Silent Graves

Red Cap woke up surprisingly well-rested. Usually, he didn't sleep very well on these camping trips, mostly on account of a sleeping disorder he had. He was a night owl, and waking up at the crack of dawn was not something he liked, or was happy to do. He was always the last to fall asleep, and always the last to wake up as a result. During the summer months, he would wake up in the afternoon, often falling asleep around sunrise. Such was not the case on these trips.

It was very odd that he was waking up on his own, especially so late in the day. Usually, Open Skies would have woken him up by shaking his shoulder, or one of the other boys would have done so at his request. Waking up naturally was certainly very odd.

Red slid out of his sleeping bag and rolled it up tightly. He was awake now, he may as well make the most of it. He slipped on his shirt and stepped outside. It was around noon, and yet, the camp was quiet. With a shrug, he picked up one of the four grapefruit. Certainly, it would be a proud feather in his cap when everypony else woke up and saw that he was the first to wake up. They sometimes called him a lazy bum jokingly, and now he could turn that around on them. As he cut the fruit open, he chuckled at the thought of rubbing their noses in the fact that, for once, he was up earlier than they were.

He finished his grapefruit rather quickly, then set up the campfire again so it would be easy to light tonight. Whatever fun activity Open Skies had planned for today, whether it be wood carving, bird watching, or simply reading from the field manual, having the fire ready to light would be a critical step in cooking their dinner quickly. It was especially important today, as the rest of the group was already late waking up. Any preparative work he could afford them in advance would be worth the praise he would surely receive.

After a time, he became rather bored. He was starting to wonder if maybe they were sick. They were certainly taking their sweet time waking up. The thought that something had happened to them chilled him to the bone. He could feel that something was wrong; he just knew it somehow. It was time to find out what it was.

Pulling the canvas aside, he stepped cautiously into Open Skies' tent and looked around. Judging by the lump in the sleeping bag, he definitely hadn't left or woken up. "Mr. Skies?" He took a step closer. A cold blast of fear rushed through his veins, begging him to go back to the comfort of being outside next to the fire. Surely, they'd all be waking up soon, right? He shook the thought from his head. He had to be brave, just in case he had to leave the forest alone and come back with help.

"Mr. Skies, are you awake? It's me, Red. It's really late in the day, and we're all worried about you." It was a lie, as the other two were likewise asleep, but if they hadn't been, surely they would be worried about him. He stepped a little bit closer, and placed his hoof on the stallion's shoulder. It was very cold. "Mr. Skies, are you okay?" With a light shake of his shoulder, the tent was suddenly filled with a horrid stench as Open Skies rolled over onto his back.

The sight of him was the most horrifying thing Red had ever seen. The first thing he saw was the black and red bile leaking from every orifice. It was dripping from his lips, his nose, even his eye sockets. His eyeballs had popped out of his skull, and were hanging over his nose by their optic nerves. As his sleeping bag fell open, Red could see that his stomach had distended and parts of his torso had opened up. That was there the smell was coming from.

Red ran out of the tent as fast as he could. He would have screamed, but what came out was vomit. He'd just seen his first dead body. Star had confided with him one day about how mean his mom was to his dad, and how he was scared that they might separate, but Red had never expected this degree of separation. He had no idea how he was going to break the news to him. It was going to break his heart to hear what had happened to his father.

He rushed back into the tent and pulled on his best friend's shoulder. "Star, you have to wake up! It's your dad, he's--" Red was stopped by what he saw. Star had spewed something out of his mouth, and it had sprayed Red's face, a quick wipe of his shirt confirmed it to be blood, and a second look at Star's face showed that he'd met the same fate as his father.

Red scurried backward, tripping over Nestor as he went. Soon, the tent smelled the same as the other, and a cursory glance at Nestor's face told him that he was completely alone. He now knew why nopony had woken him. They were all dead. Somepony must have killed them in the middle of the night. He couldn't fathom why or how, or for what purpose he alone had been spared. There were no answers here, only dead bodies.

He rushed out of the tent and ran down to the stream, splashing himself repeatedly with the cold water. This wasn't a nightmare; he could feel the cold sting of the water on his face. A few moments passed where he just sat on the riverbank, watching the water trickle by, a bit of watching the squirrels chase each other from tree to tree as he tried to comprehend what had happened. He thought back to the night prior, hoping that he had heard something that would explain all of this that he was missing, somehow. He couldn't think of anything.

When he stood up, it was almost evening. It was time to make his decision. What he decided was not an easy path to take, but he knew it was what he should do. He returned to camp, loaded up his backpack, made sure Star's lantern was full of oil, picked up the rest of the grapefruits, and started his way back home through the woods. He'd never made the journey without Open Skies before, nor had he ever been through it at night. Tonight, he would have to do both. He had to make it back to town as soon as possible, and he had to make sure that the local guards knew what he'd found. His two best friends and the coolest stallion in the neighborhood would not be easily forgotten.