I Survived

I was about to sit on my couch when I heard knocking at my door. I opened the door and saw Rainbow Dash smiling.

"Hey Brendan." She said.

"Hey Rainbow, how's it going?" I said.

"Good. Hey, want to come with us for a picnic in the park?" She said.

"Um, sure. Why not?" I said.

"Okay." She said, she flew behind me and started pushing me.

"Hey! What!?"

"Come on! The picnic is now!" She said.

What? She invited me to join them for a picnic that was happening as we spoke? Who does that? I ran forward and Rainbow flew ahead of me. I followed the rainbow beam she left behind and found the spot they were waiting for me at the park. It was under a pretty big tree on top of a hill, arriving there kind of gave me the sense of deja vu.

"Brendan!" Twilight said.

"Hey guys." I said. "Rainbow, next time you invite me to a picnic, make sure you tell me ahead of time. Okay?" I said.

"Yeah, yeah, alright." She said, putting sunglasses on and laying back.

A bit later Rainbow bolted straight back up. "Oh yeah, Brendan!" She said. "On my way to your place I saw Trixie. What did she want?"

Everypony started looking at me.

"She just wanted to say 'bye' and gave me an autographed poster for her show." I said.

"Really? That's all?" Rarity said.

"What do you mean?" I said.

"Nothing Brendan." Twilight said. "Did you have any more weird dreams?"

I nodded and told them about the dream.

"What!?!? There's no way anypony could beat me at a race! It's impossible!!" Rainbow Dash said.

"'We will live on in you, brother.'" Twilight said, thinking. "I wonder what that means. Do you have any family?" She said.

"No. Well, at least I don't think so." I said.

"Well of course you have family silly! If you didn't have a mommy or a daddy then you wouldn't be here because they never would've met and you never would've been born and then we wouldn't be here talking about how you couldn't be here if you didn't have a family." Pinkie Pie said.

I didn't pay attention to her and just continued talking to Twilight about the Russian man.

"He was old, he looked to be in his, jeez. I don't know. Maybe his early 50's or late 40's." I said. "He had a moustache and a beard. Messy hair. He spoke to me like I was a brother. Guy looks like he was there for World War 1 and 2." I said. I knew she wouldn't know what World War 1 or 2 were, but I was hoping she wouldn't ask. I didn't want to kill their mood by telling them about that kind of stuff again.

"And he didn't seem familiar to you at all?" Twilight said.

I shook my head and started eating an apple. "I've never seen him anywhere before." I said.

Twilight just nodded her head slowly and picked up a plate with salad on it and began digging in.

It wasn't long before Rarity spoke up.

"Listen, Brendan." She said. "We've been meaning to tell you something."

"What's up?" I said.

"About the possibility that you might not be able to return home." Apple Jack said.

"What?" I said.

"We've been looking all over, every book there is that could help us hasn't, and we don't seem any closer to getting you back." Twilight said.

"We'll definitely help you try to get your memories back darling, we just believe it's time to give up on finding you a way home." Rarity said.

"What? I-I-What?" I said. I thought about this all for a moment, absorbed what I was being told.

"No." I eventually said, no louder than a whisper.

"What?" Twilight said.

"No!" I said. "No! I won't give up! Not ever! I won't give up until I have all the answers I'm looking for! Even if it takes me one thousand years I'm never going to stop!"

"Now calm down sugarcube." Apple Jack said.

"No!" I said. I turned to Twilight and pointed at her. "You said you'd help me! All of you did! Well, you might give up, but me!? I'm never going to give up."

I stormed off, I was pretty shocked that they would even dare say that.

"Hey!" I heard a voice behind me say.

I turned to see Rainbow speeding at me, stopping just as she was about to make contact with me.

"What?" I said.

"Listen, they won't say it. So I will." She said. "Have you ever thought of any reasons to stay?"

"Look, I like this world. The colors, the kindness, everything, it's all great in this world, but it's not mine. All I want to do is go home, find out what it's like there."

"And what if your home is everything you've ever wanted? Will you stay there forever without saying goodbye?" She said.

That was unexpected, she caught me off guard and I had to take a moment to think about what I'd say next.

"I-I. Well give me one reason why I shouldn't look for a way to go home." I said.

"Because maybe there's somepony who doesn't want you to leave." She said before flying off.

What? Who? What was she talking about? I had no idea, so I just went back home.

I sat down on my couch and was left to myself for the good part of the day before hearing a knock at the door.

I got up and opened the door to see Twilight standing there, looking sort of nervous.

"Hey Twi." I said.

"Um, hey Brendan." She said. "I'm sorry for earlier."

"No." I said. "If anyone has anything to be sorry for, it's me. I did overreact a little bit with the yelling and stuff." I saw Twilight blush at my comment.

"So, um. I just came by to ask you if you'd like to continue the discussion we were having about the man later, b-by the lake." She said.

After she said that I looked up to see something that had moved in the distance and saw slight traces of purple sticking out of the bushes by the lake. Rarity.

"Um, sure. Why not?" I said.

At this Twilight lit up, not looking as nervous as she did. "R-really?" She said.

"Yeah, why not?" I said.

"Alright, uh, just pick me up at my place at 8:00. Okay?" She said, jumping off when I nodded.

When 8:00 rolled around I went to pick up Twilight, on my way I began wondering how Trixie was doing on her journey.

When I got to Twilight's house I knocked and heard Rarity say "Just a minute dear!" In a sing songy voice.

When she the door finally opened Twilight stepped out, her mane done in a way that only Rarity could do. It was kind of poofy, but not at the same time.

"So Brendan, what do you think?" Rarity said.

"She looks beautiful." I said. I'd never complimented a pony on their mane, and it was pretty weird. I wonder if it's just as weird as complimenting a human on their hair.

Twilight blushed and walked out of the house, following me back to the lake and sitting down next to me on the bench next to the lake.

"I didn't ask her to do this you know." Twilight said.

"What?"

"My mane. I didn't ask her to do this, I just thought I'd let you know."

"Oh. Well. Alright. Now, about the conversation." I said. "I think I see more things when-" I said before Twilight interrupted me.

"This is a beautiful lake. You have such a nice view." She said.

I looked out into the lake and had to admit it did look beautiful against the setting sun, but that wasn't what we were here to talk about.

"Yeah, okay. Now I think I get more of those dreams-" Again I was interrupted by Twilight.

"I have to thank you for coming with us to the Gala, even if you didn't want to. And for trying to help us out with Gilda, even though we didn't use your idea. And also for all those other times you've helped us." She said.

I was getting a little annoyed with the constant interruptions, not a lot, but a bit.

"Well, I just wanted to say that, I think you're a great guy. And I know that you'll get all of your memories back." She said.

I nodded. "Yeah." I looked out at the lake, which was a beautiful orange-red color with the sunset hitting it. "I wonder if anyone's looking for me back home."

"I know they are. You're a good person now and I know that you were a good person back then too." She said.

Thus, giving me another reason to go home. I wanted to say that, but didn't. I really didn't want to ruin the moment with this beautiful view.

"Um, Brendan?" She said.

"Hm?"

"Have you ever thought about-" She said, before seeing a chariot flying towards us.

We looked up and saw Celestia was visiting town.

"CELESTIA!?!?" Twilight said. "Oh no! Why didn't she warn me about this sooner!?!? I would've made preparations! Oh, no. I've, um, Brendan, I've-"

"Go." I said.

I watched as Twilight went off and turned my head towards the lake again, taking in the breathtaking view.

I liked this world, and it certainly was a nice and forgiving one.

I thought that I could have a great life here, until I get home that is. I kept thinking about how life is back home, how it must be an amazing place when you get past all of the bad stuff......

....Never had I been so wrong in all my life.