Her Guardian Angel

"Muse" -Advent Rising

Chapter 1
“Well, I won’t back down. No, I won’t back down…”

A short cough escapes your lips as Rainbow Dash enters the room. Her tiny hands grip the blue plastic cup as she rushes towards you and gives you the water. You had requested it to the best of your ability. Gulping down the warm drink, you feel the pain in your neck again. As much as you wanted to hold your wounds and apply pressure, you knew that would simply make things worse at this point. Dry blood stained the cloth on your stomach. Looking around, you almost forgot where you were. The middle of the Everfree forest in a damnable old cabin. You sit with your legs straight forward on the enormous windowsill. Your eyelids become ever more and more heavy. You weren’t scared. You accepted death. Ever since your father, mother, and sister were taken from you just three months ago, death was something you asked for.

That was, until you met Rainbow Dash.

A simple six year old, her parents and brother were murdered before her eyes. In an attempt to save them, you only ended up making matters worse by getting your leg badly bruised. You did manage to drive the… things off. Your leg is long since healed, but right now… suffice it to say, you’ve been better.

An enormous gash across your stomach, a broken finger, a broken wing, and a large tear on your lip. That, and your neck was nearly snapped. These wounds had been treated for the most part, as much as they could in just a few hours. The pain, however, was still present, and you’d lost a LOT of blood. The makeshift safe-house you and Rainbow Dash had been staying in for the past month was overrun by monsters and you had to take shelter in a shack in the woods. Jesus… The mere thought of the situation made you want to cry. You were basically dug into ground-fucking-zero of the zombie apocalypse. Even the weather hadn’t been the same the past three months. Not a single hint of blue sky could be seen. The days were shorter and nights were darker. Damned princesses. All high and mighty in there thrones, not doing a thing to help the situation- no, epidemic. You and Rainbow were all alone. There was no hope for survival, especially not now. She’s six years old. She couldn’t defend the both of you if she tried. Even if she could, she wouldn’t have much luck. The only defense you had was a bullet-less pistol and a blunt pipe. Hardly survival tools.

Yet something drives you forward. Something has ever since this whole clusterfuck started. Something prevented you from dying, and you suddenly deduce what it is. It’s her. It’s Rainbow Dash. You’ve had to be stronger. You’ve had to abandon all doubt in order to protect her. There was but one safe haven in which none of these vile creatures could set foot on. A floating city called Cloudsdale. Only Pegasi could survive there. Hell, they were the only ones who could WALK on the clouds supporting the city. These creatures, even if they had wings, simply wouldn’t have the strength in their decayed bodies to fly there.

At least, that’s what you hoped.

Dash takes the empty cup from you and takes it back into the kitchen. After a moment or two, she returns into the bedroom. The light from the full moon enters through the glass-less window. The light from the moon had been dim as of late, and didn’t offer as much light as it used to. Especially behind the ever-present clouds. Shifting yourself a little, you tell Dash to get some sleep. Though the bed didn’t look very comfortable, it was at least a bed, and Dash knew this. You had taught her to live with what she had for the time being and to not complain. Sometimes, you had to use more cruel methods of getting her to listen, like telling her if she didn’t get rest, well… you basically told her the blunt truth of what would happen. Boy, did that teach her to listen. Sometimes you felt bad about it, but like it or not, this was the situation she was in, as well as you were. There was no room for laziness. There was no room for slack. And there was definitely no room for emotion. Fear, happiness, sadness, love. All of these emotions are trivial in the current world.

The little Pegasus solemnly nods and climbs into the bed. She doesn’t bother with the dirty sheet. It’s excruciatingly hot in the room. Looking out the window, you notice that some of the clouds had disappeared, offering a clear view of the corner of the moon. The waves of tiredness continue too pound against your head and soon, you find your head bobbing up and down in an attempt to stay awake. The determination of protecting Rainbow Dash took back-seat to the pangs of sleep. The temptation was simply too great. The last bit of sleep you had gotten this yesterday morning, when you couldn’t resist a short hour-long nap. It was Rainbow Dash that woke you up and started screaming that the monsters had found you both. Before that was four days ago.

Your eyelids finally seal themselves, and they weren’t opening for anything. Your arms crossed at your chest, you fall into a much needed, yet incredibly uncanny sleep.

A light tug is felt at your shirt, along with the quiet calling of your name. With a wiggle of your nose and an audible groan, you slowly open your eyes. At the sight of Rainbow Dash, your eyes shoot open and consciousness fully takes you. What the fuck was that?! You could’ve been attacked and killed, all because you fell asleep!

Nevertheless, Dash still continues to groggily tug at your sleeve. The only shirt you had was a loose white one, now grayed from dirt and sweat. The sleeves and collar were torn from months of endurance and scuffles with creatures. It was the last little bit of home left. As you look down at the six year old tugging at your shirt, you lose all sense of exterior strength. What you witness is the most adorable thing ever. The child’s hair is ruffled in an impossible cowlick, her bangs where a unicorn’s horn would be. She’s rubbing her left eye tiredly while pulling your shirt with her right hand. Her tiny wings are incredibly ruffled, the feathers going off in a million different directions. A smile spreads across your lips as you gaze at her, which only widens further as she mumbles your name in her adorable little voice. Eventually, she looks up at you. Realization hitting you, you let your previous stoic expression wash over you. Clearing your throat, you inquire as to what’s wrong.

“You fell asleep.” And again, guilt hits you for dozing off like that. A few weeks ago, you’d told her that if you started to nod off, she was to wake you by any means necessary. Once, she caught you start to fall asleep by a river and pushed you in. Let’s just say you had to try REAL hard not to snap at her.

“I know,” you say quietly. Your voice, for the past few days, had been short of audible. All that yelling to get to safety, or to run somewhere was finally getting to you. “I should be fine now. Won’t happen again.” Taking a look outside, you figure it’s about 5:00 in the morning from the dark white light that bounced off of the fog. The entire sky was a solid white; as if this were a cartoon and someone forgot to put in a sky. Your mind wanders elsewhere though. “Rainbow… What’re you doing up this early?” Her nose points to the floor and her shoulders rise to her cheeks.

“I, um… I… I had a bad dream…” She looks as embarrassed as she could. Just as you open your mouth to say something, she cuts you off, “I… I know you told me to be brave… a-and I know they’re just dreams… but…” As with the many other times this has happened, your heart sinks to your stomach as a glistening tear falls down her face. “A-And I wanna be brave, and I wanna help, but I just…” Against all logic and all protests from your body, you swivel yourself and sink to the floor on your knees. Now eye-level with Dash, you notice she’s probably been crying for a while; her eyes are swollen and a bright red. Finding no words, you reach out and pull her into a warm hug. She immediately rushes into your embrace and lets all of her pain out. Your stomach churns with each long-winded sob she lets out. You can almost make out words in her cries, but it’s barely understandable. The parts you can make out, though, somehow involve her family, especially her brother. You’d actually graduated with Stormcloud Dash. His name completely contrasted with is outgoing and nonchalant personality. Unlike you, he was one of the most popular students in school, despite only moving to Ponyville the year before. You didn’t talk much to him, but when you did, you enjoyed his company, and he for the most part seemed to enjoy yours.

But now he couldn’t enjoy anything anymore.

The poor child continues to weep into your shoulder, her little arms going only as far as your sides in an attempt to hug you back. Danger seemed to be lacking in presence, so you let Rainbow have her moment. You almost consider having a moment yourself, but that’s no option. You have to stay strong. For her. For yourself. For what little life remained in Equestria. You have to be there for this poor child all alone. You have to protect her, lest she come to an unforgiving end. That can’t happen.

You have to be her guardian angel.

Author's Note

Hope you like my first 2nd person story! Don't ask why Dashie is a filly here. I dunno.
I'm dead serious when I say I had no idea about the Last of Us while writing this. I wrote it a while ago an only now (after playing that amazing game) did I remember to put it up.
EDIT: K. SO I PLAYED TELLTALE'S WALKING DEAD GAME. AND THEN THE ENDING HAPPENED. HAD NO IDEA.