Hollow Hope

They stumbled out into the night--onto the dimly-lit, foggy streets of Hope Hollow. The rust and decay had disappeared, but shambling figures could still be seen in the fog.

"How'd we end up on this side of town?" Sunny muttered, squinting up into the fog. "We're right next to the sign..."

"I've been landing all over the place too," Torque said, shuffling slightly to give Sunny more support. "Whatever happened to the town, it's scrambling everything."

"Hey, guys?" Cloudy said, pointing up at a spire rising through the fog. "You think the church has anything?"

"Of course," Sunny replied. "Father Roan always has some medical supplies on hoof--"

He winced as he shifted aside. Torque grabbed his bad leg and tugged him back. "No. No, Mayor. You aren't walking on this one."

The doors of the church creaked open, and an echo bounced from column to column, kicking off of the hard stone and reverberating in the stained glass. They stepped slowly down the aisle, heads aswivel...

"Ah. So there are others in this world."

A bull was sitting in one of the pews, off to the side. His horns had strips of fabric wrapped around them, with writing scrawled on the cloth in a reddish-brown ink; he was sitting on a cushion beside one of the pews, cross-legged. As he stood, he draped the cushion over his back like a saddle, and smiled at the three of them. "I have not met you before--but, I know your face," he said, pointing at Sunny. "You are the mayor."

"Yes, I am--but I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you. You must be new 'round here," Sunny replied, unhooking his leg from Torque's shoulders and stumbling forward into his usual mayorly introductions.

He promptly fell over. The bull pushed a pew aside and stomped up to him, tilting his head and giving Sunny's wound a once-over. "You may introduce yourself later. This leg needs treatment."

"I'll grab the bandages," Torque said. "They're in the back, right?"

"Father Roan's office, yes," Sunny muttered through clenched teeth. "He might've locked it--"

"Don't worry." Torque pulled the pump on her shotgun, twisting and craning her neck to check the chamber--still loaded. "I can deal with locks."

The gunshot had echoed for quite a while, but thankfully, nothing had come to investigate it. Sunny flexed his leg, wincing; the splint dug into his leg in places, and the bandages were uncomfortably tight, but he could at least walk on it.

"So." The bull placed his cushion on the floor once more, and took a seat. Sunny laid himself down on one of the pews. Torque was pacing back and forth, glancing out windows, her shotgun firmly strapped to her shoulder. Cloudy was curled up on the floor, between Sunny and their new friend.

"I am called Ramooh," the bull said; he paused a moment, chewing thoughtfully. "You have seen the monsters?"

"Yes, we've dealt with a few," Sunny muttered.

"They're fucking everywhere," Cloudy added.

"And you?" Sunny asked. "You see them too?"

"I only see one monster," Ramooh replied. "Death, and all which follows it."

Sunny and Cloudy shared a glance. "So, what, the zombies are led by Death?" Cloudy asked.

"What? No." Ramooh shook his head, and one of the strips of cloth 'round his horns loosened slightly. "Death is the only monster I see."

"Right--we all see different monsters," Sunny murmured to himself. "I wonder if this is all some kind of waking nightmare..."

"You are more right than you think, but also wrong." The bull closed his eyes, drawing a slow, deep breath.

"What?" Sunny asked, tilting his head.

"This is a nightmare, yes. But it is not merely a nightmare. This is the work of a Rakshasa."

"Rakawhatnow?" Cloudy squeaked.

"It is a creature native to my home country," Ramooh explained patiently. "A beast which deals in illusions and trickery, and feeds on terror and despair. My people taught themselves how to fight against it, by inuring themselves to the nightmare. It is said a skilled student of the Bova could watch his family be torn limb from limb in front of him, and still strike true..."

"Because he knew it was just a nightmare?" Sunny asked hopefully.

"Because he knew it would happen eventually."

"Oh." Sunny's heart sank a little.

"Can you do it, though?" Cloudy asked. "You know this stuff, I bet you could kick it's ass."

"I cannot," Ramooh said, with a wave of his cloven hoof. "Not on my own. I had no patience for the Bovist teachings. To be immune to the Rakshasa's attacks, one must act without fear...and there is one thing I still fear."

"Death?" Cloudy asked. Ramooh nodded.

"So, we're doomed?" Sunny said with a disappointed sigh. "Just my luck, isn't it?"

"Not so. There is one thing you can do. It will greatly increase your odds of..."

"Winning?" Cloudy asked.

"Survival," Ramooh said with a shrug. "But you will not like it."

"I'd think I would like it better than dying." Sunny shrugged back. "What do I have to do?"

"How is it that ponies put it?" Ramooh scratched his chin, humming to himself. "When another is being unreasonable, and will not listen to truth, you tell him..."

"To pull his head out of his ass?" Cloudy muttered.

"Cloudy, you really need to--"

"Yes," Ramooh said, smiling wide. "You must pull your head out of your ass." Sunny stammered for a moment.

"But I--I'm not an idiot," Sunny finally grumbled, pouting.

"You are not an idiot. In fact, you are very good at lying to yourself. That is, as they say, the problem." Ramooh rolled his eyes. "You have been standing next to the cause of your anxieties this entire time, and even the blind can see it."

"Nonsense!" Sunny said, laughing it off. "I'm handling this about as well as any pony would."

Ramooh scratched his chin, humming to himself as he glanced between Sunny and Cloudy. "Cloudy, could you describe your parents for me?"

"Why?"

"Curiosity," Ramooh replied. "I want to know if I've run into them before," he continued, staring directly at Sunny.

"Well--" Cloudy sat up. "My dad--" She sank back down again. "He left when I was too young to walk. But my mom...she's got a brighter coat than mine, but we're both pink. Her mane isn't as curly--and she wears it combed back, not in pigtails. Oh, and it's two-tone. I'm...kinda jealous."

Sunny frowned, briefly. The mare Cloudy was describing sounded familiar--but he didn't remember the name, and besides, it would be rude to interrupt--

"Sunny." Ramooh's voice interrupted both Cloudy's words and Sunny's train of thought.

"Er, yes?" Sunny mumbled.

"You wouldn't happen to know this mare. Would you?"

"We-ell, she sounds familiar." Sunny makes a show of rubbing his chin, tilting his head, pondering it. "Can't say I know her, though."

"That is the story you are going with, then?"

"Wha--it's--well, it's true, so in a manner of speaking, yes. It's not a story, though," Sunny added. The beads of sweat forming on his brow begged to differ. Why, oh why did he feel so nervous about this line of questioning? "Let's leave it at that--"

"Cloudy."

"Y-yeah?" Cloudy stammered. She had been staring at Sunny for--well, to Sunny it felt like hours, but it couldn't have been more than a minute.

"You said your father abandoned you when you were very young, correct?"

Cloudy simply nodded.

"Now, wait just a minute," Sunny grumbled. "Let's not jump to conclusions about this. I'm sure the stallion had some reason for leaving, and I'm sure it's a good one. Most ponies are good at heart, after all."

Ramooh squinted at Sunny for a moment. "Perhaps it was not meant to be. Perhaps, there were...circumstances. A family feud, a lack of 'chemistry'. Or maybe the stallion had someone already--a lover with whom he would spend his golden years."

"What? That's absurd," Sunny scoffed, crossing his hooves. "Why would somepony risk his relationship with Gil--" His breath hitched in his throat. "With his 'golden lover'," he finished lamely, "all for one night?"

"Why are you so upset, Sunny?" Ramooh remained calm as ever--he seemed rock-solid, as though he was a mountain bearing the wind.

"Why, because--because of what you are insinuating!" Sunny yelled. "I mean, what kind of pony do you take me for? Some kind of--of homewrecker? Somepony who would take advantage and then just walk out!? No!" Sunny's voice rose to a feverish pitch as he screamed. "No, no, no! I wouldn't! I would not have sex with my secretary!"

His voice echoes for a moment.

"...my mom was a secretary," Cloudy whispers, and it is the loudest thing Sunny has ever heard. "How did you know?"

"I--I didn't! I'm sure it was a coincidence," Sunny said, laughing as sweat rolled down his forehead.

"She said Dad was her boss."

"I don't know what you're--"

"And then he left us." Cloudy took a step toward Sunny, staring up at him--her face was perfectly expressionless, but in it, Sunny saw everything he was afraid of.

"Please, kiddo, you've got the wrong pony!"

"Tell that to your daughter," Ramooh said, staring flatly at Sunny.

"I don't have a daughter!" Sunny shouted.

"And as long as you continue to say that, she--" Ramooh pointed to Cloudy--"will not have a father."

There was a moment of total silence. Torque, standing by the window, froze mid-step as she processed this.

Ramooh groaned, putting a hoof to his forehead. "You said your name was Cloudy, correct?"

"y-yeah," Cloudy mumbled.

"And you are the Mayor, Sunny Skies, correct?"

Sunny nodded.

"Sunny Skies," Ramooh said, pointing to Sunny. "Cloudy Skies," he added, pointing to Cloudy. "Do you have any questions?"

Sunny turned to Cloudy--who had a strangely awestruck, almost reverent expression. It was as if she had met some mythical figure for the first time, and was stunned by the realization that the myth was real.

"You're...really my dad?"

Sunny felt something resembling pride rise in his chest...

...and then, Cloudy's face turned sour, and Sunny's heart sank like a stone.

"You...you left me. You abandoned me. Me and my mom--the motel, and the ramen for every meal, and the hoof-me-down saddlebags with the holes in them--you abandoned us! You put us there!"

"Cloudy, I--"

"Shut up!" Cloudy's hoof met Sunny's jaw. His world spent a few moments in vertigo, spinning wildly, and when he regained his bearings, he saw Torque and Cloudy arguing at the front door of the church--Cloudy trying to leave, Torque holding her back.

"...I did say you would not like it," Ramooh mused, closing his eyes and sighing.