Author's Note

Alright, guys. This is the darkest chapter of this story. The suicide stuff and abuse mention will show up here. After this, things will start looking up a little bit more. If this kind of thing is too hard to read about for you, please, do not continue reading. These are sensitive topics, but ones that are important to address. For those of you that do read on, I hope you can take something away from this. This story is about facing adversity in some of its most extreme forms and how a good support structure can affect the outcome. If it helps you in some way, that's great. If it doesn't, thank you for taking the time to read anyway. On to the chapter, I guess.

Final Horror

Four years went by without much of anything happening. The only difference was, the weight of loneliness was lifted off of Harmonic's shoulders . Him and Atmospheric became very fast friends. They spent most of their time together kicking back and enjoying what they could. All wasn't as peachy as it would appear on the outside though. There was still one problem; Harmonic didn't talk about his personal history. It was still cutting into his head every day, and it wasn't fun to think about. Atmospheric had already told him everything there was to know about her fate, but he avoided talking about himself by putting up a front, acting like nothing was bothering him. He wasn't sure why he continued to hide it, but the most likely reason was because he didn't want to expose her to some of the things he'd seen. He was about to figure out the hard way why that was a mistake.

"I'm going to the outskirts for a bit. I need some air."

"Okay. Don't forget, it's your turn to make dinner tonight. We need something to munch on while we're grinding in Final Fantasy 8."

"I'll figure something out. Be back soon."

Harmonic left the house.

The walk out of town didn't take very long. It was a ritual Harmonic would often do when he needed time alone to think. Somehow, he'd convinced himself that his thoughts weren't impacting him to the degree they actually were. If anyone had seen his eyes, they would've noticed. He was always extremely aware of his surroundings, even when he wasn't trying to be. The focus was undeniable. It was both a blessing and a curse.

"What's that?"

There was a large nail driven deep into the ground with a hammer. Around it was a sturdy chain.

"What the heck is going on here?"

Upon closer inspection, he realized there was something at the bottom of the chain, but he couldn't make it out. He didn't want to move the chain in case someone was using it, so his solution was to shift himself to the left side of the cliff. When he looked down and to the right, he froze...

"!!!???"

Hanging from the chain was the body of a young filly. She couldn't have been any older than ten. Harmonic's already fragile stability was completely destroyed and turned to dust. He backed away slowly at first, then started picking up the pace. He soon found himself sprinting away from the scene for a short period. After about three minutes, he stopped and vomited. His entire body was shaking with terror. No longer able to contain his emotion, he fell to the ground and cried. Rain began to pour from the heavens, as if to weep with him. The cold did nothing to ease his broken spirit.

"Calm down, sir," a guard in town told the distraught stallion, "Tell me what happened!"

"A KID IS DEAD OUT THERE! I DON'T KNOW HOW I CAN MAKE IT ANY MORE CLEAR!"

"What!?"

"THERE'S A CHILD'S LIFELESS BODY HANGING FIFTY FEET OVER THE OCEAN! WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!"

The guard motioned for his men to assimilate.

"Lead the way!"

Harmonic nodded and they began moving with haste.

"Dear sweet princesses! This is horrible!"

"..."

"I need you to explain what happened here!"

"I left the house I live at with my friend to get some air. I noticed the nail and chain. When I went to check it out, you know the rest," Harmonic replied. There was no emotion in his voice.

"Celestia, save our souls."

"..."

"I think you should go home. We'll do what we can for the family and catch the scumbag who did this."

"I don't think any outside force did this."

"I don't follow."

"Examine the DNA on the chain. You'll see what I mean."

All the guard could do was make a face of confusion.

"I'm going back. Let me know what you find."

"Right."

"I heard what happened."

"Word gets around fast."

"Are you okay?"

"Fine, just a little shaken," he lied.

"Are you still up for dinner and a game tonight?"

"Not really. I'm worn out."

"Want me to bring you something?"

"No. I just need water and sleep."

"I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Me too."

"Good night."

"Night."

Despite what his earlier comment suggested, Harmonic couldn't sleep at all. It continued like that for several days. When the guard came to their home to report the teams findings, he wasn't even mildly surprised.

"It turns out you were right."

"Of course I was...," Harmonic muttered begrudgingly, hating his ability to recognize these things.

"Right about what," Atmospheric asked them both."

"Your buddy here speculated the little girl's death wasn't caused by an outside individual. Between the hammer, the nail, and the chain, we were able to collect just enough genetic material to confirm his suspicions. The cause of death was suicide by asphyxiation."

"You're kidding!"

"Afraid not. How did you know what happened though," the guard asked Harmonic.

"The location and the tools. There were no visible lacerations on her body aside from the indentation the chain caused on her neck, at least from what I saw. Any killer would've tried to hide the evidence. There was no attempt to do that here. Another thing is, everybody knows each other in this town. I asked around later to see if she left town with anybody. Everyone that had information reported seeing her leave alone with those tools."

"That could've really interfered with our investigation, you know."

"The genetic data would've supported my claim to an extent, but that would've left a suspicion as to any other DNA lost in the rain that day. I had to be sure there was no one in town who deceived her into leaving."

"It could've been someone from the next town over."

"Not very likely. The next town is a good ways away, and there's no reason for anybody to be out in the middle of nowhere unless they're homeless and don't have enough money for a hotel."

"Who's to say that wasn't the case?"

"Has anyone new shown up in any of the nearby towns?"

"No."

"Then that's the end of it. If there was a killer on the loose, they would've probably been caught before they could get here."

The guard had no choice but to accept this logic.

"We don't have any reason to continue this conversation."

"Agreed."

"Give the family my regards."

"I will."

Days of sleep deprivation turned into weeks. Every thought Harmonic bottled up inside had broken free of their prison and consumed what little sense of normal function remained. This was the last straw. He'd had enough of the suffering. Now or never, it was the only way out. With the noose wrapped around his neck, he kicked the chair he'd borrowed from the main room and began to choke. There was no struggle on his part, and soon, he lost consciousness...

There was a faint beeping noise. It appeared to be the sound of a heart monitor. Harmonic could feel the plastic oxygen mask on his snout.

"Finally awake, sleepyhead?"

"...What happened?"

"You don't remember?"

"A little, but it's hazy."

"You tried to hang yourself."

"Oh...Yeah..."

"I found you shortly after you passed out. The hook you attached the rope to broke off."

Harmonic took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Look, I don't want to bring up anything painful, but I need to know why you did this to yourself."

"How much time do you have?"

"As long as it takes."

"You want the whole truth? It's been building up to this for a long time."

"How long?"

"About the last six years or so."

"You didn't take them leaving us very well, did you?"

"Not at all, but that's just the beginning. Before I started staying with you, there were a lot of things that made me question why I was even alive. I couldn't open my mouth without saying something stupid, whether I meant to or not. I saw violent muggings and did nothing to step in. I saw homeless creatures everywhere and it broke my heart to know that's how they were forced to live. There were several occasions where sexual assaults took place in the towns I stayed too, and I was powerless to do anything. I was terrified something like that might've happened to you."

"You were worried about me?"

"From my point of view at the time, I had every reason in the book to worry. You can only imagine the relief I felt when I saw you in town hall."

"What's the worst thing you saw before this?"

"When I was about 16, there was a middle-aged couple I saw here when you weren't with me. The mare was wearing sunglasses and was covered in bruises. I'm positive to this day he was beating her, and I just stayed quiet because I didn't think anyone would believe me anyway. Abusers always find ways to manipulate their victims and lie through their teeth. If I'd just said something, maybe she'd be away from him right now."

"I'm starting to get the picture here. You're wracked with survivor's guilt."

"I guess that about sums it up."

"So, what happened a few weeks ago was your breaking point."

"All the times I told you I was sleeping, I was actually struggling with insomnia and nightmares. Every bad thing I saw and read in the papers finally did me in."

"Your brain was basically fried trying to suppress everything."

"Now I'm stuck here in a hospital bed trying to figure out what to do next."

"I think you should see a shrink."

"Probably. All I really wanna' do is get out of this town though. I don't think I can stay here anymore."

"You're right."

"What about you?"

"I'm going with you. We'll see what the therapist says first, but it's pretty likely they'll prescribe you anti-depressants."

"Whatever works, but I don't want you to leave everything you've ever known for my sake."

"I don't really have as much here as you think. I have acquaintances. That's all."

"I guess if it works for you, then I'll go along with it."

"You should've told me everything sooner."

"I didn't think I could trust anybody."

"Do you know you were wrong now?"

"Yeah."

"For what it's worth, I'm glad you're still here."

"Coming from you, that means everything. I'm just sorry things turned out the way they did."

"Me too. We can grieve together later. Right now we need to get you back in fighting shape."

"No kidding. I feel like I was hit by a train."

"The fall looked pretty gnarly."

The two had a good laugh, and for those few moments, things didn't seem as bleak.