Songs of Innocence

Chapter 40: Sleepy House Over Yonder

Fluttershy's cottage, many moons later

"This was the biggest moment of Sun's life. Her final question would finally be answered. Her memories were becoming clearer and clearer, and she had finally found her way out of the marsh of nightmares. The dawn awaited her at the exit, and so did the tragic truth. Applejack still can't decide on whether or not it was actually worth it to find out that truth. But she isn't Sun. Sun was on a mission, and she was ready to face whatever reality awaited her atop those stairs... even if it would destroy her."

Sun's parents' house, many moons ago

The three entered the house, and found that its insides were desolate, with objects covered in dust, as if the house had been abandoned, contrary to what its seemingly well-maintained, albeit very old exterior had them believe.

Out of curiosity, Applejack checked the cupboards, and found packaged foods that looked like they hadn't been touched in a century. "Somethin' weird's goin' on here..." she whispered. Sunburst couldn't help but feel a great sense of unease. The house was everything he remembered it to be from when he visited, but... it didn't feel right. To help ease his unease, he decided to report back to the two mares. 

"I'm sorry, Sol. I haven't seen them anywhere. This place was clearly abandoned a while ago." he gleaned.

"I knew it..." Sun sighed with a dead serious look. Puzzled by her response, Sunburst raised an eyebrow, so Sun elaborated a little. "It's not really abandoned. I remember what happened now."

"What're ya talkin' about now?" Applejack asked, a little annoyed by Sun's vagueness. Sun gestured towards the stairs. She began to walk towards them, and the two followed.

Sun explained as she marched up the stairs. "There's a monster named Anzu who attacked this town a while back. Everyone thought he was just a fairy tale creature, but he was real, and he was a complete monster. My parents were able to capture him and sent him to Tartarus before he could do any major damage, but he told them he'd get revenge on them one day. They didn't think he would. But one day, word got out that he escaped somehow, and..."

"And yer parents sent you to Ponyville so you'd be safe?"

"Yeah. The reason we didn't all move was because they wanted to stay behind and fight him. Besides, I'm old enough to be on my own."

"Uh, Sol? You... aren't." Sunburst interjected. "You're not a filly anymore, but you're barely a mare."

"They were desperate. They didn't think this would take long, and they bought a house for me to live in when I become a full-grown mare anyway. But something happened. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but Anzu attacked before they expected him to, and I had to run. I felt so scared by what happened that I cast a spell to forget it, but it ended up working too well. I was so shaken that I ended up casting it incorrectly, and that's why I forgot almost everything. But I'm ready to face what I ran from. All the nightmares I've been having are really just reflecting how I felt when I had to run, and they've been leading me back to this house. And now that I'm here... I can get my revenge."

Before the two could process that last cryptic line, they, along with Sun, saw the shadows of a creature moving in the dark bedroom of Sun's parents. Sun began to shake, and turned to her two companions to give them a simple order: "Stay here." Immediately afterwards, she marched into the bedroom, knowing the creature was none other than Anzu. The room reeked of the foul scent of weeks-old dried blood, and as much as Sun wished it was, it wasn't Anzu's.

The creature sat hunched over, gnawing on a bone in a corner of the dark room, only lit up with a single desk lamp. A chill ran down Sun's spine, knowing her worst fears were not only reality, but way worse than she expected. It was nightmarish watching Anzu gnaw on the bones of her parents, which had clearly been picked clean of all their meat long ago. This was worse than anything she saw in her nightmares. She realized that her parents were dead the moment that Luna uttered Anzu's name, but she never could've expected this. She was scared, and enraged.