The Duo from Dirt

~~~James~~~<

I hear muffled, distant wind. Everything’s still dark, and I can’t feel anything. Slowly but surely, I feel my senses coming back to me, and strength fills my muscles. The wind becomes more clearly heard as that particular sense of the six is the first to fully restored. The wind is calm and steady. I feel slightly relaxed from the gentle breeze. After a few idle seconds, I muster energy to wiggle my fingers. They run through something warm and soft, yet bumpy in texture.

“Mmmn… gnnnhh…” I manage to groan out as my eyes slowly crack open. The rest of my senses return to me, and immediately feel the sun beating down on my body. Once my eyelids decide to open, I see the clear blue sky, and the sun gives my eyes a jolly, painful smile. My eyes close again in reaction to the harsh light. I run my fingers through the ground again, and it feels like loose dirt. I lift my arms up to my chest and rubs my eyes with my knuckles. The… sun. Later. Hungry… thirsty… course… home… place… thing? My mind is unclear and hazy. I reopen my eyes slowly and let them adjust.

I push on my elbows to try and get myself upright, getting into a sitting position. Scanning my surroundings, I see nothing but dirt and patches yellowed grass as far as my vision goes. This familiar sight was no stranger to me. I lived in the countryside, after all.

Maybe--h-house-- my-- stil-- my--. I shake my head to reset my thought-train, trying to focus.

Maybe… maybe my house is around here. I think… I think this is place… kinda familiar. Ummm… house. Where is it? What does my house look like again? I question, my thoughts a mess. Now that I give it more attention, I can’t seem to remember anything. I don’t remember what I was previously doing, I don’t remember where I came from, I don’t know how I got here, and hell, I don’t even remember my name! … Who am I?

I still remember how to speak- or think- in English, and I can still recall sign language, and something else that has to do with language. But… everything’s a blur.

It also seems that basic survival skills haven’t eluded me as I instinctively try to call out to no one in particular, “H-- Hngh! Gmph!” My ‘voice’ gets caught in my throat and I start to cough out a lung. Attempt after attempt to make my voice heard, it all results in the same fate.

Can’t… speak. Can’t speak. Esto no es bueno… Spanish. I remember Spanish. It being my mother tongue, it recall it rather easily, but I can’t remember where I learned it. Or how. Or why. Why am I even here? What’s my purpose? What--.

Thirsty… My mind says on its own, cutting me out of my thought train. Indeed I feel that my throat’s dryer than a damn desert , and I feel like I’m attempting to swallow a rock. I look around, and then I look at myself. I see that I there’s a backpack laying on the floor to my right. I reach out for it and pick it up. Sets it down on my lap, my legs going criss-cross. I take the zipper handle in my index and thumb before proceeding to run up, across, and down the top of the bag. It opens up and I peer inside.

I see some notebooks, a pencil case, and… Yes! I reach inside the bag to take out a bottle of water that’s laying at the bottom. The bottle has a plastic, flimsy label that reads Dasani. My mind starts to hurt and my eyes slightly close as things start to attack my mind.

“Grrrrnh!” I groan loudly as I massage my temples with my fingers. I remember something… Dasani. Water company. Company. Buisness. Enterprise. Money. Currency. Profit. My head stops hurting after the surge of memory attacks. I suddenly recall those things, and what they mean. I give two hard blinks before shaking my head. Looking down at the bottle of water, and a smile creeps onto my mouth.

Uncapping the top, my chapped lips greet the bottle and I chug the water down greedily. My throat immediately feels cooled and refreshed, and my body feels rejuvenated.

Mmmmn. Feels good, man. Feels good. I say in my thoughts before I recap the bottle, the liquid being halfway drained. Stuffs it back into my backpack and scavenges around it some more. Nothing else but notebooks and pencils. I look up back at the sun that’s beating down on me, and I groan. Go away… shoo. Stupid sun. Sighs before forcing my weight forward, onto my heels and finally standing. Bones pop in my knees, back and neck as I flex and stretch my slightly cramping body. Looks around my area and I spot a familiar black stetson hat laying on the floor.

Oh, hey! My ha-- “Gggrrrrrhhhh!!!” My head starts to throb again, bombarded with memories. Cowboy hat. 17th birthday. I’m 20. Family. Dad bought it. Piñata for children. Friends at party. Happy. The pain ends once again as I try to focus. More memories had just finished punching my brain.

Strange... things that mean something to me, give memory. I chuckle. I guess you can say they’re Random Access Memories!

“GGGH! MMMNGH!” The pain returns with a metal baseball bat to my skull as I remember something else. Random Access Memories. Daft Punk. Music. Love music. Music on phone. Pirate music. Uses computer to pirate. Computer is… I don’t remember. The pain, once again, subsides instantly once the thoughts stop striking me.

That’s the last corny joke for a while...

Damn it. If that’s gonna happen every time I remember something, I might as well be ignorant for the rest of my life. This sucks... Oh, right! Phone! I quickly slap the pockets of my jeans with my palms two or three times, and I feel something lumpy and rectangular in the right pocket, and something smoother on the left pocket, this item taking a square shape to it. I reach into the right pocket and pull out a grey, rubbery object. Success! I think as I look down at the slim, silver object in my hand. It is surrounded by a hard box-type object that reads Otterbox. I don’t remember where all of this stuff came from though. All I remember is that I had them, not their locational origin. I didn’t complain.

I press one of the buttons on the right the device, a wide smile on my face.

Shit. I frown as the screen wakes and there’s a 4 pin lock on the phone, and I sure as hell don’t remember what it was. I sigh in defeat before stuffing it back into my pocket.

I reach down to pick up my stetson hat. Once in hand, I use the other to wipe off the dirt and dust on it. I grasp my long-ish dark brown hair and pull it back before setting the hat on my head. It fits nice and snug as I remember it to do. My parents bought it a size and a half bigger than it should have been back then for the reason to not have to trash it after a year of use.

Glances up at the sun once more with the protection of my hat. I see that it’s on it's setting phase, but it’s still high in the sky.

Alrighty, let’s head east. My brain commands as my feet begin to move to the opposing direction of where the sun is going to set. I slip my left arm through the backpack’s strap to get it more comfortably hitched to my back, and shrug it up into a place. I keep walking with home as my destination.

~~~Twilight~~~<

I trot quickly towards the edge of Ponyville, mumbling to myself that it was my fault, and I shouldn’t have forced Spike to do something he didn’t want to do.

“Oh, Spike. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. I’m… ” I choke between tears and gulp, letting out a soft sigh.

“I shouldn’t have. But I did. How can you ever forgive me? I almost ended your life all because of my arrogance. Oho, Spike...” I hiccup, a tear streaming down my cheek.

As houses start to become less and less in number, the edge of Ponyville nears me. Even though I’m completely exhausted, I kick into a trot-run to make it to Fluttershy’s quicker. Crossing a bridge that stretches over a river, the border of Ponyville is now passed. I now follow a small dirt path, and within a few short minutes, I arrive at the front of a cabin-like house with many bird cages surrounding it. A pretty stream runs across the front yard, and I cross it using a much smaller bridge carved out by hoof. I trot up a few dirt and log steps to reach the front door, and knock quickly.

I hear shuffling on the other side of the door and a lock undoing. And another lock being opened. And one more. The door finally opens. A yellow pegasus pony hiding behind a long pink mane pokes her head out slightly.

“H-Hello?” she says just above a whisper.

“F-Fluttershy? It’s me Twilight…” I reply with a similar tone to hers. The door then swings open wide, a smile on the mare in front of me.

“Oh, hello, Twi… light… Twilight?” She looks at me in confusion. She notices my eyes are bloodshot red, and my cheeks damp with tears. I don’t attempt to hide my emotions.

“Twilight, are you okay? You look awful!” Fluttershy looks at me with a gentle gaze. “Please, come inside.” She steps aside for me. Slowly trots in, hanging my head low.

I clear my throat. “ Fluttershy, I-- ... Spike was injured in a spell test today. It’s his leg. It was caught in a rune and it closed around him. I think it broke a few of his bones. I… it was… an acce… accident.” I start to sob again. I feel something brush up against me. Fluttershy had come up next to me and wrapped her wing around me, giving me an encouraging smile.

“It’s okay, Twilight. Accidents happen. You don’t need to stress over it. I can go over to him. I can take care of him.” Fluttershy whispers in a motherly tone.

“Y-You can?” I sniffle.

She simply nods, the smile not leaving her face. Her amazing way of making someone feel happy through a hard time never ceases to amaze me. I’ll need to look into it later. Maybe there’s a book about manipulating feelings I can check out.

“My bears wander into the Everfree forest and sometimes, they step onto a poacher’s filthy bear trap. I’ve dealt with injuries like Spike’s for quite some time. I can definitely help him.” Fluttershy explains. I can’t help but to smile.

She lets her wing fold back onto her side. “Let me get my medical supplies, and we’ll head off to get Spike patched up. Does that sound good to you, Twilight?” I nod at her and she trots off to a room left to her living room. A few seconds later, she comes out with white saddlebags with a red cross on them strapped around her back.

“Ready?” She asks.

“Ready.” I reply. Right afterwards, she goes to the door and opens it. She glances back into the living room, but she isn’t look at me. She’s looking at something behind me.

“Okay, Angel bunny, you stay safe while momma’s gone. Don’t open the door for strangers, okay?” She tells a white bunny that’s gawking back at her. He just crosses his arms and sticks his nose in the air, closing his eyes. With that, we trot out of Fluttershy’s and head back to the library.

The warm Spring sun is high up in the sky, but I feel so cold. The thought of Spike not being able to walk ever again haunting me. My little assistant won’t be able to assist me anymore.

“I see that look in your eye, Twilight. Don’t be worried so much. It’ll all be o-kay.” She puts a tender emphasis on ‘okay.’ “How bad was it anyway?” She asks.

"His leg was dark purple, and it was very swollen." I mutter.

“Any internal bleeding?” I simply shake my head to her question.

“I don’t believe so. No signs of it when I checked.” I reply in a soft sigh.

“Oh, that’s great, then! I should have him patched up in a jiffy!” She replies with enthusiasm.

I don’t know if it’s that easy, Fluttershy… After galloping for some time, and me being spaced out in thought, we arrive at the front of my library. I grip the door in my magic and swing it open, not sure how earth ponies and pegasi deal with always opening those things with hooves.

“Where’s the patient?” Fluttershy asks in a silly tone. She seems very confident, and I don’t know why. My Spike might lose his leg and she’s here making funny remarks.

“He’s upstairs in my room. C’mon, I’ll lead you to him.” I start for the stair case and make my way up to my door, Fluttershy tailing right behind me. I swing the door open and let my yellow friend trot in first, her being the doctor and such. She immediately makes her way to Spike who is sound asleep on my bed. His leg looks slightly worse than when I first left, but it might have been worse had I not casted the healing spell on him. She gives him a quick look down on his injured limb.

She proceeds to gently poke it and massage it to feel for any bones that decided to house themselves inappropriately in his leg. She makes quiet agreement sounds to herself as she feels around.

She giggles. She literally just giggled. Why!? Spike is--!!

“Oh, this is simple. I thought it would be much worse! Twilight, you really need to learn to ease up.” Fluttershy says good-heartedly.

Uggh! Not you too! I roll my eyes at the familiar words.

Fluttershy then takes Spike’s leg into her two hooves, and then proceeds to do the unimaginable. She presses down on his leg with great force, and then with a loud “Hai-ya!”, she karate chops Spike’s leg.

“Aaaaahhh!!!” Spike jumps into consciousness after the smack.

I stand there, jaw wide open. “Fluttershy are you out of your mind!?” She ignores me as she reaches into her saddle bag, pulling out a roll of bandaging tape. She beings to wrap it methodically around Spike’s foot and shin, tying it together with her mouth.

“Voila!” She murmurs, smiling down at Spike before kissing his newly made cast. “All better.”

“All better?” My eye twitches. “All better!? You might as well have had impaired him for the rest of his life, you--!!” As Twilight is rambling at Fluttershy, she begins to pout and shy back, letting out a quiet cry of distress.

“Woah, Twilight. Chill, dude. I feel fine. I’m not sure what Fluttershy did, but I can move my leg again. Other than the annoying swelling and it stinging a bit, I’m fine.” Spike says nonchalantly.

I look at the poor cowering mare behind the bed. “... Oh, Fluttershy, I’m sorry… I… just… there’s a lot going on with the princess and that’s got me all stressed out, and now Spike is hurt and it’s my fault… I shouldn’t have gone off on you like that. Can you forgive me?” I gaze at Fluttershy sympathetically.

She nods a bit before standing up again, blowing her mane from her face.

“Why did you smack Spike’s leg like that?” I ask the still timid mare.

“B-Because… his bones weren’t broken. T-They were just d-dislocated. A quick hit back into place and the bones should recover on their own.” She stutters out. It all makes sense now.

“O-Oh… well… I...” I blush a bit, feeling very ashamed at getting mad at Fluttershy for helping me. I feel awful. Again.

I hear the pegasus giggle. “It’s okay, Twilight. There’s not need to feel bad about it. What’s past is past.” A small smile takes her lips.

I swear this mare always knows what I’m thinking.

“Don’t think about it too much, Twilight.”
I’m not surprised.

“Well, I’m going to head home to give my animals some lunch. Call me again if you need anything, Twilight.” She makes her way to the door. I give her a solemn smile and nod. She exits the room, and I hear the front door gently open and shut. I see Spike staring at me.

“Spike...” I sigh. “I’m really, really sor--”

“Twilight, I’m hungry. Do we still have that big green emerald I got from Rarity?” I look at him, dumbfounded. I nod slightly, confused.

“Can you bring it?” He says. I sigh and roll my eyes.

“Sure thing, you silly dragon.” He smirks at my remark and lays back down. Heads downstairs to fetch him his rewards for being a practice dummy.

~~~Phoenix~~~<

“James...James… where have I heard that name from?” Waking up from a hazy spell, I feel that I have awoken, but my eyes remained closed. Wind passes over me and I shiver just a little from the coolness from it. I try to move my limbs but to no avail. So I remain lying down for a while and start to feel the heat dawning on me.

“W- Grr! Hrghn!” I get to a jump start with a horrible coughing figgit coming to me. Something must of caught up in my throat that started this reaction. Trying to catch my breath from the coughing, I open my eyes quickly but I regret it immediately.Ah! Fuck my eyes. Clenching my eyes in pain, I quickly bring up my hands and rub them with the side of my index finger to relieve the stinging pain that was happening.

Great, the sun hates me now. I continue to rub my eyes since that just stung like hell, for looking directly at it like an idiot. The stinging feeling slowly dies down, I keep my eyes closed until it starts to feel better. After a few seconds, I reopen my eyes at a decent pace. I look up to see the sun of course, and a nice light blue sky above me. I feel like I’ve been lying on a patch of grass with the sound of running water near me. Immediately the feeling of thirst comes to me and I push up with my arms so that I can sit up and make a quick scan of my surroundings.

Trees…a lake....grass...more trees… even more trees… just trees... great. I start to ponder as to why I am in a forest since I left… left...home? Trying to make the answer appear out on my hands, I couldn’t think of anything that comes to mind as to my home. Now that I think about it, do I even have a home to begin with? Actually who… am I? Why am I here? I rack my head from side to side to try and remember, but nothing comes to mind.

Man… I am feeling rather parched right now. When was the last time I drank or ate anything? I look around a couple more times and I see a black object in the distance. I push myself up in a standing position, but dizziness hits me as I took hold onto a tree in order to keep myself from falling down. I knew that what I was feeling now, was Orthostatic Hypotension … What?! Orthostatic Hyp- the heck is that about? Where did I learn that, and ‘how’ did I remember that?!

Grngh! I clench my head as pain erupted out of no where. It felt like a thousand bees stinging me at the same time, Which is not fun by the way. Orthostatic hypotension… medical field… Health and Human services… a PN… My head continues to pound with ungodly pain that I may or may not have experienced before. Clenching my eyes I sit down rubbing my temples to make this gosh darn headache go away. Slowly the pain starts to die down, changing into just a throbbing feeling instead of a pinchy/stinging one. I used to be a nurse before, but that’s all I can recall for now.

“What was that pain plus remembrance that just happened? Did recalling a memory hurt me? Man I dun even know and I do not wish to go through that again.” Ignoring the throbbing pain, I reopen my eyes and stand up slowly to head for the black object in the distance. Approaching the object, I see that it is a type of luggage. I lower myself to inspect if there was any damage of any sort or if it was looted already. It seems that it was in medium condition, it didn’t look old nor did it look new. I figure that someone must have lost their luggage here in an accident or in a hurry. I pondered if I should open the luggage, but that would be invasion of privacy or so I remember. Deciding that someone must of forgotten it here and didn’t come back for it.

Should I open it? Ah screw it, I’m opening it. Opening it revealed certain items that were inside like; clothes, food, a phone, a knife, a flashlight, some spare blankets and thats about it. Zipping it back up, I turn it over and see a name tag attached to the luggage. Flipping the name tag over, I see that it says “Phoenix O’dwyer.”

“Phoenix O’dwyer, this must belong to him.” Flipping the object on its front side, my stomach grows in anger as the gods fight for power in order for who gets the food first that lands inside. I recalled that there was food inside this luggage. I reopened the luggage and take a freshly packed sammich inside. Observing the sammich it looks new, not even moldy. It must of been here for just a few minutes. I eat the sammich slowly as to not to kill my stomach if I hadn’t eaten in a long while. As I finish my sammich, I stand back up to head for the lake that was nearby.

Before though, I looked at the luggage that sat on the floor and pondered if I should take it or leave it for Phoenix O’dwyer who could be looking for it. I don’t think that he would be looking for it if he lost it in the forest. I might as well take it so that it won’t go to waste. With that in mind I grab the handle attached on the side and pull back. The handle goes back until it stops with a sounding click that it is locked in place. Now with everything prepared, might as well get a move on to the lake to quench my thirst… for some odd reason I find that very humorous. Being prepared earlier then being a late timer is best as they usually say.... “whoa, deja vu.”

Looking at the suns direction which is in the east, I start walking in hopes of finding a way to the entrance of the lake that might or might not be fresh water. So with that in mind, I march into the same direction as the river in hopes of finding a lake.

Continuing my stroll through the forest in search of the actual lake in hopes of finding fresh water. Glancing from left to right, I start to see more wild life now than I did before. Small critters hanging around trees, flying around, and… did I just see a flying squirrel? Wow never seen those types of squirrels before. Ignoring that last animal before I become strangely addicted to it, I continue to follow the stream down to find said lake.

Geez, how far out is it, some hundred meters away or what? I shake my head in annoyance that I have not gotten closer. I mean, everything looks the same but whatever. Crunch after crunch of fallen leaves being crushed by my op feet. I glanced up and see that it has gotten more cloudier since I woken up. Eh, I’m okay with that, screw you sun. My ears register a sound of tiny water droplets falling on the leaves of trees.

Ah great, is it going to rain on me now. That is freaking great, love you too weather! Just loving it. I quicken my pace so that I ain’t pelted with multiple droplets of rain. I do quick scanning of my surrounding to see if there is a habitable place to camp out in. After what felt like hours even though its just been a few minutes. I spot a mossy cave entrance in the middle of the thick trees. I dash it in the direction so that getting out of the rain would be better then getting wet. One mistake that I did not foresee is lowered spiked branches sticking out of the tree bark. In my quick running movement, I didn’t have time to slow down which resulted in cutting my leg up pretty nice.

Ah! Fuck me man. I shake off the pain since being drenched in rain while I dress up my wound would result in me getting an infection or being sick. I don’t like both options so, I moved on. Instead of stopping at the entrance to spot any wildlife that could be inside. I slid inside the cave and I put both my stretched out arms out to stop myself from getting hurt even more. Arms at the ready, I see the end of the cave which fortunately did not contain wildlife. Pushing against the wall, I fall flat on my arse and received little pain so I’m aight.

Geez, that was just too close for comfort. I let myself lie back, trying to regain my breath quickly as possible. Hearing the rain pouring heavily outside, I am lucky I was able to get inside, there being no wildlife in here to maul me dead. The feeling of adrenaline slowly leaves and the pain on my left leg coming back. Damn, cut myself pretty good. Im too tired to patch it up right now, even though I should.

Listening to the rain, I close my eyes, no longer feeling pain, just tiredness. I lay there listening to the calm soothing rain as I start to drift off into sleep. My conciensence wears out as sleepiness just killed me.

~~~James~~~<

About an hour into walking, I notice a large grey shadow start to take the land from behind me. It’s enveloping everything rather quickly, and before I know it, I feel something land on the brim of my hat. I glance up at the clou--

Mngh! Damn it! I flinch and close my left eye, wiping off the droplet of water that sniped my pupil. Just my luck. It’s gonna pour. I say in thought as more and more drops began to pelt the earth. I notice that there’s more grass than dirt near my feet, then I realized that I haven’t bothered to look up since I started walking. My neck started to hurt too. I take my index and middle finger up to the right side of my chin. Giving a quick twist of the neck, it pops comfortably in several places.

Mmn~ … that’s the stuff. My brain mutters.I flex my jaw bones a few times before noticing I’m about to enter a forest. Looking left, there’s forest, and looking right, there’s more forest.

When’d this all get here? I really need to start paying attention. My eyebrows furrow. Something could of came out and bit my arm off, and I’d be none the wiser.

Wait a minute. Forest has trees, and trees need water. Lakes! I can refill my bottle! A smile takes my lips and I bite the inside of my cheek. Guess I’m not as unfortunate as I thought.

I speed up my walk as I enter the forest, stepping over a few bushes. The first thing I note is that the lighting is much dimmer, and everything has a green hue to it. I didn’t mention this before because I hadn’t have it much thought, but this land. This area. This place. It feels strangely peaceful. Even though I was alarmingly thirsty back when I woke up, I was still able to relax.

I like it here. Maybe I can spend the night under a tree or somethin’. My mind contemplates as the rain picks up. It starts to feel cool and dense inside the forest, rain dripping down from random leaves from the tall trees. I can barely see the sky between all of this vegetation, but at least the sun wasn’t violently kissing my skin. It wasn’t hot, but the sun was still annoying. I keep walking through the forest, occasionally jumping over a bush or slapping away some vines or branches. I can hear birds now. Must be pretty deep in this here forest. I come to that conclusion.

My body starts to shiver and tremble. The air feels colder, and the rain wasn’t helping. As the sun goes into the horizon, it quickly becomes dark in the forest. More animals are heard, including crickets, frogs, and some sort of flying insects buzzing near me. The rain isn’t letting up. Actually, it’s gotten even worse. It’s definitely pouring.

Maybe sleeping in this place won’t be so dandy. I correct myself, trembling and letting out stuttered breaths. I start to turn my head left to right, looking for a place to hide the storm, and maybe the night, out. The forest floor is really bumpy, full of leaves, twigs, and uneven ground. It’s getting harder to walk around as my clothes become damp and saggy. Maybe a little bit further. Just a little bit further. C’mon, don’t stop now. I try to mentally encourage myself as my limbs feel stiff, and my fingers frozen.

A few more minutes of walking, and I start to lose hope. I don’t remember where I entered from, I’m pretty sure I walked in a circle. That one tree looks familiar. I think.

I’m freakin’ lost… God, please… give me strength… I start to lose feeling in my hands and my eyelids feel heavy. I decide to close them and keep walking, hopefully not tripping over an over sprouting tree root.

I love forests. I love rain. I love the night time. But the three at the same time… I need an adult. My movement is but slow limps, feeling nothing in my legs, hands, ears, and nose.

CRACK

I fall flat on my ass as I hold my now moss-covered bleeding nose. God almighty. What the hell? I open my eyes a little. I see I ran into a rock wall covered in moss. I look a little to the left of the rock wall, and it caves in into… a cave! Yes! I might make it tonight!

My happiness is shot down as I give this logical thought. It looks big enough to house a bear or two comfortably. It’s really dark, so if there was something in there, I couldn’t see it.

Freeze into a wet popsicle, or get mauled by bear… I wonder how much blood I have in me. I think as I get up and start to make my way towards the cave entrance. I step into the cave timidly, my boots gently clacking against the rock. I reach into my pocket that housed my phone, and I take it out. Gazing down at the device in hand, I give a silent prayer. I lift it up, the screen facing away from me. Proceeds to use my thumb to push the on/off button. I gulp as the screen lights up and I flinch back a bit.

…

I felt my heart skip a beat at the sight of… nothing. The cave is empty, and it looks unused. Ah, thank you, God… I sigh in heavy relief.

Walks deeper into the cave before I let my backpack flop off my back. Takes a seat down aside of it. I drag the bag to me as I search it for something useful inside of it. I check the two smaller pockets on the backpack. The medium-sized one contains only a pencil sharpener, a protein bar, and some erasers. I take out the food stick and set it down on my lap. Checks the small pocket and I find a lighter, a piece of paper with a 9 digit number with a little heart on it that has the letters “Ammie” inside of it. I’m not sure who or what that is, but it’s not important right now. I take out the lighter and close up the bag. Lets the bag fall over as bring up the lighter close to my face. Thankfully it has gas in it.

I take the lighter in my shaky, near-frostbit right hand and flick it on. I put my left hand over the small flame, letting the warmth seep into my skin. After a few minutes, feeling returns to my now warm left hand. My right hand gives the lighter to the left, and I proceed to do the same as before. I note that my clothes are a becoming a major hindrance to my survival. They’re cold and wet. I set the lighter down and stand up with some trouble due to my clothes sticking to my skin. I take off my stetson hat and let it fall next to the protein bar.

Welp… here goes nothin’... I think as I reach for the collar of my shirt. I pull it over my head and yank it off with some trouble. Like that feeling after you swim with some sort of clothing on and afterwards you try and take it off, but it feels like it got 4 sizes smaller. I rip it a little around the shoulder part while trying to take it off, but it comes off successfully.

Now. Pants. I reach for the button on my jeans and make it come loose. I pull down the zipper and take ahold of the jeans by the belt loops. Pulls it off with less trouble, but the jeans come inside out as I take them off. Tosses my shirt and the jeans off to the side which just leaves me in my tighty-whities.

I come remember my peers giving me a hard time for wearing these particular underwear types when we’d suit out for PRT in ROTC, but I could care less about their judgment. The were too damn comfortable.

My underwear had become a thong from them getting soaked and I looked ridiculous trying to take them out of my behind.

To hell with this thing… it’s not like anyone’s around anyway. I don’t give it a second thought as I pull them off. Tosses it to the pile of clothes, and I glance around. Being naked feels weird… I say to myself as I feel a breeze on my nuts. I did feel my body warming up though, so that was a plus.

I sit back down and take the lighter back in hand. I fire it up, holding it close to my face so it can defrost my nose and cheeks. My nose stopped bleeding quickly, but not tending to it caused blood to stream down my nostrils, to my mouth, and down my chin. After the flame warms up my nose, I feel it carefully. Luckily it isn’t broken, but it hurt to even touch.

Seconds pass me and my face feels like it’s back to where it belongs. Sets down the lighter and takes the protein bar to me. I quickly reach for the backpack in a small forward lunge and unzips the biggest pouch. Takes out the water bottle and sets it down next to me. I proceed to unwrap the protein bar, hungrier than I’ve felt myself ever be. Takes a bit chomp out of the bar before forgetting what I was eating. Protein bars were rather thick, so it wasn’t the brightest idea to take almost half of it into my mouth.

I chew like a dog eating peanut butter for a while before my saliva decomposes the bar. Swallows it down, and it lands happily in my stomach. Chocolate marshmallow was always my favorite. I eat the rest of the bar a little slower, taking occasional sips of water. Once my meal, or what you want to call it, is finished, I lay back and stare at the dark cave ceiling. It’s slightly visible, my eyes having adjusted to the dim lighting of the cave. I start to toss thoughts around my mind, wondering where I am. Where I might find someone for some directions. Or get a proper bite to eat. I sigh, closing my eyes. The sound of rain pitter-pattering with the trees and dirt outside was relaxing, and sleep is quick to accept me into its arms…

Then I hear something snore… snore... time for beddie-bye...

Wait. My eyes blast open.

Something snored. Inside. With me. In the cave. My heart feels like it wants to beat out of my chest cavity.

~~~Twilight~~~<

I move upstairs with a big green emerald held in my magic. Trots to my room and I gently open the door. I am greeted with a purple dragon sleeping on my bed.

So much for being hungry, huh? I sigh with a small smile. I levitate the gem to the nightstand next to bed and let go of it. It’s ready and waiting for the little drake once he wakes up. I look out side the window that’s next to my dresser, and I see that the sun is setting.

Rainbow Dash came in earlier that said some of the weather ponies had made their clouds move south from Cloudsdale, but something went wrong with the factory’s production system, and the clouds had been magically “teleported” to Appleloosa. I swore to her that I didn’t know the cause of it. Even if I did make a magic light show earlier today… and I kind of set a bazillion runes everywhere. Hehehe, woopsie.

From what she said, the rain will come through Appleloosa, to Dodge, and then to Ponyville. So tomorrow, Dodge is gonna get some rain.

Dash had left before I came back up to check on Spike, so I couldn’t tell him about our trip to Dodge to investigate the Badlands was going to be a bit wet. He had fallen asleep right after I had left the room, I figure. Fluttershy really knows her stuff. I haven't heard a peep from him.

“I’ll pack another raincoat for you, Spike.” I whisper to myself as I close the door gently and let the little guy sleep. I decide to get some early shuteye for the trip, and seeing that my bed was occupied, the couch was just as nice. Not really, but it’s better than the floor.

I trot towards a cubby in the living room, and take out a blanket with my magic. Makes my way towards the couch upstairs, and lays down on it, letting the blanket wrap around me. Snuggles into it, trying to get comfortable. After I find a suitable position on my side, and close my eyes, ready for the rainy field trip tomorrow.