Chapters The heart beat, low and harmonious, a tender drum of both love and solitude. It's my favorite sound for it reminds me of an ancient thunderstorm that grows with each generation that listens to it, passing the power from one person to another.
The calming sensation that the heartbeat brings, however, can only be powered by someone of great passion for what they love, and each tune is different. Some warm and colorful, others cold and clouded. Most filled with dreams, while the rest drowned in pain. Whenever I listen to the latter, I cannot help but feel helpless. I want to help those filled with ice, to give them my own internal fire so that they feel like they are worth something. That they have something to be proud of, to have the passion for whatever make's them happy, but I can't, and most of the time. They won't let me even if I try.
I understand that they want to save themselves from their own fear's, that they must defeat their own demons, but not everyone has the strength to do so. It pains me to see those that have failed their fight with themselves and have given up an choose to drown their sorrows in whatever they could get their hands on, be it drugs, booze or rope. They will end it with even more sorrow.
Sometime's, I wish that I wasn't born blind. I wished that I could see the white clouds, the green trees and the gentle twilight of the night. The fluffy snow that dappled my nose in the winter, the blooming flowers of spring, and the colors of the autumn leaves. Even though I couldn't see the beauty around me.
I could always feel it.
The first moments of my life was black with endless amounts of others always fussing about my ability for constantly needing help, even though I didn't need any. My memory is foggy during my childhood. Only sounds, smell, and touch were the only sensations I could recall. The smell of mother's cooking, the pain of running into the bathroom door, and the music of a smooth violin. But all of that changed after the dragon attack..
I woke up like any other day. It was a warm spring morning in Equestria. Celestia's sun warmth through the window was slowly making its rise in the east. The sound of ponies moving about their day to their job or just to roam around and enjoy the beauty of our little town of Hallow Shades. It was so safely tucked away in a dense forest with only a train to take ponies in and out, that, it also made it impossible to escape when danger arisen.
"Hey, Transient Cloud. you up yet?" said my sister Midnight Aurora as the weight of her steps entered the room. I followed them with my ears till I was confident that I was staring at her, even though it was blank and lifeless.
"Yeah," I replied through a yawn.
"Mom wanted me to help you down the stairs. Do you need any help?"
"I'll be fine," I groaned. "You now that I have never needed help since I was five."
"Just grab my tail so mom doesn't have to worry so much," Aurora sighed.
"Fine," I sighed knowing how much my mom worries about my blindness, but she didn't have to fuss about it every day. I was perfectly fine on my own. I know every nook and cranny of my house. My sister knows's this or rather, figured it out whenever we played hide and seek when we were younger. Aurora always got mad at me every time I won claiming I had X-ray vision instead of regular vision, but when I told her that I could feel her every step throughout the house. She said that she would never play with me again because I always cheated. I didn't deny it. It was the only way I could find her.
Grabbing her tail with my mouth and tasting the nauseating taste of Hayfever conditioner. Aurora leads me out of my room and down the stairs to where our mom was waiting impatiently. I could tell while walking down the stairs that she wasn't happy with how long we were taking from the vibrant pulses of her hoof tapping a mile a minute.
I didn't really care anymore about her constant worrying after the billionth rant on how helpless she thinks I was. It was always the same thing: Cloud could trip down the stairs and break his neck, what if he slips in mud and stains his white fur, 'or my favorite one', what if he goes even blinder than he already is! I couldn't wait to hear what she has to say next.
At the bottom of the stairs, I followed my sister into the kitchen where our mom was waiting. I sat down at the table pretending that I didn't notice her heavy breathing or mechanical hoof twitch and began to eat the cold hay cereal in front of me. Using the tip of my wing, I felt the end of the spoon and clasped it firmly. With years worth of practice eating this way, I ate quite comfortably.
"What took you two so long?" Our mother said with immense irritation.
"Don't ask me, Cloud didn't want help," Aurora said sighing in front of me and began eating what I could tell from the smell, hay bacon, and eggs. The glare our mom was giving Aurora moved to me.
"Cloud, you should really not make a fuss when someone is trying to help you, especially your sister! Do you know how much time she spends making sure you are alright?!"
'Hardly ever,' I thought.
"So stop being so difficult, at least for today," our mother said.
"Why? Are you going somewhere?" I asked.
"I am heading to Cloudsdale for work this month. They need an extra hoof with cloud creation so Aurora will be in charge."
"Oooh! Mom, can you hi to Cloud Runner for me," Aurora flashed with slight embarrassment.
"Crush much?" I teased.
"Hey!" Aurora said with heat in her cheeks.
"Behave, both of you," mom said leaving the kitchen.
Aurora and I finished our breakfast after our mom left for Clousdale on the train. Finally free of my mom's babying, I left the house to go practice flying in the back yard while Aurora left for work at the clinic tent. Stepping outside, I felt the wind carefully with the tips of my wing's, feeling the direction of where the gale curved and curled from the various objects around me.
"This is how I see," I mumbled to myself with a smile on my face as I walked through the soft grass. With each step, I took to my practice spot, a shockwave of shapes filled my mind with a perception of where everything that was around me was. To the left was the garden, to the right the fence to our neighbors. Behind me was my house and in front was the forest.
Entering the forest was a different experience every time. The wind snaked through the trees in a different path every day. The smell of the leaves both giving me shade and a soft spot to walk on was enticing for adventure. The various creatures that walked moved through the forest either for food or a mate didn't notice me as I walked near. With each step I made was soft and soundless. My sister taught me this trick of bending the wind under your hoof so that you didn't make a sound. Though, when I think about it. I think she figured out how to do this after I told her that I could feel her every step. After that, I could never tell where she was whenever she was at home.
Once I got to my spot, a small clearing with an abandon well coated in vines at the center, I began to stretch my wings and muscles for flight practice.
"Hey, Aurora!" Cheered my best friend Scarlet Cross as I walked through the flaps into our villages makeshift medical clinic.
The clinic didn't have a name as it comes and goes whenever an epidemic of hyperlipemia set's in. The tent itself was not at all small. It could accommodate up to a hundred ponies at any given time, but there is usually never that amount at all. Scarlet sat at the fold up table we called the front desk at the center of the huge tent going through at the medical papers of our current patients who walked in last night. There was four of them, one a small filly who contracted hyperlipemia. The other three the common cold.
The common cold wasn't a problem for Scarlet and I to handle, but the filly with hyperlipemia will call for serious medical attention if it progresses too far from our own capabilities, but if that happens. I don't know if we can get her to Canterlot in time.
"Hey, Scarlet," I answered back. Looking towards the green filly in the corner of the tent lit up by a lantern that looked like it needed to be refilled. I put on a mask that I levitated from the front desk to check up on her.
"Good morning Emerald Heart. How are you feeling today?" I smiled sitting beside the cot.
The little filly looked at me with pain in her eyes wish that stomach pain would stop, but I knew it wouldn't stop without the insulin booster that Scarlet requested.
"Awful," she managed to squeak out. I softly placed a hoof on her forehead to check if her fever went down from last night and gave her a thermometer to suck on while I waited for Scarlet to bring her some food.
Happy that the fever went down, I pulled out the thermometer to see that she cooled off overnight. "Any need to use the bathroom anymore?" I asked.
"No," Emerald said.
"Vomiting?"
"No."
"Then once you start eating you should start feeling better, and hopefully your medicine should arrive later today," I smiled. Emerald Heat weakly smiled back.
"Steady," I though while gliding from one cloud to the next blind as a bat. Every day, I would practice, but it wasn't easy. If I wasn't careful, I could easily fall to my death from kilometers of freefall or blast into a nearby tree. Thankfully, my unique sensitivity helped me a lot and even saved me many time's when a rogue vacuum got too close for comfort.
Landing on the cloud I was aiming for, I decided to rest for a while and listen to the world around me. I laid down and closed my eyes, focusing on the well underneath me. Using the wind around me, I felt the shape of the old well, feeling the many vines that encased it, the moss that coated it like a jacket, the cracked stone and molding wooded. I wondered how old the well was. It must have been there for at least several hundred years. "How did it get there? Who used it?" were the question's that I always asked myself, but each time I tried to figure out an answer. Nothing came to mind.
I shifted my focus to the trees, then to a fox coming out of his hole with a very affectionate she fox. I moved my focus all over the forest using the wind as my eyes. There was always something interesting to feel. From the playful nature of the local wolves' to the venomous rage of a dragon . . . Wait, dragon?
Before my thought could process as to why a dragon was nearby. The dragon flew over me, leaving a heavy gust of the wind that destroyed my cloud and sending me crashing to the ground.
"Shit!" I shouted as I opened my wings as fast as I could, but not fast enough. I crashed into the well as the air around me erupted into a scorching heat which was replaced by ice cold water. Realizing the sudden danger, I tried to breath, only to suck in a gallon of water. Choking for breath in a struggle for air. I slowly became weaker and weaker until my limbs could no longer move. I let myself fall asleep knowing that I was finished.
Chapter Two. Of Crimson Fire.
Sitting down at the train station, I waited for the medicine Scarlet ordered from Canterlot. Only having the company of the odd insect landing on my nose or a friendly passer-by made the wait ever so lonely for me. At least the wait was worth it. Poor little Emerald's parents came in this morning frantic that their little girl was going to die of dehydration from hyperlipemia. If it wasn't for Scarlet's quick thinking. Emerald could have been put into far more stress from her illness, which could have compromised health further than what we needed.
I understood how Emeralds parent's felt, worried that their first born was severely sick. Emerald's mother—Ruby Rose was especially worried. Scarlet and I heard from the doctor in Canterlot that she will never be able to have another child in her life from severe scarring in her canal. Ruby's disheveled appearance when she burst through the tent flaps looking like she never went to sleep from worry in her royal golden barding. Scared the living crap out of me when she shoved me away from the bed as I was helping Emerald eat her breakfast.
Ruby's husband Black Opal also wearing his royal barding but much more composed and unkempt. Entered the tent later to help Scarlet calm down his wife from her over-protective rage. They later apologized to us when we told them that medicine was on its way. I couldn't help but feel slightly paranoid that Ruby was glaring at me when she passes by during her aerial patrol of the town every thirty minutes.
"Sigh~"
I got up from where I was sitting and nosed my way to the ticket office to check to see how much longer till the train got to the station, but as I got up. The whistle of a train boomed through the forest entrance of the town telling me and the other resident's that it would take just a few more minutes before the train docked.
"Hey, Boxy. How are you today?" I smirked at my tiny rival for Cloud Runner's affection.
"When will you stop calling me that? I have a name ya know!" Boxy squeaked as she tried to stand as tall as me. I booped her beige snout, mocking her shortness.
"Yeah, yeah. I forgot," I lied spotting the mail enter the ticket office.
"How can you forget! It's Little Fox!" Boxy pouted. I didn't pay any attention to her proclamation's of what her name is knowing that it would bug her immensely and trotted my way to pick up my package that I have been waiting for for the past couple hours.
"Boxy still fit's you better!" I shouted back to the blushing mail mare as I opened the door to the office.
"No, it doesn't!" she whined before the glass door closed behind me cutting off anything Boxy had to say.
By the desk sat a white parcel with the iconic cross and snake on the corner. I walked up to the desk and sighed the delivery letter. While I waited for the mail stallion who make's a trip here once a month. I tried not to pay any of my attention to the ranting Boxy outside the office while she does her job at maintaining the outgoing mail as they are placed on one of the pastry painted train car's. But it was a losing battle.
I leaned closer to the glass door listening to the gossip that Boxy was spitting out to her distant friend, Merry Melody. As I listen to the two talk about the latest Canterlot fashion I felt a gentle tap on the should. I looked up to see the silent, light-gray stallion holding my package with a very bored expression.
"Sorry," I said sheepishly taking the box from him and watched him slumped his way back behind the desk. "Smooth," I thought while leaving the office back to the clinic.
"Got the package?" Scarlet asked as I walked up to the desk with said package.
"Yep, and you wouldn't believe who brought it," I replied placing the box down on the table.
"Aurora, is Little Fox giving you trouble again,?" scarlet awed. In response, I trough a crumpled piece of paper from the garbage in sitting under the table with a telekinetic kick at her face. Scarlet dodged and picked the paper ball up and with her own magic, she threw it back. The ball of paper landed on my snout causing me to sneeze in response from the slight irritation.
"When you two are done messing around, I could use my horn cream!" shouted one of our patients from behind a closed curtain.
We both cringed in unison from the thought of rubbing antibiotic horn cream on the older stations "Bleck, " horn.
"Not it!" I said taking hold of the box, opened it and took out two needles's filled with a clear fluid with Emeralds name on it.
"No far!" Scarlet whined as I trotted triumphantly towards where the sleeping filly nested. I stuck out my tongue at Scarlet playfully and sat down beside Emeralds bed.
Scarlet stuck out her own tongue at me, but with more sass and a hate-face. I watched as Scarlet pulled out the aforementioned "horn cream," and walked towards the closed curtain in the east side of the tent where the patient was waiting impatiently. With the look of dread plastered on her face and with one last death glare at me, she entered the curtain giving a half-assed sorry to the patient.
During our silent little bitch fight. Emerald woke up from her nap. She prodded my shoulder as I tried to figure out which needle I was supposed to give to her first.
"Sorry cutie, I was so quick to get out of jerking-old-horn. I forgot to grab the instructions that were with your medicine," I smiled innocently hoping that the filly wouldn't understand what I meant by, jerking-old-horn.
"Okay," Emerald yawned.
After staring at the two syringes for several minutes. I figured out which needle I was supposed to give to Emerald first from the numbers painted on the side. Emerald didn't like the look of them and squirmed as I put down the second syringe on the fold up table beside her cot, and carefully brought it in front of me using my magic.
"Will that hurt?" Emerald asked staring in fear of the hovering needle wrapped in a green aura.
"It won't, I promised," I lied hoping that Emerald won't run away from me, right away.
"Are you sure?" she shuffled in place crumpling the white blanket under her. I smiled to reassure her and asked her to bring out her hoof.
I carefully aimed the syringe steady at her main internal artery in her right arm with my magic and held it steady in both of my hooves. I poked the needle in her right arm, hearing a cute, audible squeak that followed quickly after. EmeraldHeart looked at me mortified. Tear's were welling within her eye's as I carefully pulled out the syringe and put a pink bunny band-aid on the little hole to prevent infection.
"You see," I said as reassuringly as possible to Emerald Heart. "It wasn't that bad. Now we need to give you the other one or you won't get better," I explained knowing that if she doesn't get the second one, she will die. Emerald Heart, hesitantly gave me her other arm with a whimper as I pulled out the second needle and repeated the process.
After I finished giving Emerald Heart her needle's. She complained that they hurt and that I was a liar. Which I admitted after I asked her that if I didn't lie, would she be a good girl and take her medicine. She frowned at me with a big lip calling me "Evil." I booped Emeralds nose, telling her that she will be fine with a little more rest. She responded with a pouty blush before hiding underneath her blankets from me. Rolling my eye's from the cuteness of the scene. I left Emerald alone and went to check up on the other patient's.
I sat down in front of the desk and began doing today's paperwork while Scarlet glare's and complains as she describes the torment she went through cleaning up; old, dusty semen that wasn't supposed to come out from the patient she was with. Scarlet went on and on of how I should have been the one to do the grotesque horn rubbing, and not have played with the foal. In my defense, I said, "Suck's to be you," with plenty of attitude. Scarlet gave an audible whine giving up trying to pick on me like Boxy every other day when she came into town with our mail.
Even though we fought like this to pass the time, we were still friends through it all. This ten was our creation back when we were kids when we first got our cutie marks.
I got mine first after I treated her illness with a herb I found by the old well outside of town. I was ecstatic that the black cross wrapped in an aurora bow as a crest for a silver shield appeared on my flank symbolizing that I would be in medical. Scarlet was the same way, but her cutie mark appeared after she stole medicine from Black Opal to help a runaway foal that stowed away on the train. Except his condition was the need for a vitamin shot and not the common cold. The red heart with two angelic white wing's, bracing it appeared on her flank soon after.
When Scarlet wasn't picking on me while we worked on making this clinic the best place for healing in the far Equestria north, she was in the clouds wondering where that cute boy went after the royal guard came to collect him and bring him back to his family. I wondered that too, but I don't think I will find him even if I tried for her sake.
Scarlet moved her attention from a spot she has been staring into for the past few minutes to me with a slight sigh.
"So ...where's your brother?" Scarlet
"Knowing my brother ..." I tapped my chin. "...he's probably flying around by the old well."
"How?!" Scarlet shouted with enough confusion that her tone sounded like she was watching a cat and a dog sing. "Cloud is blind! He can literally fly into a mountain!"
"Well..."
"FIRE!"
The shout was loud and frantic. The sound of rushing ponies followed soon after by the order's from the Hallows guard's to subdue the fire. Scarlet jumped up from her seat and rushed to the tent flap to see what was on fire in the town. She popped her head out then immediately looked back at me with a look of fear that I didn't think I would ever see.
"What's wrong?" I asked getting up from my seat heart thumping hard to the smell of smoke beginning to creep its way into the tent.
"Aurora, pack everything and get everyone out to safety," she paused to wipe a tear away.
"Why? what's going on?!"
"The forest is on fire and the guard's need everyone to lend a hoof for evacuation." Before I could make a response, Scarlet ran out of the tent leaving me to get all the patients to safety. Franticly, I woke up everyone that was sleeping and gathered them to the center of the tent while I pack all our medical supplies.
All the patients lent me a hoof without a word. Even little Emerald Heart who dawned a strong expression that must have come from her mother. She tried her best with packing the gauze in my saddle bags, even though halfway filled I had to help with my magic.
Trying to keep my calm. I directed all the patient's but Emerald Heart to go help with the fire. Emerald tried to leave with them, but I stopped her and placed her on my back then covered both of us with a gray cloak. She struggled and whined, begging me to let her go, but I silently told her not to.
Emerald deflated, and got comfortable on my saddle as I began to move to the exit of the clinic while listening to the screams of nearby ponies begin to boom throughout the Hallow. Before I opened the tent to leave my life's work behind. I cast a spell over Emerald's ears so that she wouldn't have to hear the unmuffled screams of burning ponies. Not looking back I opened the flap's and saw Scarlet running towards me from the tree line only to be stopped halfway by a dragon.
The beast's tail cut her off as it slammed down on top of a pony killing the poor sod instantly, leaving only a red mess of flesh and gore behind. Scarlet froze staring at the bloody mess horrified. I rush towards her, telling myself not to look at the blaze that was engulfing the Hallow created by the dragon.
But it was impossible. Looking to my left, I saw the dragon, big and red. The beast had a sadistic grin plastered on its face as it viewed its work only to me distracted by two ponies flying towards it weapons drawn. I knew almost instantly who those two were. The ruby gleam of Roses golden armor shining to the fire below. Ruby Rose charged as fast as she could towards the dragon with her spear. The speed she was flying at was blinding. Like a golden bolt, she jerked to the left, dodging a fireball blasted from the dragon. A silver stream shot through the fire straight into the dragon's chest. The dragon screamed from the pain and slashed wildly hoping to catch his attacker, which he did.
Time slowed as I watched Emerald's mother split into three chunks. Three bloody chunks that crashed into different area's of the Hallow. Black Opal, in his midnight blue armor, didn't falter to his dead wife as he launched his spear into the throat of the dragon. In response, the dragon swiped at him with its tail. Black Opal, didn't see the tail barreling towards him. The dragon's tail hit its target, sending Black into the forest like a meteor, dead as his wife.
"Oh Celestia," I cried not knowing that I just ran past Scarlet fixated on the dragon.
All I could think about as I ran blindly away from the horror caused by the dragon was how Emerald would react when she learned that her parent's were dead. Even though she was clinging to my back. She didn't see through the cloak or hear the sound of the pain around me. How I prayed that Emerald didn't see them perish in the defence of the Hallow, but I know that sooner or later, she will need to know the truth.
Scarlet caught up to me as I veered towards my house. There was a stream just wide enough to protect anyone from the fire behind the house. Cloud always followed it to go to the old well outside the Hallow and I know my brother. He is hiding in the well from the fire and dragon.
I stopped in the back yard of my house to catch my breath. Scarlet, the quiet stallion from the ticket office and Boxy stopped with me. I looked at Boxy confused, then again. I didn't hear the train leave either. Maybe the fire and dragon was preventing the train from leaving?
"You alright?" I asked the three.
"No, I'm not ALRIGHT!" Boxy cried stopping her matted hoof down.
"You Scarlet?" She looked at me with an uncertain gaze, clouded with grief. "Y-yea-s-sure," she choked looking away towards the burning clinic then to her home.
"You ...um?" I asked the silent stallion from the ticket office.
"I'ma Silent Knight miss," Silent said with a; strong, western accent.
"You okay?"
"Eeyup," he responded.
We ran down the bank of the stream with a raging fire all around us to the old well outside Hallow Shade. My brother and I figured out that there was an underground cave there when we followed the stream to the end when we were foals. The hidden aquifer will be ideal for survival as we wait for the dragon to leave and stop its rampage.
Boxy put a bit of a fuss leaving the house, complaining as to why they should follow me, but when Scarlet exploded on her, she stayed quiet and followed suit. I understand why Boxy would question me or anyone for that matter in this kind of situation. Our home; our friends and family are all dead. Looking back down the stream, I could see the entrance blocked by a fallen tree that caught fire. It was the same tree that Scarlet and I used to hide in and pretend we were griffins. The plank of wood that we managed to secure in the tree was still there but like the tree. It too was burning with our happy memories.
Why is this happening? I asked myself through choking sob's. Why us of all ponies? Why my home? Why did it have to be attacked? We were just a little hamlet. The more I thought about to more sorrow I felt clouding my thought. I had to force myself to put those feelings aside for later.
We all made a turn away from the stream to the meadow where the well was, but when we got there. We found that it was also a fire, but the well was open.
"I knew it!" I cheered out loud to the good news that my brother was alive. The other's looked at me confused, but when they saw the well, they quickly figured out that I was right!
I didn't notice that I left the other's as I snaked my way through the blaze without getting burned, but I heard them following. Halfway to the well, I saw in the corner of my eye a streak red fly by. I thought it was just an ember floating in front of me vision, but the wind that gusted the meadow free of the fire told me otherwise.
Realizing the danger, I bolted to the well through the hot embers only to look back to the dragon landing behind my companions, angry.
"RUN!" I shouted at them while waiting by the lip of the old stone well. They looked back and saw what I was staring at. The wounded dragon didn't like that several of his prey almost ran away from his wrath.
Scarlet was the first to run beside me, she gave me a frightened look of absolute terror, then jumped into the well, followed by Silent Knight soon after, while Boxy was still sprinting for her life with an angry dragon chasing after her. The look of, "Don't leave me," In her eyes shot an arrow in my stomach. Regretting my next decision, I ran after her to give her some time.
I bolted after her while grabbing hold of a moss-covered brick still wet from the moister from the well and threw it as hard as I could with my magic at the face of the dragon. The brick landed on the spear that was lodged in its throat causing it to fully go through. The dragon tripped from the pain onto its chest causing the spear that was lodged there to puncture through.
I grabbed Boxy and threw he over my shoulder and ran back to the well not wanting to fight the dragon anymore, but it sure did. I looked back on last time to see the maw of the dragon open up and begin to glow. I sprinted faster using a spell that I taught myself that allowed me to run as fast as the faster pegasi feeling the torrent of fire from the dragon catch up with ease.
I jumped hoping to land in the well, but the torrent of flame wrapped around all three of us.
Water, cold, and a struggle for survival was all that filled my recent memory, yet. I'm still alive, but weak and very sore. Even though I'm without sight, my soaking wet fur that let me see, made me feel so blind. The sound of dripping water onto wet stone made it prevalent that I was in a cave of some sort. I couldn't help but wonder if anyone would know where I am? Or if I was even alive? But why can't I remember how I got here in the first place?
Tracing back my memory while forcing myself to stand up. All that I could recall was a hot wind that threw me off of my cloud into a vortex of swathing water dragging me deeper into an abyss, forcing me into my empty dreams. Then to wake up in a cave wet, and more lost than I have ever been. Sometimes I wished my life would stay the same, but my name says otherwise.
Splash! Splash!
My skin jumped to the sudden sound of objects falling in the underground cistern beside me. Thankful that my hearing wasn't lost as bad as I thought it was. I could tell that two objects fell splashing into the water were ponies, one heavier than the other. Another stallion perhaps? I listen carefully to emerge from the water so that I could help them ashore.
The first one that I grabbed was unconscious and a lot heavier than I thought he would be. The stallion that I dragged onto the; cold, wet, stone shore must have been at least twice my weight. Even with the help of the mare that emerged from the water by herself. Carrying him was still very difficult, but we did it none the less in silence.
Once the stallion was ashore, the mare, from what I could tell, did CPR on the stallion. The hard pulses she huffed out on his chest to make him breath did just what it was supposed to do. After a few seconds of compressing his chest, the stallion coughed up a gallon of water and stumbled drunkenly awake.
"Where am I?" the stallion asked.
"I don't know," the mare replied.
"Do you know Transient Cloud?" the mare asked me. Taken aback from the mares familiarity towards me, I took a guess at her name, hoping that I can figure out what happened to them.
"Is that you Scarlet?" I asked.
"Yep." she chuckled. "Sorry, I keep forgetting that you are blind."
"And the stallion?"
"I'ma Silent Knight. Nice ta meet ya."
"So, I don't suppose you two are here to rescue me?" I asked, but the response wasn't what I hoped.
"Sorry Cloud, but we have..."
SPLASH!
The sudden sound of another pony falling into the cave startled the three of us. Scarlet was the first to rush towards the sound with Silent right behind her while I stayed in my spot and waited. The sound of three mares coughing quickly followed the grunting of two ponies heaving whatever found its way to the bottom of the well.
"Aurora!" Scarlet shouted with great relief in her tone.
"What about me!" shouted back a new voice. "I almost got roasted by a dragon!"
"Well, it's your fault for being so slow Little Fox," spat Scarlet.
"Whatever."
"Can you two spot fighting we have a filly here that needs attention," Aurora barked at the two.
I walked towards them, using the sound coming from the trembling filly as a guide. Aurora noticed me but kept silent as the sound of her magic echoed through the cave.
"Where are we Aurora?" the filly sniffled, shaking in place. The water must be cold, which would cause problems in the future. I decided to warm her up with a little trick I learned back when I was her age.
"Aurora, let me warm her up," I said laying down beside the filly.
"Fine...fine," she sighed defeated.
The others looked around while I electrified my fur to create warmth for the Emerald Heart. The poor filly shivered beside me underneath my wing, but the heat from my electrified fur quickly warmed her up. I didn't know what happened while I was unconscious, but one thing was for certain. The dragon that knocked me off my cloud set the forest on fire.
After a while sitting beside a fire that, somehow, Silent Knight managed to make from the driftwood that fell into the well. Emotions began to rise. I could feal it, all of it. The pain and sorrow and loss emanating from everyone except Emerald Heart and I. was toxic. While they were silent and remembering the events that neither Emerald nor I have witnessed. Emerald curled close to me underneath my wing pushed away by Midnight Aurora and the others.
I didn't mind it at all, but it did worry me a bit. 'What happened up there in the Hallow while I was asleep?' Normally, Aurora was always the one to give the little ones comfort. She would never shun them away for anything. It was so unlike her to just push anyone or anything away when it needs help, and I have a feeling that Emerald Heart will need a lot of it.
Feeling the little one curled up beside me lit something up deep within my heart. I don't know what, but it was warm. Much warmer than a fire on Hearths Warming Eve. Whatever it was, I didn't want to let it go. It was strange having Emerald Heart beside me. It reminded me of better day's from when I was younger with Aurora.
Aurora and I sat in the yard and played with a cloud that I made. I was only six then, just a few months older than Aurora. Every day was the same. W; woke up together, played together, got homeschooled together, and waited for our mother to come home from work together.
One day, on a stormy night we waited for our mother to return home from the weather control center. At the time, she was the supervisor in organizing the pegasi weather creation teams. We both knew that the thunderstorm booming overhead was her creation because she always kept the rain over the Hallow gentle while the rest of the area took most of the force. Normally, she took only an hour of to get everyone organized then she'd come home, but she didn't.
Aurora, hungry and annoyed, she put on her raincoat while I slept like a baby on the coach. The thing that woke me up was a frantic pony rushing all over the house looking for my sister. Dazed from my unpleasant wake-up call, I trotted to the kitchen where the pony that woke me up was pacing back and forth.
"Hello?" I asked trying to get a feel of the pony so that I could recognize her.
"Cloud! Where's your sister, I can't find her anywhere!?" the mare asked. The tone of her voice instantly told me it was my mother, but the urgency in her voice was off-putting.
"I don't know," I yawned. "I can find her if you want."
"Thanks, sweet, but, j-just stay here, she couldn't have gotten too far."
My mother left the house to look for Aurora without me in the thunderstorm. I, however, didn't want to listen. I put on my yellow rain coat and trotted out of the back door straight into a torrent of wind and rain and cold. Even though I was blind, I always knew where my sister was at all times. If it was a gift, it wasn't a very good one.
I closed my eyes and felt the air around me, letting the rain patter my face. The gale made it easier in a way to extend my vision due to the amount of magical energy that is used to create it. I focused in on my sisters magical signature and quickly found her huddled under a fallen tree, unconscious. Startled, I didn't wait for anyone to return to check to see if I was okay or if Aurora had returned, and rushed to my sister's aid. I ran into the forest at full speed through the unforgiving rain. Using my special way of seeing, I found the fastest way to my sister, and thankfully, she was close.
I found her just in just a few minutes without any trouble. Aurora's leg was caught underneath of a tree with a black slash down the middle, most likely from a lightning strike. I sat by her side, feeling where her hoof was caught underneath the tree. I tried to push the tree off of her, but the mud made it impossible to get a good grip. Disheartened, but not giving in. I found a big stick and returned, but, due to my small size. I could not get enough leverage to lift the tree.
No matter how much I struggled through the rain, I wasn't strong enough to free her leg, but I didn't let myself panic. How can I do this? I thought. Then it hit me. I could use the lightning to break the tree that trapped my sister in the first place! "But how?"
I paced back and forth in the mud creating a moat around Aurora. The air around me was static signaling that another lightning strike was going to happen somewhere nearby. Without thinking, I climbed the tree to the center and lifted my hoof into the air and tried to direct all the static to my person.
In an instant, a violent jolt electrified my entire body, causing me to fall off of the tree and land beside Aurora. I laid there for a few moments, paralyzed from the electricity in the air. My muscles twitched violently and my heart beated ecstatically, but I pushed myself up to see if my horrible plan worked. The tree split in two right where Aurora was trapped she was free but still unconscious. I stumbled over to her to see if anything was out of place.
My heart sank when I saw Auroras leg twisted in an ungodly way like it was my fault and I would be the blame, but at least I knew that she was alive. I put aside my dread knowing that it wasn't truly my fault and grabbed her by the scruff and dropped her over my shoulders. She was heavy, but not too heavy. I carried her back home careful not to cause any more pain to her hoof if she felt any at all.
At home, the Hallow was alive with lights and shouting of many kinds. As I walked out of the forest, I saw; pegasi flying overhead heading towards the train station, I earth ponies carrying sandbags to the stream and, unicorns lighting the way with their magic, but I didn't pay any mind to them. I was more concerned with Aurora and her leg than the flooding that was going on in the Hallow and preceded into my house to where I found our mother and a few others waiting for us inside.
The second I walked in the door drenched from the rain and tired from carrying Aurora through the forest. My mother chewed me out for running off, but when she saw Auroras leg, she and the others took her off and taken her to the Medical tent, leaving me behind wet and miserable.
The next day I spent my time in my bed sick. I heard my mother talk with the doctor that Auroras leg was going to be fine and that she will be able to walk again in a few months. I was happy about the news, but I was also angry that I was not recognized for being the one that found her in the forest underneath a tree. Despite all of the chaos the night prior, I was glad that nothing too bad happened.
As the day ended, Aurora came back home with a cast on her leg. She was able to walk thanks to a spell that was placed on her cast that prevented any pain, but her mobility was limited. Our mother left for work again, leaving us at home and just as I was about to fall asleep. I heard a knocking on my door, followed by a limping Aurora coming in.
I looked at Aurora confused and she glared at me in return. Aurora walked up to my bed leaving the light off and, somehow, managed to climb up and curled beside me without saying a word.
"Aurora?" I said confused.
"Shut up," she replied.
Cloud quickly fell asleep with Emerald Heart curled underneath his wing. The two looked almost like they belonged to each other, but the others did not. Boxy laid by the fire right beside Cloud trying her best to fall asleep. Scarlet was sitting by the aquifer, her head slumped from the depression of losing everyone she once loved to the dragon attack. Knight sat quietly and stroked the fire every now and again when the flames start to wither.
The sound of dripping water from the gleaming cave ceiling kept my distracted for the most part. I didn't want to think about how I lost all of my life's work in a single instant. All those years of trying to earn my friends trust with what little knowledge I had in healing and curing. If it weren't for Scarlet and Clouds help, I could not have built that clinic and made a name for myself being a kind, generous person to any and all that walked through my doors for aid.
Knowing what I lost, all I could think about was how I got there in the first place. Ever since I got my cutie mark. I made it my goal my mission to be the best that I could be.
I remember the scent of candle wax slowly melting a honeyed scent on my brothers desk in his room as I studied for hours when I was a filly. Cloud complained a lot about the light and how it bothers him, but I always believed that he just was annoyed of me being in his room. Though, he never complained when I fell asleep at his side. I found it strange of how cozy it was to sit next to him. It was like all of my worries would melt in his soft white fur and to the drum of his gentle heartbeat that ached for something incomplete deep within him.
I found it frustrating of how well adept Cloud was at adjusting to his surroundings. Transient Cloud is a fitting name for him. He's always changing to his environment. While I rant and rave at how he always acted older than me when he is my junior. I wonder if I will ever have those moments again. Emerald is right to be with him in her time of need. I know deep down that I will just get in the way. I always get in the way....
Maybe that's why Little Fox hates me so much. I know she has a big crush on Cloud but pretends to like Thunder Mane just to make my skin crawl in jealousy.
"It's strange," I whispered. Knight looked up at me with rings underneath his eyes.
"What is?" he asked through a yawn. I didn't meet his eyes and instead stared at the ground.
"How full or rather, disappointed I am with myself," I replied weakly," and how I can just put all my grief aside with such ease that it makes me sick."
"It's not 'yer fault that 'yer used to death. Most doctors in all of Equestria have the same problem. It's just a matter of figuring where 'yer heart lies. 'Yer still a pony at the end of it. Just a very strong one maybe even the strongest of us all."
I chuckled half-heartedly. "No, I'm not the strongest. I'm just, average, but thanks for the compliment."
"Try not to put 'yerself down too much, okay?"
I cracked a small smile, "okay."
I closed my eyes and rested my head on my damp tail and tried to fall asleep like the others for tomorrow we will need all our energy to escape the cave together.
Scarlet found her way back to the group after spending a time to herself by the aquifer to mourn the loss of her family. As she snailed her way to the fire, she noticed that her friends had all fallen asleep except for Knight who was keeping an eye on the fire. Scarlet sat beside him in silence, letting the cold, hard stone of the caves surface slowly chill her.
"How 'ya feeling?" Silent Knight asked while adding the last piece of wood to the fire.
"Better that I was a few moments ago," she yawned, "how bout you?"
"Could be better, but that won't happen for a while," Knight softly replied.
"I hear ya," Scarlet smiled weakly looking over Cloud and how cute he looked with Emerald under his wing. Scarlet let a yawn pass by letting the silence take over the cave once more.
She knew Silent Knight wasn't much of a talker. Scarlet learned this fact whenever she went to the post-office to pick up a letter from her distant family and favorite cousin Chocolate Noir. Ever so often she would get a letter from her and her exploits at her cafe in Canterlot. The most recent letter she received talk about she met a peculiar mare that always came to the cafe like clockwork every day and how she would spot her staring her way when she wasn't looking. After reading how, oblivious Chocolate Noir was at her crush, Scarlet couldn't help feeling a bit sheepish with the news of a possible stalker.
Remembering the peaceful life in Canterlot Chocolat Noir has. Scarlet's own troubles ease, for the most part, but one thing loomed in her mind like a bad plague.
"How are we going to get out of here?"
We all woke up slowly after each other and ate dried apples from Aurora's medkit in silence. Emerald Heart sat beside me quietly like the night before while eating her dried fruit. Her little form didn't tremble as much when I am near. Especially when the news that our home was burnt to the grown by a dragon. Emerald worried for her parents, terribly so. Her green coat wasn't as bright as it should be and she hung her head depressed that she might never see them again.
Scarlet was them same, even though I couldn't see her. Scalet, like everyone else, had an aura of dread, but her's was more distinct than the others. It was more longing for someone else rather than aimed towards our home. A friend perhaps? If I investigate I could figure out what was wrong, but now is not the time.
Chewing on my last piece of apple, I tried to focus on the air around me to try and figure out if there was a way out of the cave. Using the tips of my wings, I felt the air shift like sand from one location near the far end of the cave. I frowned in frustration when I couldn't move passed that area due to lack of magic flowing in the air.
"What's wrong Cloud?" Little Fox snarked, "sucks you can't see the anything in our prison."
Brushing off her attitude, I pointed to where I found the opening in the cave. "There is an opening in the cave over there, but I can't see past it. Not enough energy."
"Well, I guess that's where we can start looking for a way out of here," Aurora chimed in with a little hope in her voice.
"Bullshit," Little Fox chuckled in disbelief. "How can you trust a blind guy? What if there is nothing there, huh?"
"Well, see for yourself Boxy," Aurora replied.
Little Fox sat up from where she was sitting and trotted over to where I pointed to mumbling to herself that nothing was there, but after a few seconds she returned with an unimpressed aura around her. She sat back down by the dwindling fire and continued to eat her apples.
"Lucky guess," Fox scuffed.
"Whatever," Aurora sighed.
After we finished eating Silent Knight made a torch from what was left of the fire and lead us with me at the back with Emerald through the opening in the cave. In front of me was Little Fox still in disbelief that I was able to see the opening while Scarlet and Aurora was used to me finding things that they could never imagine. Knight, however, didn't care.
The opening lead into a long straight of carved cave lit up by the dim orange of the torch in Knights' mouth. The sound of our hoof steps echoed in the cave causing Scarlet to feel self-conscious about her surroundings. Emerald Heart walked close to me afraid that she might get lost or left behind. I guided her with my wing as we walked down the long expanse of the cave. I couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed when Aurora looked back at me to see if we were alright. Making a comment that I was a prince to lighten up the mood and mostly to annoy me, but I sensed a bit of jealousy from Little Fox. And to me it was clearly directed towards Emerald. "I wonder why?" I thought.
"Hey, Cloud?" Knight said, "think you can see how far this cave is?"
"I can try but with how empty the air is, I don't think I could see far," I replied."
"Enough with that bullshit, HE CAN'T SEE!" Little Fox yelled, sending out an echo that went down the length of the cave into nothingness.
"Yes, he can with pegasus magic," Scarlet defended me,"Cloud knows exactly where the air moves and comes from without him I don't think we will be able to escape this Celestia damned cave."
"Pegasus magic my ass," Little Fox growled.
"Can you two shut up, it is hard to concentrate," I joined in.
Once the two were quiet, I tried to see how far the cave goes on and quickly learned that it went on for at least a few miles. Knowing this fact, I looked at Emerald and smiled. "Do you want a horsey back ride?" I could feel the smile shine upon her face after I asked the question, her fear slowly melted away as I plopped her on my back begging me to go faster and ahead of the group like a game. The others didn't like the noise of a much more happy filly but put the thought away.
"So, how far?" Knight asked again.
"At least a few hour's," I replied.