Chain Hoof

Chain Hoof awoke. He immediately noticed that he wasn’t where he had fallen asleep at all but instead in the middle of some ruins inside of a forest, presumably the everfree forest, he looked around searching for a clue to why he was there, trying to remember where it was he had actually fallen asleep and as he tried to remember it began to fade from his mind like a vivid dream. He remembered nothing of the events before he was asleep as he took a deep breath and tried to order his thoughts so he could begin to analyse the situation to find a way to remember as he attempted this his vision became blurred and he decided to stop. There was no use speaking or logically thinking it seemed; he began to walk around the ruins continuing his search for a reason as to why he was there the sound of his hoofsteps echoing around the empty ruins which had been long since forgotten. He approached a small engraving on the wall of one of the ruins which appeared to be of a Unicorn a Pegasus and an Earth pony around a grave seeing this sent a shiver down Chain’s spine when the sound of sobbing echoed around him accompanied by the sound of a bell ringing. Turning away from this Chain wandered out of the ruins having no reason to do so, he could no longer think straight as whenever he attempted to do so his vision blurred, a sharp pain shot across his stomach as he began to wander past a thorn bush catching himself on it as he did so, he took no notice of this and resumed his steady walk into the forest. Once again the sound of a bell ringing echoed throughout his head as he came across a forest opening which was populated by a few animals, he approached a rabbit and placed a hoof on its head proceeding to pat it. As he did so his vision blurred again to reveal that the animals were in fact skeletons and the once lush trees surrounding him were now dead and the grass had grown uncontrollably coating the trunks of the trees and making it impossible to see the dead flowers beneath among other deceased animals. He took a quick look around as he resumed his journey through the forest the identical trees making him lose any sense of direction he once had and was now instead heading into a black abyss. Sounds of the wind through the hollow trunks whistled throughout the forest giving it an eerie feel as his vision began to fade and he collapsed in the opening.

Chain Hoof awoke. He immediately noticed that he wasn’t where he had collapsed but instead in the middle of a graveyard, presumably in Canterlot, he looked around searching for a clue to where he was trying to remember where it was he had actually collapsed and as he tried to remember it began to fade from his mind like a vivid dream. He remembered only the sound of sobbing and the ringing of a bell as he strained himself to remember anything else to which his vision blurred making the ground before him nothing more than a green and brown blur beneath him. He began to trot around the graveyard, the stones were all un-named but had dates and small engravings beneath the dates presumably from the ones near to the deceased. He looked around the graveyard and saw an engraving on the back of a stone, he approached and examined it and was shocked to see an Earth Pony laying on the floor surrounded by what could only be blood, the sound carving seemed to move as if waking from a deep slumber. The carving seemed to be going in reverse until it reached a certain point, the original pony was in front of a few others and seemed to be defending them from a group of other ponies, all of which were Unicorns, the carving began to walk towards them to be greeted by a blast of magic cutting across its side causing it to collapse to the floor, surrounded by what could only be blood. The sound of sobbing and a bell ringing echoed throughout Chain Hoof’s mind as he backed away from the carving, spooked by its sudden movement as he walked to the exit of the graveyard. He wandered into a street full of high buildings which seemed to pierce the heavens as he began to wander through a street of identical buildings as he slowly began to lose his sense of direction and wander around in what seemed like circles. Sounds of glass shattering and fire spreading echoed throughout his mind as a single ring of a bell accompanied this. Slowly, very slowly he began to black out.

Chain Hoof awoke. He immediately noticed that he wasn’t where he had blacked out at all but instead in the middle of a burning village, presumably Ponyville, he looked around searching for a clue to why he was there trying to remember where it was he had actually blacked out and as he tried to remember it began to fade from his mind like a vivid dream. All that remained in his mind was screaming, crying and a single bell ringing. He looked to the skies hoping for a clue to simply appear as he fell deep into despair. Around him there was nopony else, he sat in the burning clearing alone as the fire spread and the houses collapsed, screaming and crying echoing throughout his head as he tried to make sense of it all. All seemed lost as he began to wonder who exactly he was, was he indeed named Chain Hoof? And was he indeed in a burning Ponyville? The skies began to fade from his vision.

Chain Hoof didn’t awake. He was laying somewhere unidentifiable as the feeling of cold wood spread along his back. As his mind tried to process logical thought but was met with an intense pain through his entire body, and there he was. Laying on a slab of wood with the sound of crying and screaming around him accompanied by a single bell ringing.

Chain Hoof was alone.

******

The broken planks of wood from the housing in Hayka were spread around the remains of the village the few houses that remained burned brightly in the night as the survivors of the dragon attack began to salvage what remained of their lives. In the centre of the town was a pony laying down on a slab of wood surrounded by the crying of broken families, the screaming of young ponies being dragged away from their deceased parents and a single bell rung throughout the entire town, their only warning of the dragon attack that had passed. The pony on the slab of wood lay not breathing and surrounded by a few of the volunteer First aid staff that had been thrown together so quickly in their desperate search for survivors as they decided it impossible to treat Chain Hoof and left him laying there, waiting for the undertakers to collect the body.