shining like gemstones, eventually the light could not pierce the darkness, instead just coming to an abrupt halt in the ebony shadows. Losing the wall as reference the lamp returned to the stale bread, the blue and green mass, still sitting where he had thrown it, as of yet untouched by the rats that he was set to kill.

For a moment he just stood there in noiselessness scanning the area around the lump, using the lacklustre torch to the best effect he could muster. Then Twilight saw it, a pair of glowing red orbs leering in the shadows near the discarded bread crust. For a moment she thought Ratway didn’t as his beam casually passed over the demonic eyes gleaming in the darkness, the torch strobing past them without the slightest acknowledgment, until the ray returned, passing over the rat a few times, each time the glowing embers growing more frenzied, as she imagined the rat salivating over the meal of bread to come.

The longer he scanned the more pairs of red eyes began to start to lurk just a few feet away from the ball of crusty bread, the eye gleams looking increasingly emaciated, as a voting block of rodents amassed ready to rush the bread the moment the opportunity presented itself. Though the numbers of eyes increased non-were as large as the initial rat, the alpha being the boldest due to its large size, which if the eye spacing was right must have been the size of a cat.

Without warning Ratway extinguished the torch on his head, the room suddenly being cast into darkness, and the sounds of the rats swarming over the bread could be heard, as Ratway charged forward, slamming the shovel down multiple times over the writhing mass of rats, the sounds of crunches and desperate shrieking could be hurt as the rats scattered. He continued blindly flailing the shovel down until the sounds of the injured rats ceased, one by one as their bodies were pulped.

Panting Ratway reignited the lamp on his head, the clicking of flint and a few stray sparks flying as the breath of fire returned to the stubby candle held within the bronze mounting. No sooner had the light returned did he shine it directly on the area he had been swinging, seeing a shallow pool of rat blood and the mangled carcasses of about a half dozen rats. Their shattered limbs pointing at odd angles as their small but strong bones had been shattered by his superior weapon, the sight causing Twilights stomach to lurch, as Ratway casually began to clean the slick rat blood from his spade, the fabric of the white cloth quickly becoming stained red with the pest’s blood.

Once cleaned of blood, he slammed the shovel into the soft floor, the metal lancing deep into the ground as it embedded itself allowing it to stand without his support. As he produced a small pen knife and began to cut each tail from the rats, he had just slayed, each one coming away with a light crunch as he severed the rat’s spinal columns. With the tails separated he placed them into a mass and using a small length of twine tied them into a grotesque faggot of leathery tails. Giving the bundle a flick to remove any excess blood he then placed them in the same pouch he had produced the bread from, before folding his knife, and sheathing it.

Looking one last time at the crooked extremities of the rats, their broken limbs casting surreal shadows on the nearby wall, the shattered limbs creating zigzags of darkness in the orange glare. Producing a potato sack, from a different pocket, he hung it from his shovel, and casually chucked the contorted rat mort’s into the crude brown sack, its course fabric getting a red tinge in the bottom corners as the rat blood began to pool there.
Pulling the sack closed, he then threw a second piece of bread, and repeated the process he had just done, this time having more success, with the light returning he had bagged nearly two dozen rats, their broken body’s filling the kill zone around the bread like a failed banzai charge. the whole scene getting worse as it went on as Twilight felt sick, she had been prepared for unsavoury things, but this was on a different level, the stallion was more efficient then a tomcat. For a moment Ratway sighed, clearly not enjoying what he was doing, the sound filling Twilight with some relief, as if he was enjoying this it would be about as red flag as you can get. He then preceded to cut each tail from the respective rats, the loud crunching of broken vertebra forever etching itself into twilights brain. the combined mass of long tails making a monstrous faggot, the mass about as thick as a pony’s wrist, as he placed it in the same pocket as the first bundle.

Discarding the corpses into the potato sack with their already fallen brethren, he slung the bloodstained bag over his shoulder and began to hobble out, yanking his shovel out of the soft ground as he left. Then an aggressive rustling started, the sound rapidly approaching as something large skittered along the floor directly behind him. Swinging his head just in time he smacked the alpha directly in the face mid lunge with his shovel with a loud ding. The metal resonating from the impact as the gigantic rat flew across the room impacting the wall hard.

Not even phased the overgrown rodent sprang to its feet and let out an angry hiss, the yellow fangs of the plague rat bared in a snarl of aggression. The rabid vermin flinging its self at him with reckless abandon, each time aiming for his face to avenge its fallen ilk, and every time he swatted the cat sized rat away. The beady red eyes of the pitch-black rat growing enraged, as its attacks were thwarted, even though Twilight was impressed by his skill, she could tell Ratway was terrified, as she could feel his heart rate elevating the longer this engagement went on, but to Twilight it was just a blur the movements confused and erratic in the dark confined space.

Finally, the rat made a mistake, and Ratway managed to trap its head under his shovels blade and putting his entire weight behind it, was rewarded with a loud squelch and a spray of blood, the cold metal blade slicing the rats head from its shoulders. Leaning on his shovel, and letting out a little cry, Twilight was reminded that in this memory Ratway couldn’t have been older than 12, the experience had been harrowing to a grown mare, so she could only imagine what it had been like for the young colt.

His crying was interrupted by a sudden glowing emanating from his flanks, turning he saw the familiar rat cutiemark fade into existence on his filthy rump. The memory not giving any real strong emotions, as he had said in the bar, just a feeling that it was business as usual. Swinging the still twitching rat carcass over his left shoulder and the bag of its clan over the other he exited the grain building and entered the glowing light.

The sight was alien to Twilight, being a medieval rookery, tall shoddily constructed building filling her line of sight, the three story buildings all built haphazardly on top of each other, clearly without the guidance of a urban planner.
“It done kid” came a phlegmy voice, as rat way turned to the left to see the unicorn who had beat the crap out of him in the earlier memory, his appearance startling Twilight, as she had not expected to be seeing him again so soon.
“Aye I got them” Ratway said dumping the bag of rats, and the now still alpha in front of him, before retrieving the tail faggots to prove the numbers he had killed.
“As I honoured, I will give you 1 bit a tail, but I see you got the alpha, so I will give you 5 extra” he said slowly counting the tails a few times before handing a leather purse of coin to Ratway, who then opened it and counted the coin just to make sure he wasn’t getting ripped off.
“Pleasure doin business with ya” Ratway said with a smile, before waddling off with his weird gait, as he got about 10 yards away from his employer he heard him yell, swinging around Ratway tried to catch what was yelled.
“If I ever need more rats killing, I will give you the first call, only work suitable for a mud pony, and its seems your marked for it now” the grotty voice yelled before the unicorn lit a cigar and went off on a stroll down the cobbled street whistling some sort of shanty as he puffed away, Leaving Ratway alone in the quite street with the only sound being the gentle clink of gold as he walked home.

With that the memory ended, the pub slowly creeping back into existence, much like how they had left it.

“See told ye it was nowt” said Ratway, as Twilight grew ready to discuss what he had just shown them.

“That didn’t seem like nothing, you decapitated a rat with a shovel” interjected Starlight beating her to the punch, as everything she had just seen was not normal.

“I have to agree, I don’t think beating a mischief of rats to death with a shovel counts as normal behaviour” concurred Twilight, somewhat concerned that Ratway had had a very bad childhood.
“Why were you even in that situation?” asked Twilight wanting the events leading up to it in context.

“it’s a long story” he said scratching the back of his neck, at this point obviously his nervous twitch, keying Twilight in that it was an uncomfortable subject for him.

“Its fine, we are hear to prove your telling the truth about you being around when Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, why don’t you show us some of the time during that period” asked Twilight, wanting to change the subject as it was hitting a few nerves.

“That sounds like a good idea, there is very little written on the subject maybe you could enlighten us on what it was like” chimed in Starlight, smiling in support of the idea.

“Ait” he said, and then the headaches began again, as the smell of fire filled twilights nose….