An Unforgettable Encounter
Equestria is a land of multiple legends that aren't well known due to how remote they as well as how isolated they are when it comes to cultural knowledge. Some of this legends tend to be known by mouth as explorers get to meet the kingdom and spread these stories belonging to fantastical beings that could transform from your best dream to your biggest nightmare in a matter of seconds while other legends would remain isolated in their town of origin, mostly due to this tales being kept secret from visitors, and with only a few getting to know this apparitions in their passing by.
The origins for some of this beings are diverse since it mostly depends on how well the town's inhabitants are willing to preserve this creatures.
Some origins have been lost to the ever consuming time and its unsatisfied hunger as the towns, maybe out of shame, maybe due to the elders being unable to pass down the information or maybe due to the youth being unwilling to keep the story in their hearts.
Others have been mixed its real origin with the mystical, creating a new origin that has now been established as the new reality, only increasing the fear and unrest on the population that has to learn to live with this beings.
Others, though, have managed to protect its origins well, allowing the inhabitants to properly learn how to live with this creatures and, thus, managing to avoid them as much as they can.
Sadly though, this doesn't mean that foreigners will know about this creatures neither that this beings prefer to be with the locals, for some creatures prefer to go after those who are unaware of their existence, since they are an easier target for them.
Such is the tale of a young couple, blessed with the passion and love common from all those who are passing through their teens and transitioning to adulthood as their bodies are filled with hormones trying to impose their sexual desires on them.
He was a strong unicorn stallion with an average career in the magic studies as he was just graduated and was now seeking for a proper job to finally become somepony capable of keeping a family. She meanwhile, was a mare of high intellect, graduated on Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns thanks to her research on Cutie Marks and how it influenced foals both before and after having them discovered. They were searching for the best way to celebrate with their peers their new obtained freedom from the oppressive chains of the Equestrian education system and their excruciatingly boring professors with their Celestia old ways to educate others.
There were some suggesting the idea of making a huge party and invite their whole school but not everybody was open to the idea of allowing strangers into their houses. Others suggested the idea of making a journey to one of Equestria's best places to enjoy a scenery that they could have never seen before, an idea that was overwhelmingly accepted by the group which quickly lead to a debate of where to go for vacation. Some suggested going to the north and enjoy The Crystal Empire's grand views that only the cold air could provide, others suggested to travel to the south and see what the dessert was home off to experience the wild lands power, there were voices concerned on the possibility of making their travel to the east and enjoy a good summer bath but it was quickly shut down by the fact that said pleasure would be suppressed by the cities and their asphyxiating noise but everypony seemed positive on the idea of living an adventure by journeying to the west and see what very few has witnessed so they could have something worth remembering before trying to search for a job in their soon to be adult lives.
Our young couple, jumped on this idea and tried to go on their own to the beach, since everypony would take their own route to the beach because they wanted to share their experiences on the beaches of western Equestria and return to Canterlot by train since it was supposed that everypony would reach their destination very quickly, so a few days of differences between each other wouldn't be seen as something to worry about.
This is why the couple decided to take the slow route by crossing through the small towns between Canterlot and the beautiful beaches at the west of Equestria with the help of small caravans and farm ponies that could only afford their own hooves to cross the land with their goods on their carts and, for the first days, they enjoyed their travel with an energy only common for those whose spirits are burned by the excitement of the unknown and the feeling that the world only belongs to them, which is why they felt no concern at the warning of the second farm pony that was helping them on their journey.
"What do you mean with 'being careful on the towns'?"
Asked the young mare with her high and soft but endearing voice, she was coated with the colors of the peaceful blue that could only be reflected on the sky while her eyes were as green as the wild pastures that could encourage a race just by seeing them, with a fiery mane of red and yellow that refused to be controlled by a simple comb and a horn that only reflected how much she cared about her own care as said horn was well polished while her cutie mark of a shining heart trying to embrace other things (like rusted gold or a withered olive) reflected her desired to embrace others in love in the hope of fixing them was her eternal reminder of trying to help others that needed support.
"What you heard me saying" -. Responded the farm pony with a tone that reflected his calmness as well as his hidden concern for others. - "There are some towns in here with... 'special individuals' that has a certain interest on strangers and it would be for the best if you either avoid this towns or stay as little time as possible in there as you can."
The mare looked at her coltfriend with worry. He was seeing Equestria's map with his piercing brown eyes while his light green coat reflected his impassiveness to danger as his orange mane remained in control and his cutie mark of a sword and a shield were a reminder of his bravery against danger. He looked at the farm pony and tried to confirm his suspicions.
"And we are about to head into one of this towns, right?"
The old farm pony looked at the couple with a resigned look as he tried to measure them for something they weren't quite sure it could be pointed out.
"Yes, you are. Many young ponies like you tend to travel through Equestria's interior without realizing the kind of dangers you could face, danger's that not even Celestia can protect you from."
The couple looked at each other before looking back at the farmpony and the coltfriend quickly responding.
"And do you know of somepony that suffered of such fate?"
The farm pony looked at the couple once again as he started to respond with a dark tone that worried the mare, making her get close to her colfriend that remained stoic at the response.
"I now this pony that went to Lagüiña in the hopes of making a good deal with Hacienda Romero's boss but he fell victim to one of this 'special individuals' not too long ago."
The colfriend quickly looked at the map and breathed a relieved sigh when he saw that they were too much at the south of said town, which quickly made him go to the next question.
"And do you know how we can leave that town or are you going to dump us in there with no way of leaving?"
"Do not misinterpret me young one" -. Responded the farm pony with a tone of slight anger. - "I know of a group of ponies that can take you out from that town on a route that will leave you very close to the coast but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to take it."
The young stallion took note of it with his pen and then continued on examining the map as the young mare kept looking at the prospect of living on this town, even if for a single day, with worry.
"But" -, she continued, - "why do you say Celestia cannot do anything about them? Princess Celestia is quite a powerful pony, very few can actually match her."
The farm pony didn't look back this time but his voice could still be heard with intensity.
"There are some things on this world that even the most powerful living beings cannot face, the same way, there's just so much a single entity can do for her ponies and we just so happen to be cursed by living too faraway from her blessings."
The mare started to look down before her coltfriend, in an attempt to lighten her mood, decided to respond with a tone of gentleness.
"Well, when we come back to Canterlot, we'll inform Celestia of this kind of stuff, alright?"
The farmer made a light chuckle as he simply responded with a tone that couldn't be identified.
"I salute your gentleness, young one, but we already lost hope on that a long time ago. No matter what we do or who we go to, there are certain things that we cannot get rid of and just simply trying has, more often than not, made things worse for us because those who were born poor, and live as cursed, even if they try to remove their curse, will always keep the scars."
The couple saw a young intersection, knowing that it was their time to drop from the cart, and made their farewell to the farmer. They saw their map and quickly assessed.
"Let's see" -. Said the stallion. - "If we go that route, we'll reach Morochita and all we'll have to do is wait for a day before leaving the town to the beach with the rest of the group."
"And aren't you worried of the warning Quick Thought?" - Said the mare with worry on her eyes.
"Not that much Embracing Love" -. Responded Quick Thought. - "If we follow the warnings, all we have to do is avoid the locals and be careful of who we talk to, alright?"
He then smiled with that catchy smile that all lovers fall into, giving Embracing Love the courage to follow him into Morochita with high hopes of avoiding any type of danger, not realizing that trying to avoid danger didn't mean that danger wouldn't try to search for you.
This became true when they were getting close enough to Morochita so they could finally see it in the distance when, no longer able to help themselves, decided to take a break near some trees to relieve themselves. As they were close to finally relax themselves, they saw something that would shatter their bravery.
It was a dead body, an earth stallion, being hanged from a tree. He had a Red coat and a brown mane with a pair of shackles surrounding a heart as a cutie mark. It had its hooves tied so it couldn't try to escape while the body had clear signs of harm but it was the head what almost makes the couple shriek in fear for it's face was showing complete despair at his demise while the eyes were still open, revealing an empty pair of dark green eyes looking at the void as if it were trying to engulf anything it could see, with the young couple being on its eyesight.
The couple quickly ran away from what they saw in the town's direction as fear started to creep on their bodies and tried to understand what they saw. When they finally where at the town's entrance, they decided to stop and discuss what they just saw.
"Alright, that was scary."
"Scary?" - Almost shouted Embracing Love as she saw Quick Thought with a slight indignation. - "We just saw a dead pony, we have to tell this to the authorities."
"Yeah, I agree with you. Come on, that way, we'll have something else to do while waiting to leave tomorrow."
As they went through the town, they noticed how little activity there was on the population. All the ponies looked decrepit, as if they were only moving by inertia instead of by their own predisposition to move.
The buildings were old and mistreated. The more the couple looked at them, the more they wondered why nobody seemed to mind such a ghastly look on their town, weren't they worried with what would visitors would think about their town?
As they moved, they got close to a random old stallion and asked for directions.
"Good day sir!" - Said Quick Thought with as much life as he could muster. - "My partner and I are searching for a security office, do you know where it is?"
The old stallion, with eyes that showed little to no life in them, answered them by pointing at the direction they needed and them¿n asking the important question:
"May I ask, what did you see that you need to report it to the local authorities?"
In the moment he heard about the hanged pony, his eyes quickly brightened with life as fear took over his features, grabbing Quick Thought at an unthinkable speed as he started to shout.
"You must leave this town as soon as possible! You are in danger!"
Anything beyond that was lost on the couple as they decided to run away from the crazy maniac to the authorities. When they finally reached the building, they were met with a small earth pony who gave them a bored face.
"Welcome" -. He said in the most boring tone of voice possible as his eyes looked them with a great amount of detail. - "May I know what does a couple of foreigners need here?"
The couple looked at each other but the officer responded before they could even make the question.
"This town rarely gets any visitors, so we all know each other and I don't know you neither have seen you in my whole life. So, again, what do you need?"
The couple looked at the guard and his lack of discipline and simply answered with as much patience as they could muster.
"We would like to report an incident."
The officer raised one of his eyebrows as he heard those words.
"Incident? Did something happened when you got here?"
The couple looked at each other and answered with a slight worry.
"Yeah, well, two incident. The first one is a hanged pony that we saw a while ago before we got here."
The guard quickly opened his eyes, stood up the proper way and moved to the file register.
"A hanged pony? Alright, I need to make a file about it. Could you please give me the details about it?"
The couple got weird out at the sudden change of appearance but gave the details of the encounter nonetheless, hoping that they would help to solve whatever was behind the incident. The guard, surprisingly, took acted how a guard should by following the due process of asking for all he should ask for, including their names, cities of origin and testimonies around the incident. After doing all of that, and promising to make the proper investigation needed, the guard dismissed them by pointing out at the direction of a motel they could pass the night while waiting for the next cart to leave.
"Now, you also said that there was a second incident, could you tell me what it was?"
The couple quickly remembered the old stallion and told the guard their encounter with strange fellow, at which the guard quickly chuckled before dismissing it.
"That's the old Memory Keeper, he's as inoffensive as a pony could be. Don't worry, you'll be fine."
The couple looked at each other, feeling as awkard as one could feel after all of that, and decided to leave for the motel but not before the guard gave them a last departing words with a somber tone that was even more unusual than what they've seen so far.
"But, if you ask me, I recommend you to leave as soon as you can, right now if possible, just so you could get quicker to the beach. I know it sounds tiresome but, trust me, you'll have a better time that way."
The couple felt something off from the guard but they weren't sure of how to take it, so they gave him their thanks and left for the motel as they tried to think of what they saw.
After finding the motel and settled to stay for the night, the couple decided to pass the night on the same bed, in the hopes of forgetting what they just saw with their own presences between their own hooves as they cuddled with the love common between young couples whose passion and love more often than not got mixed but that always gave space for those moments that very few are capable of living at that age.
A few hours later, as the moon was shining and it was embracing the town with it's protecting light, the couple got woken up as they heard a strange sound coming from outside of the building.
"What was that?" - Asked Loving Embrace as she wondered if they should have listened to the warnings given to them. - "Do you think we should investigate?"
Quick Thought started to see what was their best option and, after making a fast reflection on the subject, decided to go out and investigate, much to Loving Embrace's worry.
"Look" -. Said her coltfriend. - "It probably is nothing to worry about, if there's something wrong, I'll come back for you, alright?"
Loving Embrace nodded as she saw her coltfriend leave the room, hoping that the princesses could protect him somehow and that he would be back to her sooner than expected.
And that way, time passed and Quick Thought wasn't returning. Loving Embrace waited, the seconds became minutes, the minutes became hours and the hours became torture as Quick Thought wasn't coming back. The more time passed, the more Loving Embrace worried that her coltfriend was victim of something wrong so, after much thinking, she decided to leave her room.
As she left her room, she couldn't stop to notice how the air turned cold and a stalking feeling crept up on her body. She turned around both sides of the motel's hallway but she couldn't see anything that told her who, or what, was looking at her.
She started to look around in the search of her coltfriend and she wanted to shout his name but there was a creeping feeling telling her that shouting was a bad idea. She didn't know what to do, so she decided to go to the main entrance and ask the staff if they knew anything about Quick Thought or the sound they heard not too long ago.
Strangely enough, when she came out, there was nopony on the main entrance, perhaps the staffer was sleeping, but that didn't stop Loving Embrace from searching.
As she started to move around, the room started to get darker and, thus, harder to see around. Loving Embrace tried to move but she could barely see where she was stepping on, forcing her to use an illumination spell which showed he how close she was to meet a small table, which would have make her trip.
As Loving Embrace decided to move aside the table, she started to look around again and her body got cold when she noted a rope very close to her. This rope was tied in the form used by ponies who were hanging themselves up and, what scared Loving Embrace the most, was that, had she tripped with the table, she most likely would have fallen into the rope, slowly suffocating her in case her neck didn't break.
Loving Embrace quickly moved aside and went outside, hoping that the light's provided by Luna's moon would help her to get a more focused mind on the subject as her mind was being freed from the darkness's mischievous illusions. As she left the motel, Loving Embrace started to look around and noticed how lonely the town truly was. There wasn't a single sign of life, not even the random drunken pony trying to get home. Was it really that late on the town that nopony was outside or was this town so lifeless that it had nothing to go for?
Even still, if she couldn't find her coltfriend, at least she could try to search for the guard, perhaps he had discovered something about the hanged stallion, so she departed from the motel into the dead town, now wishing more than ever to have listened to the warnings given to her.
As she moved around, she started to remember the words of the stallion telling her of those 'special individuals' living around this region in Equestria. Was this town victim to one of them? Was that stallion a victim to one of them and it was that reason why it was being hanged? Was she and Quick Thought now being chased for being witnesses of a potential murder?
Those were the questions going through Loving Embrace's mind as she ignored how the air was starting to get cold in the middle of the summer and the clouds were starting to cover Luna's protecting moonlight, as time moved on, Loving Embrace started to feel once again that she was being watched but, as she turned around the streets, she failed to see anypony on her view range.
The more she moved around, the more she started to feel a presence close to her, but her body freezed when she saw a shadow on a wall. The shadow was reflecting a tree that was not too long from her but the tree wasn't what scared her, what scared her was how there was a pony being hanged from the tree.
Loving Embrace tried her best to ignore it but, the more she saw the shadow, the more she wanted to turn and confirm, or deny, her fears, that the body belonged to her coltfriend, but what she saw wasn't what she expected.
She saw the same hanged pony she and Quick Thought saw earlier that day, looking directly at her with his glazed eyes as she could see how there was a second rope close to the body.
Loving Embrace quickly ran away from the body and tried to get into the guard's office, hoping that she would find some protection in there, not truly understanding what was going on, but her wishes were dashed on the moment she turned around the corner and saw the hanged pony waiting for her on the distance as the rope hanging him was, somehow, tied to a house's rooftop.
Loving Embrace then quickly decided to run away from this, hoping that she would find the office through other routes but, for every turn she took, all she found was a rope waiting for her on the distance as an invitation to be with the dead pony.
In the end, whether it was for sheer luck or because there was someone protecting her, Loving Embrace managed to find the Guard's office, with its lights on and the doors opened, inviting Loving Embrace to quickly get there as Luna's moonlight was more and more covered by the clouds.
Loving Embrace quickly entered into the building and close the doors as the last thing she saw from the outside world was the darkness taking over the town and the hanged pony looking at her. She wouldn't sleep for the reminder of the night.
When the morning lights came to Morochita and it's guard office was now receiving the signals Loving Embrace needed to leave the town. As she was moving, she found the old Memory Keeper looking at her with relief.
"I'm so glad to see you well, now, where is your coltfriend?"
"I don't know. All I know is that I, somehow, was chased around a dead pony, if that's even possible and all I want to know is what happened last night."
The old stallion took a deep breath as he decided to accompany Loving Embrace to the motel so she could get her stuff (with the staffer telling her that he never saw Quick Thought leaving even though he wasn't on his room) while she was finally getting an explanation of what chased her around last night.
Around fifty years ago, the town of Morochita was vibrant with visitors who would, more often than not, stay a few nights to enjoy the place before going to the beach. Meanwhile, those who passed by would give the town some money by going to bazaars, gambling houses and other attractions that would give the visitors something to enjoy but that changed one day when a certain stallion decided to pass and stay on the town when he saw a very nice looking mare.
The stallion, whose name was never asked, tried his best to get her on his embrace. Each day and night, the stallion would use all the tricks known to conquer a mare, he promised her riches, he promised her to care for any foal she could have with him, he promised to protect her from any danger and he said many more things as he hoped to taste her marehood and, eventually, the mare fell for him. Sadly, common from those snakes that likes to hypnotized their victims with nice words but discard them once they have tasted them, the stallion broke the mare's heart as she realized that all those promises were false. The father, once he realized what happened to her daughter, quickly assembled the town and caught the stallion that stole his daughter's virginity and decided to sentence him to the only punishment that could make up for his crime: He was hanged.
After that, the stallion's ghost started to remain on the town of Morochita, appearing to strangers and scaring them away, killing the town slowly as their source of income no longer passed by and the young population leaving in the search of better opportunities.
From what Memory Keeper finished his tale, he explained how no stranger have ever stayed on the town more than a day after seeing the hanged pony but it made him glad that nothing wrong happened to her but that only left one question in Loving Embrace's mind: Where was Quick Thought?
Sadly, her answer would come while taking the cart out of the town. As she passed by the town's fringes, she would see, to her horror, a hanged pony on the distance, but this pony being hanged wasn't the same red coated pony she saw yesterday, this pony was her light green coated coltfriend, looking at her with his glazed eyes as she left the town to never return while her body screamed within her, shattering her soul as despair filled her mind.
Author's Note
My apologies for taking so long and for the story being so bad. I got really distracted but I hope to at least make it readable for you.
EDIT July 12th of 2019: If you like this and you want to support me, you can do it through my Ko-Fi. Feel free to check it out.
