Endings Lead to New Beginnings
She was closing up shop when the news came.
"She just didn't wake up this time."
"She seemed perfectly fine, just laid down for a nap and that was that."
SunnySpot wasn't the closest with her grandmother, but there wasn't really anyone else there for her. She'd visit and paid to have her in a good home with nice ponies to take care of her, and when feeling lonely she'd visit and read her stories and tell her about all the new customer coming to her for her hoof crafted spinners! SunnySpot knew she didn't hear her though, the old and wrinkled pony only sat slump and stared through her during every visit. Often she wondered what might of been going on in the elder ponies head but she only would sigh and continue to speak at her in hopes that one day she'd respond. she never did in the end.
SunnySpot brushed specks of wood and paint from her violet hooves and cleaned her store in complete silence, she had flipped the sign to "closed" as soon as she answered the phone and heard her grandmothers nurse greet her somberly. Once she'd swept over the place with a floor and shelf duster she locked up, set the alarm and made her way home. Ponies bustled around her, having their own evening plans while Sunny just made the same trek home. No, she'd be lying if she said it was the same, shes never walked home without a smile before. Arriving at her apartment the mare tosses a meal into the oven and dialed the number given to her by the nurse for burial services.
"All Hooves Under Funeral service, where you carried in life and we'll carry in death. How may I help you this evening?" The voice over the phone is oddly soothing and melodic besides the odd name of the company. SunnySpot goes to speak but has to clear a lump from her throat and take a breath before she can, the sweet sounding mare on the other end waits patiently as she does and Sunny is very thankful for that.
"I have a relative that recently passed, and I need to have a spot for her to be buried." There a tsk sound from the mare and the sound of typing.
"Of course ma'am, we are sorry for your loss and we will try our best to plan a funeral to suit your needs-"
"no, n-no funeral... It's just me." There's a slight static from the dead silence on the other end of the line, guilt slams down on Sunny like a bag of bricks. Maybe she should still plan something small, she doesn't want to seem disrespectful to her grandmother she just honestly can't afford much more than something small and there wouldn't be anyone but her-
"We understand, what is this members name and your relation to them?" She asks suddenly, sounding just about the same as when the call started.
"Her name is SummerRain, my Grandmother." A beep from the oven make Sunny about jump out of her skin, she scrambles to keep the phone from hitting the floor and awkwardly manages it and puts it to her ear just to hear the mare finish her sentence.
"-so there wont be any payment necessary. The spot she reserved however isn't accessible anymore I'm afraid, that cemetery has been closed do to flooding and overgrowth."
"huh? Wait, I'm sorry i missed quite a bit of that. What cemetery? No payment?"
"SummerRain had already payed to be buried in one of our old cemetery properties, our services no longer reach to that land now do to the town being vacated. That happened so long ago though, I don't know why no one contacted her about it..." The tone of the mare had changed to be genuinely confused, Sunnys brow pinches as she puzzles over the information. She never got to learn much about her grandmother, and she is caught off guard by this to say the least. She finishes the phone call, only half listening but making sure to write down the address and time she can visit to discuss it in more detail. SunnySpot knows that it's silly but the very idea that her grandmother was more than just a statue in a bed and had plans once, spoke to people, was likely from somewhere. It was stunning. Sunny retrieved her food and plopped down at her coffee table to eat, only burning herself a little bit with her clumsy and distracted movements.
She reached across the table to a wired remote to the dusty TV, with the time shes killed staring at the thing she should really take better care of it. Jabbing a hoof into one of the few buttons and her favorite program blinks to life on the small screen, the muted colors and buzzy sounds give a needed distraction as she sloppily stuffs her face with the easy meal. Ignoring the burn on her tongue as she watches the pony on the screen acts out a dramatic display, woa is me and all that. Usually Sunny finds the overly dramatic shows amusing, and since they're quite popular it gives her an ice breaker with the parents that enter her shop. Today the whole spiel seems dull and maybe even insulting, in the end with a sigh she turns it off to finish her dinner in silence.
Well as silent as an old apartment building can be, upstairs stomping is heard and makes the paint flake off the ceiling. Following it is stern muttering and a higher pitched nasally response. It goes back and forth with no sign of petering out and Sunny wonders if the police or even the GUARDS will show up again. In the room next door is the soft sounds of humming, the pony there occasionally plays cello and even violin. Only in the mornings though, Sunny wishes she'd hear it more often or even have the chance to run into the mare for conversation. To make a friend of a neighbor would be nice, the mare upstairs isn't the social group shes into and her partner is a tad too intense to say the least. The forth room on the floor, across from the musical mare is vacant, the one across from Sunny though isn't...
SunnySpot pauses in front the entrance to her flat, ears flicking up to listen into the hall. Everything has fallen quiet, even the pair up above. There is a click tumblers in a lock outside and Sunny approaches her door to take a peek. rearing up and closing one of her earthy brown eyes she leans in to peer out the peep hole. Shes met with a fish eyed view of the hall and across the way, the back of her neighbor who is turned to lock up his flat. His coat is an off-white, almost ivory color. Faded and gives a frail and even sickly appearance. Sunny isn't surprised if he is sick, given the marred and disfigured wings that are folded to his sides. The pegasus turns from his door, lifting up a large duffel bag and giving a clear view of his side. His hip is covered, like hiding what cutie-mark would adorn his flank. His hair is a gradient of a strange blue, like a blue berry flavored drink with a hefty mix of sour green apple. A drink Sunny is actually rather fond of, the bright color is a huge contrast to his sickly pallor and feeble stance.
Sunny has never had many encounters with the stallion, he's rather nocturnal and shuts himself inside for most of the day and even at night its rare he leaves, usually returning within a few hours likely after a night job. The bag catches her eye though, having never seen him with it.
Not that she watches him often...
Only sometimes.
Sunny huffs to herself, he is a strange fellow and she cant help but be strangely drawn to him. It's a nagging feeling she chalks up to morbid curiosity, the very reason she doesn't approach him. She wants a good reason to talk to him, not just to get a story from him about a possible sensitive subject. Sunny has fantasied a few scenarios in which she stumbles into him late one night after some shopping and while he timidly helps her and she can apologize and say something about a hectic day and maybe get his name... Shes probably thought a little too hard on it, even attempted it. Twice. But both times, he only left once she was in her room. The second time she even waited a few hours outside, IN THE COLD, just to see if she could catch him. At that point Sunny figured that he must of learned all of their schedules in order to avoid them best, and not wanting to make him uncomfortable she stopped trying. Quickly realized she was spacing out and focuses back on the pony, only to tense when her eyes lock on his. One of his.
He had turned from his door and was standing in the hall, facing to leave but instead his head is turned to stare directly at Sunny's door. Shes never had such a good look at his face before, and she knows shes not going to forget it any time soon. The stallions fur is tapered into a sort of dull light lime color towards his nose which she assumed might of been cute if it wasn't for the horrific scarring that disfigured most of his facial visage. His right eye is sealed shut, possibly even gone, and his left, though around it seems unharmed, is cloudy from damage. The pupil clouded, his blue iris somewhat faded yet it l scans over Sunnys door with interest. She holds her breath as he slowly turns from the door and shuffling away, he looked, concerned.
Once he was down the hall she finally moves with a deep breath of relief, guilt tugs are her heart as she decides he must of heard her and was worried she might see him. His evasive behavior is no longer as much of a mystery for Sunny, her morbid curiosity burns stronger though and she turns from the door with a renewed self disgust. Today has to be the worst day Sunny has ever had and she can't even talk to somepony about it, and here she is ogling over her neighbors poor visage. Thumping her forehead with her hoof she clears her mind before shuffling off to her bathroom to get ready for the night and tuck in. The small bathroom lights up with a flicker that blinks every few seconds and buzzes as it strains to work, the faucet isn't much better as Sunny struggles to turn it on and the cold water sputters out. Wetting a brush she yanks it through her short orange, or as her upstairs neighbor called it, candy corn mane. It takes a little while to run it through with only her hooves to hold it, she even yanks the light lime green ribbon out from the back with the brush, all the while she cant help but stare at her reflected image. She looks tired, once bright sparkling doe like eyes now half lidded and tired. They lock on the light yellow spot between them, a spot she shared with her grandmother, and from her memory, even her mother. Setting the brush down she sighs, tears well up and sting the corners of her eyes and when she tries to blink them away one manages to slide down her cheek. Angrily she wipes it away and stomps down the hall into her bedroom, flicking off her lamp she flops into her bed and yanks her blanket close and attempts to sleep.
The sounds from the upstairs room picks up, paint flecks down from the ceiling onto the bed and Sunny brushes it off with annoyance. The stomping continues like the pony is pacing in the room above, more and more flecks fall down around Sunny. Almost like its raining the paint down, she sits up and aggravatedly swipes them away. It's amazing how much is falling down, it's all over. Sunny looks up to yell yet as soon as she looks up she stops, the ceiling is no where to be seen. A black void yawns over her, flecks still pour down from it and she scrambles for her lamp and clicks it on. Flinching from its light she blinks and rubs her eyes, something sticky from her hooves catches on her fur and she leans back to take a look. Bile runs over her tongue when she sees whats coating her fur, and with it a smell. Shreds of charred flesh stick to her legs and float down like petals, the smell of burning fur and flesh meets Sunnys nose.
Letting out a strangled scream of shock after holding the urge to vomit Sunny fanatically brushes the flesh from her limbs and hair before scrambling for cover in the hall. Slamming the door open she stumbles and falls forward, bracing to take a solid wall to the face she is shocked when she slams into something wet and cold instead. Quickly getting to her hooves she finds herself in a bog, there's deep croaks of frogs and the wet splash of movement around her. Fog closes in causing a claustrophobic sensation as she carefully wades through the muck in attempts to find and edge or more solid ground.
"hello?" As soon as she speaks her ears perk to a sound close to her right, a soft sound of crying.
"W-who's there?" The sobbing doesn't change, she changes her direction and makes her way towards the sound. Strangely she feels like its okay, and even reasons that if someone is there it could mean land. The fog soon enough spits to reveal a child, a foal, sitting on the bank of the muddy bog. His head hangs down, blue mane covering his face and his tears drip down into the muddy water.
"Hey... Hey it's okay." Sunny feels a strange concern for this child, concern and guilt. She chokes as her eyes brim with tears and her lip trembles.
"I'm sorry." She doesn't know why she apologizes, she doesn't know why they're here. Where are they again? The foal has stopped crying. It's quiet. Sunny feels shame and reaches out, about to utter another apology, to try and comfort the foal when he suddenly snaps his head up.
"NO YOU'RE NOT!" He screams, his face is disfigured, falling off from the bone. blood and fluids dripping down from the marred and singed flesh, dripping into the bloody mud. His wings stretch out in a spindly broken fashion with smoking and burning feathers as he stands and approaches. The mud quickly engulfs his light colored legs, staining his fur a deep red. Sunny tries to scramble back but the mud refuses to relieve its grip on her legs.
"You're fault, it was YOU'RE FAULT!" The foal chants as he approaches.
"N-no, I'm sorry, I didn't..." He doesn't stop, he gets closer and closer before he's standing just in front of Sunny, "please."
"You're mum was right." He snarls, towering over Sunny before lunging forward and slamming her back into the bog. Sunny screams and struggles but he keeps her down below the water. It burns her lungs and she screams and sputters, thrashing as hard as she can. Her ears ring as she gasps for air, in one last attempt she thrashes herself to the side one last time.
With a thud Sunny breaks free and slams to her bedroom floor. She coughs and hacks, choking and spitting food and bile from her mouth. Shakily, when she has taken a few breaths she sits up. Some light filters in but she has to flick on her lamp to see properly, she flinches to expect flakes of skin everywhere but is relieved by the dingy yet familiar sight of her room. She looks at her bed to see stains on her pillow, making her scrunch her brow before rubbing her face, then her chest. Her hoof meets matted and sticky fur and in momentary terror she looks up then to her vanity stand. With a sigh she sees no blood, but she is concerned that she is covered in vomit. swallowing the painful feeling in her throat she realizes she puked in her sleep, and was drowning in it. A chill runs down her spine as she realizes that if she hadn't rolled off she could of passed out completely and suffocated from her own vomit. Sniffling, Sunny looks at the time.
4:59
Sighing she pulls the sheets off her bed and gets them in the washer before going to the bathroom and starting up the shower. While waiting for it to warm up she ponders her dream and tries to not touch the vomit on her fur anymore than she has. She recognizes the foal, her neighbor, it has to be. Why would she dream him though, maybe its guilt from seeing what he likely didn't want her to see. It felt so much deeper than that, like she knew this foal from somewhere. As much as she tries to rake her brain she can't explain the feeling or the guilt she holds with it. Steam wafts up from the water and she snaps back to what she was doing in the first place and turns the temp down just the slightest when she gets in and it almost burns. Shes surprised as its usually near cold almost all the time, must be how early it is. With a hum she sits in her tub as she works out the mess from her chest and face, planning to stay in for a while and enjoy the warm water soaking into her fur. She just hopes the squeaking pipes don't make anyone upset, she really needs this and to have someone pounding on her door about it is not what she wants for a morning start.
Author's Note
Phew! Well, this is likely gonna be a little bit slow in the start. If it seems like it's dragging on too much, PLEASE let me know! Also, I use music and calm game discussion videos to gain inspiration and motivation so if you have any recommendations for that I'd be happy to hear it!
I um... sorry for the vomit bit. It doesn't bother me but I know it's something that bothers other people but I don't know how I'd put a warning for that... I'm not worried about gore since I'm sure the gore tag says enough but everyone has their quirks and vomit might be a trigger. Just uuuh, if theres advice on that lemme know if not then I'm sorry :<
Oh and please PLEASE tell me your thoughts in general, how do you like it so far? Do you want to see more? How do you like SunnySpot so far? Got any questions? suggestions even? I don't bite, in fact I'm pretty squishy! :D Just lemme know, and also I'm pretty unfamiliar with this website so sorry if I take a while to respond I'm getting used to stuff.