Descendant of the Night: Eyes of the Nonexistent

Secrets, they are the birth of so much good intention and so little great reward. We make secrets for the sole purpose of hoping that the best circumstances will undoubtedly happen. They always end with that secret being turned on its ugly head, whether by choice or fate. It doesn’t take just dealing with it yourself to understand that, it has to be seen between others for that understanding to truly settle in. Of course, we never learned.

I’ve never learned, and I guess that’s partially because I was ‘born’ with a lack of understand. Kindness, logic, care, so much of the world follows the ideas of understanding others and I am physically unable to learn it. Impossible for a normal pony, but more than possible for a paradox like myself. Though, in my case, it simply effects my understanding of other ponies, not everything.

Truthfully, that it is better than some paradoxes like me get. There are far worse things than lack of understand others. Perhaps that's why I never understood Sweetie Belle’s wish to stay with me. I was a danger to her, but for the life of me I couldn't make since of the reason she gave me. All I hope is that she learns quickly, because I don’t want her to see what happens to those around me.

————

The Canterlot dungeon, an area almost devoid of life, sound, or wind as far as one could tell. The public believed it was all but abandoned below the castle, no guard standing watch since there was no prisoners to call it home to. It didn’t matter which noble family rose to the throne, as all of Canterlot’s citizens were willing to follow rules. The only reason needed: protection from the world outside city walls. As long as they were safe, nopony would dare do something to break it.

Swift Spell was the first in a thousand plus years to have spent a night in one of the cells. No one needed to tell him how old it was, the horrible state it was in more than showed. Like the equestrian countryside, darkness as thick as boulders surrounded him. The cell didn’t have bars, a bed frame, or even a mattress. No chain held him, but it wasn’t needed; the darkness more than made up for this. It was simple, but no less tortuous.

He was starving, alone, afraid, and far too aware of the horrors surrounding him. He had heard stories of ponies leaving the city, and they all the same ending. The pony went out and never returned, presumably killed by whatever haunted the darkness. Nopony knew what it was that killed them, or even if they died, but it seemed like the most obvious conclusion. Swift Spell sat there, no idea what to do with himself.

“Neon, what did she do to you?”

“Exactly what I wanted her to do,” A figure suddenly take shape in the darkness, revealing the standing ruler of Canterlot. Her pink and green coat were covered in a strange aura, one that Swift Spell was very familiar with. “Honestly, how many times could you have been wrong in a single monologue. Thinking you’ve won only to end up here. You’re lucky I decided to even talk after what you pulled.”

“Look, I don’t mean to joke or anything, but I can’t tell if you or Celestia is talking right now,” Swift Spell stated, his words causing the princess to sigh in disappointment.

“If you really need to know it’s Neon right now,” The princess answered. “Celestia is resting right now. That gives me enough time to get a complete understand of exactly what you did,” She pulled a scroll out from under her wing. “Let’s see, use of illegal spell usage and evading law for a good thousand years, followed by attempt murder of the royal family. If you don’t understand why you’re down here or deny any of that, I might just need to remind that I was there for the later and Celestia knew about the former.”

“Royalty or not Neon, I don’t think you are in any condition to have that crown on your head,” Swift argued, as Neon paced back and forth. “Celestia nearly ended Equestria due to a wish of absolute control and the fact her soul has taken resident in your body could mess with you. Not to mention you tried to kill your own sis-”

“You realize the reason Luminous is even here is because of you, right?” Neon asked, a smug expression on her face. “Ponies not supposed to exist, that can only mean some sort of event happened in the past to change the course of history. If that is the case,” She looked to Swift, who knew all too well the princess had him figured out. “Who else but the pony from another dimension to cause such a stupid mistake.”

————

In the middle of nowhere, stumbling around like a newborn pup, a single wolf walked. It had no reason why it wanted to go this way, or what destination it would lead him to, but it was the only direction he knew. He felt something waiting for him, but didn’t know what it was that kept him moving. In truth, his mind was a hundred different feelings with none having a clear answer as to why and what it was. They were everything he could think of, but it all seemed meaningless.

He suddenly stopped, looking directly forward as something caught his eye. It was a figure, but not in the shape of a wolf, but rather a figure with hooves and long hair. The figure became more detailed as it moved closer, before stopping suddenly and staring forward, a cloth covering its eyes. He recognized the shape, but at the same time he couldn’t. The wolf had seen it before, but all of that was meaningless as the hundred thoughts suddenly merged into one. His teeth suddenly started to foam, something acting up inside of him as his featureless eyes bulged. The figure looked interesting, bulking, but more importantly, it was what he was looking for.

“FoOooOod!”

The wolf darted forward, it’s body suddenly twisting itself around like a hallucination. Fur and skin started melting, revealing muscle and veins underneath pulsating uncontrollably. Fangs started out growing the muzzle they were encased, ripping through both the roof and underside of it slowly and agonizingly. The creature was no longer a wolf, but the husk of one controlled by a strange parasite. A parasite that had been name by wolves as the banshee.

The husk quickly reached the pony, jaws up in a completely vertical line causing the foam in it’s mouth to fall out instantly. With the pony not moving it quickly and noisily bit down on the head, only to find the pony had vanished. The force from the bite caused the husk’s entire muzzle to break like a shattered window. It screeched in agony as muscle and bone fell to the ground until it’s entire jaw was on the ground. Confused, the husk looked around, looking for where the pony had gone, but it found something worse.

The sound started as a low hum, suddenly finding it’s legs locked in place. Then another voice joined it and it’s body locked up more and more. The sounds grew as more voices entered, until finally it broke into a low howl. The parasite, realizing what it was tried to squirm out of the invisible grasp it was held in, but didn’t have the ability to overpower the howl. It couldn’t scream, muzzle on the floor, and try as it might escape was impossible. Finally, it was unable to move, the howls keeping it as still as possible. It couldn’t even blink.

Once again the figure of a pony appeared, but it didn’t stop moving this time. It was the same pony, the one that had only moments ago disappeared. The husk was terrified, feeling something incredibly wrong with this pony, and suddenly found itself shock to be scare at all. Behind the pony was something else however, a small group of wolves all howling as the walked closer to the husk.

“Oh hunters of old, back when the sun and moon still shined,” Griz spoke as he looked at the figure in front of him. “This body’s soul has burned away, leaving a skeleton in its place. Now, even though the soul is gone, we ask you to accept the death we now give it, and allow it to rest,” He closed his eyes and bowed, the other wolves behind him doing so as the howling stopped. “Let this cursed child bring it’s rest.”

“Let this cursed child bring it’s rest,” The other wolves echoed as they finished they’re prayer, now looking forward to see if their wish was accepted.

Psyche, garbed in a robe covered in moss, walked toward the paralyzed banshee. She had prepared herself for this, knowing exactly what was expected of her in this situation. To the wolves, one can only rest if given permission by their ancestors, and it is believed a so called “curse one” is the only thing able to give this peace. Psyche wasn’t about to tell them the truth of her abilities, and it did make things easier when it came to explaining actions.

Psyche, now less than an inch away from the banshee possessed wolf, stopped. She couldn’t see what monster was in front of her, but in seconds it would make itself known to her. That didn’t stop her from making guesses, having stepped on what was once the husk’s muzzle, and needing to hold in the urge to gag at the thought. That was all she needed to know these next few moments was what the body in front of her needed.

“You should sleep now,” Psyche said in a soft voice, using one of her front hooves to pull down the cloth from her eyes. “This wasn’t supposed to be your final moments, they were long ago. How long has this been inside of you?” She didn’t expect an answer, and didn’t get one at all. “Now, if you still can, rest.”

With that last word, Psyche looked up, gazing into the husk’s featureless eyes. The moment she did, the rapidly contracting muscles stopped all movement. To the wolves behind her, it seemed like she was staring at the husk. What they didn’t see was the static forming in both the husk’s and Psyche’s eyes. With warning, the husk reeled back, causing the hunters obtain a ready stance in case it broke completely free. Instead, the husk collapsed, it’s body falling in on itself as the parasite unknowingly perished as well. What was left of the body would have scarred any city pony, but Psyche was more than familiar with this.

“Alferiea, if any remnant of you is still in there, I’m sorry it had to come to this,” Psyche said, putting a name to the now crumpled body before her. She wanted to cry, but held back the tears so the wolves didn’t see it. “You taught me how the pack works when I showed up and defeated the old alpha. You were the kind where the elders were not, and made sure everyone here accepted me. I’ll never understand what made you think to kill your own daughter, but I’ll make sure an apology reaches her.”

“We can save the words for him back at the pack grounds,” Griz told her as she put the cloth back around her eyes. He looked back to the wolves behind him, seeing that they had each brought a stick. “A great hunter deserves fire, and let's hope that the thing that destroyed his soul can mend it together again. As we have no way to bring the body back, we shall send him off here.”

Psyche picked a stick out of her robe and placed it on Alferiea’s corpse, bowing and then stepping to the side so the others could do the same. One by one, the wolves placed sticks of various sizes on the body in front of them, followed by a quick word before standing behind her. When they had all finished Griz was the only one who hadn’t placed anything. Instead, he sat down and howled, this tune different than the one from earlier. The other wolves joined in, followed by Psyche, who instead sung the lyrics. As they did, fire suddenly sparked on the gathered sticks.

Farewell, good hunter
Let this be our pray for you.
May your soul find its place
And let your body rest in peace.

Whether your years were short or long,
Your pray many or few,
Let you join your ancestors.
Rest, good hunter, rest.

They repeated these lyrics till there voices tired, the flame growing bigger has their song grew in volume. This was the first time Psyche had done such a thing, and as she sung tears started to fall. Those words, “the first time”, reminded Psyche of the position she had undertaken. Once, she was powerless, unable to even say goodbye when someone passed away. Now, she had the ability to change that and save the lives of many.

She had seen dozens of paradoxes die, but all she need to save them, were another pair of eyes like hers.

————

Silvia stopped walking and looked behind her, feeling something was amiss. She couldn’t place her claws on it, but that feeling was messing with her. It was like she could hear wolves howling in sorrow, honoring the death of a pack member. It wasn’t uncommon for blood relatives in the pack to know of others passing without seeing it, but she refused to believe that was the case. She didn’t know what it was, or why it was happening now, but it hit her in a way she couldn’t explain.

“Silvia, are you okay?” Rainbow called from behind her, the rest of the group stopping as they heard this. Rainbow walked up to Silvia, only to stagger back in disbelief at what she saw. “Silvia, you’re tearing up.”

Silvia couldn’t see the tears building up in her eyes, but she definitely felt them. She wanted to hide it from the others, try and hide how weak she really felt at that moment. That attempt faltered, and she felt her legs buckle under her, collapsing to the ground with tears falling around her muzzle. Ears folded back, muzzle hanging in disbelief as an unfamiliar feeling washed over her. If it was grief or relief, she couldn’t tell.

“Wh-what’s happening to me?” She muttered, unable to understand what she was currently feeling. “I have no reason to being crying right now. What happened? Ralf, dad, are you okay?”

Luminous watched from some distance away as Rainbow did what she could to calm Silvia down. It hurt to watch what was happening in front of her, mostly because she had gone through the same state before. It was the same reaction she had when her mother died, Thunder doing her best to comfort her. She didn’t understand what loss was then, but that feeling was stuck inside of her now. It haunted her, especially know her mother was dead because of her. It was too much for her to look at, but for the life of her she couldn’t stop staring.

It was like she was attracted to the horror of death, as if it was so unfamiliar she felt the need to experience it forever.

————

“How do you know somepony died,” Melody asked Ralf, the later staring off into the darkness.

“Somewolf, not somepony,” Ralf corrected. “And I don’t blame you for not understanding it, I barely do myself. I guess you could say it’s like a force. One that tells the pack that it is time to grieve,” He looked down to the earth pony next to him, his face filled with concern. “Though, why do you want to know about something like death? That should be the last thing on a fillies mind.”

“I know,” Melody replied looking away from Ralf as she spoke. “It’s just… Vinyl is so scared of you wolves killing me that I can’t help be scared myself.”

“Those around the paradox effects it at their will. I guess it only makes since you took Vinyl’s fear as a trait.”

Despite feeling a little hurt about the entire thing, Ralf had expected it. If Ralf knew one thing, it’s that ponies would do anything to keep their loved ones safe. Behind city walls things like death seemed nonexistent, but in the countryside it surrounded what little settlements had managed to survive. Foals were taught to hide or run away at the very sight of danger, but even than death was certain if anything ever came.

“I promised my sister to keep you safe, so I’m gonna do exactly that,” Ralf told Melody, rubbing the paradoxes mane with his paws. “I know more than anyone else here does about what lies in the darkness, and she wouldn’t have trust me to do so otherwise.”