In a sea of hills, a dark gray pegasus sat upon a lone high hill with her book. The skies above her were painted with the various hues of a golden red, bright yellow and a deep purple. The only sounds heard were the frantic pen against paper while the wind howled. All within her field vision of the sunset was recorded and archived into that book. Writing within it was a feverish endeavor, so many details to grasp and so little time.
“You’re always writing in that book, Silver Wind.” A stallion’s voice mocked. “Why don’t you stop writing for a moment and watch this beautiful sunset with me? I swear life will pass you by and you would still write in that book.”
“Hey! I am doing important work here!” The dark gray pegasus barked at the voice. “In these times, a good map is just what a pony needs. How else would anyone get around? It’s not like asking directions would be super helpful.” Her pink eyes rolled. “I will be done in a minute.” The last touches of her feverish writing done. She looked down upon it and hummed to herself. "Do you think ponies would understand this map?" She asked worriedly. The presence looked down upon the map, she sensed his form hovering over her shoulders.
He looked down and judged her writing and the drawing to follow. "It's understandable to me. So I'm sure every other pony would. You know I'm a dumbass." He passed along a brown bag to the dark gray pegasus. "Now watch the sunset with me before I grow old and unattractive."
"Why did you think I asked you if other ponies could read my new map?" She asked the voice with a raised brow. She closed the book and placed it inside of the brown bag. "If your dumbass can't read it. I'm sure no one can." The pegasus laughed at him. It couldn't come soon enough, the sun had set and everything went dark.
Buzzzz.
All around her turned black. A different scent filled her nose. One that would cause a disgust within the senses.
Bbbbuuuzzzz.
Something was wrong... terribly wrong.
Bbuuuzzzz. Buuzzzz.
The wind kissed upon her fur. Everything felt heavy which made it difficult for her to stand. Her legs like noodles while her eyes fluttered open. Suddenly a sharp feeling was noticed in her chest. The pegasus wheezed and gasped for air. It was difficult. All of herself had to muscle through the process of taking a breath. Slow breaths. In and out. In and out. The pain was still there. Yet the more she did, the easier it became. Soon enough it felt instinctual, a small sense of normalcy. She looked upon her chest. It was scarred, yet the scar was done in such a manner that it didn't look like a normal stab wound, though it was not her priority concern. All she wanted to do was to figure out her own body.
This pegasus dared to stand up. One hoof after the other. The breathing still heavy as the song of the winds came through to her ears and her fur. It called to her, and she had to heed it. One hoof after the other. She was on all fours, trembling and shaking. Her wings opened despite the pressure of wanting to stay down. The wind called to her. She stood in place, her wings slowly opening and closing. They felt larger than life and heavier than a sack of bricks, yet it was right at home upon her slender small body. Feathers slowly perceived to be lighter, even as her avian half slowly flapped up and down. Her body getting used to an extra pair of limbs. Her body jerked, hopping up in place. Those same wings flapped up and down to no avail. Her first attempt at flight a failure.
Her gaze moved from herself to her surroundings. In front of her was a candle. The candle had long had its fire burnt out by the smell of it, but the look of the wax just barely melting down tells that the fire was snuffed out recently. She did not care how her fur was stained with blood, nor the scar on her chest she had just discovered. Not even what she was standing upon. It was no scene of a tragic murder before her in that exposed room.
The Pegasus had looked around her to see that there were candles that were laid in such a way that formed a circle. The floor below her held a symbol that was made with dried blood. The sky above looked down upon her from the cracked ceiling and the broken windows which gave the view of a dying sea of trees and green covered buildings. Not one, not two, but four corpses of ponies laid around just outside the circle. The source of the buzzing being the flies that made themselves at home. The pegasus' wings fluttered as she attempted to stay standing.
Her body wobbled and wiggled, something within her told her to look around. The cracked walls which roots had taken over. The desks held a few food items that were long past expiration. Finally, she began to notice the smell in this space. It was awful, a scent of death filled the air, rotting flesh along with rotting food, which assaulted her senses. While the wind through the room helped move the smell, it was not enough for her to prevent her body from dry heaving in protest.
She clumsily made her way to the door, she wanted out. An uneasy latch on the knob and a slow turn opened the door with a small squeak of the hinges. Just enough to meekly echo down the long and the breeze filled hallways. The pegasus had stayed standing.
She slowly trotted out and closed the door behind her. The dark gray pony gasped for air.
Her pink eyes scanned the hall. One step after another. It was rather a quick adjustment. Everything had believed to be...normal once more. If there was a sense of calm in the first place. She froze in place. Something upon the wall had caught her attention. The pegasus read it out loud.
"Hospice."
That word… Hospice. It was a strange word to her. One she hadn't heard before. The dark gray pegasus debated what it meant. She couldn’t shake the need to write it down, but where? And how? A sigh of defeat filled the air as she began to look around. She noticed that the ceiling above her was also cracked, damaged and allowed a noticeable amount of light within the halls. Which made it easier for her to bear witness what was beyond her.
There was damage all around her. Some of it looked destroyed by the impact, come of age and some roots of fungi and other plants. There was one thing that the mare noticed rather automatically which caused her cat-like pupils to widen with fear. A message upon the wall.
DO NOT LOSE YOURSELF.
A HUSK YOU WILL BECOME.
The same mysterious symbol she found herself upon was drawn right next to that message. It was all in dried blood. The scent and the look of it… it was somewhat recent. What had happened here? What did it have to do with her? She did her best to remember the events which had happened that made her be where she was in the first place. However, nothing but what had just happened and the dream she was having was what she remembered.
That dream.
The name that voice called her...was it her name? It was something she was easily attached to. She couldn't help but want to call herself that. It was most definitely her name by her own limited logic.
"Silver Wind…" she spoke aloud.
It sounded so natural off of her tongue. That mental checkbox had been checked. Her name is Silver Wind, and she's in the hospice of this strange place. The room she woke up from had weird dead things in it. It also smelled bad. What now?
The bag, that bag she saw in her dream. The journal she wrote in, she had to get it. Silver Wind couldn’t shake the feeling but every fiber of her being screamed to her that the journal was important and that she had to find it. She had to get it. Where was it? Her body couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t far from her current location. So off she went to find it.
Once more she trotted down the halls, wandering aimlessly. One hoof after another until she could move her legs again. It took less time than the last for her to trot than the last. The primitive action of walking was also beginning to feel much less like a burden and more of a normal function within her body. Silver Wind sighed with content. It was getting easier to control her own body despite the issues she had and the pain she still noticed lingering upon her chest.
Silver Wind's better mood and the sense of pride ended when she got to a large hole down the hallway. Looking at it, it looked unnatural. The stairs were right in front of her, all but the floor ended prevented her from crossing them, shattered and missing. Her wings weren't working as good as they could be. She looked down and tilted her head curiously staring into the darkness of the halls as she contemplated how to move forward. Her cat-like pupils made it easier for her to look in the dark. So it wasn't at least all pitch black for her.
"Rocks, bones, more rocks and...ooo a piece of paper! It looks like there was something written on it!" Silver Wind cried out in joy. The pegasus is now determined to get that piece of paper for herself. The hole upon the ground just below her was nearly four times her size. The floors below her were checker-boarded with white and gray. The only thing breaking apart the pattern was the soft spots of dried blood and growing fungus.
She opened her wings slightly, fluttering softly as to prepare for a leap. She needed to get that paper! So she turned around and trotted back a few steps to give herself a running start. Silver Wind galloped and leaped, her wings flapping rather uselessly. The pegasus glided rather gracelessly to the floor. It blew the paper away deeper into the dark hallway. She squealed in surprise, her voice echoing down the hallways. She galloped after the paper and grabbed it. She went back to the light touched a part of the hallway where she landed. Silver Wind looked down and began to read the paper out loud.
“Dear Journal,
They had sent us on a recon mission at the local hospital. We do not know what will happen, as no one has been in the hospital for quite a long time. I hope we can find something that we need there.
I am afraid of what I saw. I hope no one notices that I was there. I need to find out more before bringing it up to Pixie Shield.
-Silver Wind.”
Silver blinked in surprise. “Pixie Shield? Who is that?” She asked tilting her head curiously. “And...what did I see? That I was so scared of?” Silver Wind was worried and curious at the same time, almost obsessively so. The dark gray pegasus stood there with thoughts running through her mind. Silver Wind did her best to at least attempt to place the pieces together, but the puzzle pieces were still missing. Silver Wing couldn’t help but feel like she had to know this. The lack of knowledge stung worse than the feeling of helplessness washing over her.
She heard the clopping of hooves within the distance.
The noise would snap her out of her thoughts. What was that noise? She knew that her own hooves made such noises, but she never expected it to be so quiet. Was whoever made it sneaking around? Silver wind couldn’t blame them if so. This place was pretty creepy by her standards. It almost made her fur stand on end with all of the blood and the dead things... she had to find that journal somehow.
The clopping became louder. Silver Wind heard an echo coming from one of the doors which was marked by a once neon sign which read ‘Exit’. It was coming from there, Silver Wind was sure of it. So as she drew closer and peered quietly through the door. Silver Wind couldn’t help but see the maze of stairs. It spun down to the bottom floor. While her eyes allowed her to see the darkness with ease, the bottom was pitch black from there she was standing. This had earned a loud gulp from Silver Wind.
It didn’t help that she saw something coming from that pitch-black bottom. The shape was large, and it moved ever so quickly. The silhouette had perceived to be uncanny and inhuman with an ominous shape. Its movements were uncontrolled yet elegant, nefarious yet familiar to her. Her guts screamed that it wasn’t who she thought it was, it wasn’t another pony; it was something else. Something to fear and to be afraid of. Her eyes widened, her heart raced and everything within her screamed to hide. So she closed the door and looked for somewhere to hide. Silver Wind held on to the paper with all of her life. Whatever it was, it was not getting the only piece of her she had.
Silver Wind, not finding a place to hide within the floor she was on had gone back to where she came from. The pegasus turned to the wall of the crumbled floor and leaped on. One by one she climbed up the pieces of fallen debris until she got to her original skylight floor. Silver Wind looked to each room. Each one locked except the one she woke up in. Silver Wind galloped as fast as she could, skidding to a stop.
It was so loud that a roar was heard from that exit door. It’s piercing and otherworldly, yet it held a tint of a horse’s call. Everything within the room shook and quivered within its haunting presence. Whatever it was, Silver Wind’s eyes dilated wide as if she understood what it meant. The pain within her chest manifested from a dull pain to a stinging burn that only pouring massive amounts of salt into open wounds could give her.
Silver Wind did not understand what was happening to her. Everything within her body was acting out of her wishes. She ran into a large medical desk; the bottom holding a pair of twin cabinet drawers that could only be opened from the side. Silver Wind opened one side and found herself small enough to crawl into it. Once she did, she closed the door and left the door which her head was facing just a little open for her to see with her nearly neon pink eyes.
Silver Wind slowed down her breathing at an attempt to calm down. Her eyes stared at the door. Silver Wind just waiting to see what it was. The shaking of the floor as it drew closer did not help. The sound of a growl mixed with a neigh did not help. Even as she saw its face. It was no pony. Silver Wind wasn’t able to describe it with words, however the memory of it's visage burned into her mind.
A mixture of pony and some other creature. Its teeth sharp and jagged stained with a faded red from the victims it may have consumed. A mass mixture of pale and bare flesh and hints of gray fur within its body. Mane split apart in some places down its spine. It's body long and slender, built for the hunt. A simple horn sat on top of its head, just above where its eyes should have been. The creature was large, by the way, it had to croon its neck down to the window. It's breath stained the closed door’s little window. It’s breathing loud, it smelled something.
There was peace. An unmentioned peace. It took a few moments for her just staring at the creature for her to question what was that it. It was not a creature like her, her own gut would tell her that. At that moment of eerie and sullen emptiness between them, Silver Wind could have sworn to her grave it was staring at her. That it was plotting something, calculating upon its next action.
It stood there at the door. It was unmoving, its features did not change. A wide and permanent smile smeared upon its horse-like muzzle. It’s breathing, and her breathing was at one. Silver Wind’s chest burned like wildfire. It made it harder for her to breathe, her body becoming hot and heavy, yet she had to hide from the creature that was out there. There was nothing she could do to help herself and no method of escape due to her lack of flight. The best she could do at that moment was hide and hope it goes away.
BANG.
CRACK.
Suddenly the muteness was interrupted by the large creature. It banged its elongated flesh-covered arm. It moved like a normal pony leg, yet where it’s hoof should have been replaced with a deformed pair of claw-like talons. It was sharp and stained a dark red with blood, various cuts were upon it. It showed the pain of its growth just by looking. Silver Wind’s thoughts raced to what it was trying to do. What was that creature doing? Was it reaching for something? BAM. BAM. It’s disfigured talons slammed on the door, moving downwards as if it were looking for something. BAM. BAM. The creature showed no emotion of pain as its foreleg turned red from its own blood. The beautifully haunting muteness soon filled with the sound of blood dripping on the floor and claws digging upon the door frame to find what it was looking for. BAM. BAM.
‘Oh no.’ Silver Wind had thought in fear. ‘It’s going to open the door.’
It grabbed the knob in an uncontrived fashion. The creature was smarter than she had believed it to be. It opened the door so effortlessly just like an actual pony. When they pulled their bleeding arm back and pushed the door open, allowing them entry. They entered the room with much struggle. The doors size was meant for smaller creatures like herself, however the creature made due. It moved and squeezed itself through like a cat in a tight spot. The sounds of bones cracked while it clawed and dug it's deformed talons on to the floor to pull itself in. Once it was fully in. It made a mess of the room. It's muzzle smelled the floors, each corpse was checked twice.
The burning within Silver Wind's chest became harder and harder to ignore. A snarl was heard as it's muzzle came closer and closer to Silver Wind. She saw that it was carrying something on its side...it was the brown leather bag that she saw in her dream. The one that she placed her book in.
She needed that bag.
The creature came closer to her hiding place. To her cabinet door. It smelled the door. It's hot breath filled her lungs. It smelled of blood, fresh blood. When it did come close enough, it growled and Silver Wind kept still. The pegasus afraid that it would come and eat her. The growl didn't sound as frightening as she thought it would be. It was a sound of familiarity, a greeting if she dared to believe. It turned around, and left the room.
The farther it went, the less her chest burned. She slowly and quietly got out of the cabinet. Her ears lowering, her wing's opened wide in preparation for what was to come. The creature was leaving with her bag...she needed her bag. Silver Wind wasn't going to leave this 'Hospice' without it.
"Hey! Gimme my shit you overgrown mole rat!"
Author's Note
Aaahhhh! After much coffee, screaming from my brain and some drawing, finally got this done! I'm unsure if I could promise regular updates, however let's hope for a new chapter new monthly!