They Walk Among Us

Steven walked alongside Rainbow Dash, discussing what to do with the newly found Twilight Sparkle.

It had been hours since they found the purple pony alive, but unconscious on the road. Since then, Steven had carried her on his back while they walked, not knowing when she will wake up.

"No, we've tried to dunk her in before, but that didn't work, did it?" said Steven.

"Maybe that's because she wasn't in there long enough! Just a minute or two longer and-" said Rainbow Dash.

"Just a minute or two longer and she would have suffocated! This level of unconsciousness needs a much better way to wake her up."

Rainbow Dash sighed, signalling defeat.

"So what do we do, then, genius?" she asked, apprehensively.

"We find a source of electricity. Or a car battery." he answered.

He planned on reviving Twilight Sparkle with a defibrillator. Her heartbeat was very faint and slow, and he did not know how much longer the purple pony can last. He had to find  an energy source, and fast.

Rainbow Dash had quickly come to terms with the fact that Twilight still had her horn whereas she had lost her wings. But the short while it lasted was really annoying. But at least now, as soon as Twilight woke up, she could help Rainbow Dash with her transformation, and maybe also mine.

"I don't know what either of those things are, but I can help find those things." Rainbow Dash said.

"No... I know exactly where we can find them." he said.

Actually, Steven had no idea where they can find the above things. All he knew was that if Rainbow Dash, without her knowledge of his world's discoveries and inventions, would not help, but would instead hinder the plan to save Twilight.

But Steven had an idea in mind. He needed to go back to his house. It was there he kept food, water, torches, weapons, everything he needed for a world-wide apocalypse. He also needed to get some other personal effects...

But now that the world had changed greatly, he did not know where his house would be. Only a few minutes ago, he found the old shopping mall covered in vines, spikes, and giant venus flytraps. He could only hope that his apartment would remain intact.

Then he felt it.

With Twilight Sparkle lying oh his back, he could feel her heartbeat and her breathing simultaneously. And her heartbeat was slowing down to a fatal level.

"Uh oh." he said.

"What?' asked Rainbow Dash.

"We need to find those things quick." he said. "Help me look for a very tall building with brown walls and no roof, with a sign that says: "Toppler Apartments" on it.

"Where should I look?" she asked.

"Based on the distance to the Observatory and the directions we took, the apartment building should be..." he pointed to the East. "Around there."

Rainbow Dash ran off to find the apartment building, Steven needed to do whatever he can to keep her alive. However, he had no experience at all in knowing how to repair bodily functions. He just had to make do with the information he got from all those hospital TV soap operas his mother used to watch.

But even then, all the things he needed to regain heart rate was not there. He needed to do something quick.

But the only way to restart a heart using nothing but the body was...

CPR?

Steven held that thought in his head. CPR? How was he going to do CPR? Of course, if it was human-to-human CPR, he could've managed, having taken classes and such, but pony-to-pony? But that was the only way- she was in cardiac arrest, and he needed to quickly preserve brain functions to keep her alive.

But how is he supposed to keep the air flow moving? If they were both human, then normal mouth-to-mouth would've been fine. But with a pony, what is he supposed to do?

Should he fully open both their mouths in order to breathe into it?

Steven shook his head. Even the thought of it grossed him out. Plus, he was not sure if all the air would've been compressed inside of her that way.

Should he just open a tiny bit of their mouths?

That was a much more plausible idea, but he was not so sure if enough air could be compressed.

But there was no other choice. CPR with ponies was a stupid idea by itself, but there was NO. OTHER. CHOICE.

He started pumping Twilight's chest, and then he lowered his mouth into hers.

Here goes nothing...

He breathed air into her, and then continued pumping. It seemed to work, but not nearly as well as he'd hoped.

C'mon, Rainbow Dash...

He continued performing CPR for about five minutes... not taking any breaks or stops until Rainbow Dash came.

He lowered his head again, and continued breathing air. He hated doing this. It felt weird, and really wrong.

Until suddenly...

"What in Celestia are you doing?"

Steven looked up, still pumping. Rainbow Dash was standing there, surprised etched in every single detail of her face, with small hints of disgust.

Steven blushed profusely.

"CPR. Long story. Now help me get Twilight on my back. Have you found the apartment?" he asked.

"Were you just-"

"Have you found the apartment?" he asked, blushing even more.

"Yeah... It's a few miles that way." she said. "Seriously, were you-"

"Let's go, Rainbow Dash" he said, a little louder than he meant.

Rainbow Dash chuckled and shook her head.

"Whatever you were doing, let's hope it helped."

Steven couldn't help but notice another emotion in that voice. He couldn't put his hand (or was it hoof, now?) on it, but there was something there. It wasn't really an emotion usually expressed by people like Rainbow Dash.

They ran in silence to the apartment building, both of them deep in thought and blushing profusely.

"There it is." Rainbow Dash said, smile and laughter gone from her voice.

Steven couldn't believe it. Out of all the tall buildings in the world to be saved, this was was perfectly immaculate. There was absolutely no sign on the building that would've led one to believe that an apocalypse had happened around here.

Only now did he manage to actually admire the beauty of the apartment building. It stood tall in the Sun, the walls and windows in perfect symmetry, and completely clean. The sign that says 'Toppler Apartments' in huge, gold fonts looked very welcoming and regal. Only now he wondered why nobody wanted to live here.

No time for that! There was a life to save, and they needed to hurry.

They quickly entered the building, and they ran all the way to the second floor, where Steven's apartment was.

"Woah..." said Rainbow Dash.

"What's up?" he asked, as they were running up the stairs.

"These stairs are so small..." she said, in wonder and amazement. "But they're so... perfect."

"That's cause they're made for human feet." said Steven, who was struggling to keep his balance so as to now fall down, especially with Twilight on his back. "Now that I mentioned it, could you please help me keep balance?"

Rainbow Dash smiled again.

"As much as I'd liked to watch you suffer, I can't let Twilight fall down too." she said. She then pushed helped push Steven and Twilight up the stairs, helping Steven keep balance.

She's so strong for such a small girl, he thought, as Rainbow Dash's petite hands were pushing him, she must have been really athletic back in Equestria, or whatever her world's name was.

As they reached the top of the stairs, they quickly ran to his room. But Steven only realized then that he forgot something important.

"Damn it to hell!" he screamed, incredibly frustrated. He had forgotten his keys.

Rainbow Dash immediately understood, and she went back to try to break the door open with her arm.

"No, no, don't do that, Rainbow Dash, NO!" He said. But it was too late. Rainbow Dash had tried to crash through the door like she usually did when she was a pegasus, but she immediately bounced back.

"Ouch!" said Rainbow Dash, holding her arm in pain. She was on the floor, in intense pain. In fact, she looked as if she had never experienced this type of pain before.

"Er... I should have told you this before, but since my apartment had so many important things inside, I made sure that the door was locked with an electric door lock reinforced by stainless steel. You would've needed a bit more force than that to break it." he said.

"Fine, then you break it down!" Rainbow Dash shouted, and then winced in pain again.

Steven quickly used his two hind hooves to break the door down, and then he and an incredibly injured Rainbow Dash went inside. It was just how he left it. Bookshelves everywhere, the telescope on the balcony, the tiny trinkets and what-not all scattered around the floor, and the incredibly messy, never made bed in the middle of everything.

"Wow. You live here? No, actually my question should be... You can live here?" said Rainbow Dash.

Steven looked around. He felt really self-conscious around Rainbow Dash. Now he noticed how messy everything was. However, it was actually an organized mess, because he never had trouble finding where everything is. Or maybe it was just his incredible memory. But now is not the time. They had a dying pony here, for God's sake!

"Rainbow Dash, do you know what a fridge is?" he asked.

"Of course I do! Are you saying that I'm-"

"Good! Now look under the fridge. There should be something there, just pick it up and come here.

Rainbow Dash slowly walked away, eyes still on Steven. A few seconds later, she came back holding a large box in her hands.

"Here you go. What's this gonna do?" she said, begrudgingly.

"It's a defibrillator. It can help restart Twilight's heart." he said.

Steven quickly took the cable and connected it to the electrical socket. It was harder than he thought- holding a cable with his mouth and inserting it into something that can possibly kill him.

Eventually, though, he succeeded. He quickly went back to the defibrillator, and the said:

"OK, Rainbow Dash, come here."

Rainbow Dash quickly went over to his side.

"Okay, I need you to take these in your hands" Steven said, pointing at the two lead functions.

"Do I take it like this, or-" Rainbow Dash said, holding the base.

"NO! NO! NO! Put it down." Steven shouted, alarmed. If the defibrillator had been on, Rainbow Dash would've had 1,700 volts course through her veins.

"Woah, woah! Calm down! Geez..." Rainbow Dash said, surprised at the sudden change of voice. She slowly put the lead functions down.

Steven sighed. He then pointed to the handles.

"Hold it from here."

Rainbow Dash picked up both the lead functions. Her surprised slowly changed to laughter, and she started chuckling.

Steven didn't smile. He was too tense with somepony's life in his hands. Making sure that Rainbow Dash was holding the lead functions correctly, he switch on the battery.

"Okay, now what you want to do is to rub both of those things together. Just make sure that you don't-"

Too late. While Rainbow Dash was rubbing them together, one of her fingers accidentally touched the base, electrifying her.

Rainbow Dash squealed and threw the functions away. They were heading towards Steven's face.

Steven easily dodged the first one. He looked up, but the other one was too close to dodge.

Steven's life flashed before him. His childhood, high school, college, Jaeda, the Observatory incident.

As a scientist, he always wished to die from being attacked by an alien or something, or at least a lab accident that would lead to a great scientific discovery. Being electrified to death by a home-made defibrillator thrown at him by a pony-turned-human definitely did NOT make the list. What a terrible way to die.

"HYAAAARGH!" shouted Rainbow Dash, running to him and kicking the deadly piece of $#^! away. Rainbow Dash, however, got electrified again and lost balance, landing on Steven. Both breathing heavily from defying death, they looked into each other's eyes, silence surrounding the area.

Steven started being aware of every single detail in the atmosphere. The cool wind blowing through the open window, the rhythmic flapping of the pages of open books, Rainbow Dash's pink eyes gleaming as she looked into his own eyes.

Steven had thought of Rainbow Dash as pretty from the beginning, but he had never seen her as beautiful before. Her athletic physique, her soft, multicolored hair swaying in the breeze, the comforting warmth of her body as she lay on him, locked in each other's gaze for what felt like an eternity.

It felt like he was back with Jaeda.

Jaeda.

Steven immediately snapped back to reality.

He cleared his throat, and Rainbow Dash quickly woke up and went to pick up the lead functions.

"Er... Thanks for that. Anyway, you know what to do, right?"

"Yeah..."

Rainbow Dash rubbed them together, making sure that she doesn't touch it. Slowly, she started to hear the a crack-ing sound.

"OK, now put both the bases on Twilight's chest."

Rainbow Dash quickly turned to look at him.

"Are you crazy? She's almost dead, and you still want to fry her like this?"

"No, it's the only way to get her heart to start moving faster. Just do it."

"Please..." he added, under his breath.

Rainbow Dash looked worriedly at Steven, then at Twilight.

"Here goes nothing..."

She put the lead functions on Twilight's chest, which made Twilight jump and then fall back. The recoil hurt her arm, but she needed to save Twilight

"Woah! What happened?" she asked.

"The electricity made her jump. We have to do this two more times."

Steven upped the voltage, and then said:

"OK, now do the same thing again."

Rainbow Dash hesitantly rubbed the bases together again, and the unleashed the electricity upon Twilight's chest. Twilight jumped a little higher before falling back down. The recoil hurt even more.

"OK, one last time..."

"Are you sure this is working?" asked Rainbow Dash, glancing at Twilight's still-lifeless body.

"Never know 'til we try." Steven said. He also started doubting if they could save her.

"Alright..." said Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash finally unleashed the whole 1,700 volts into Twilight's body. Twilight jumped again, and then fell back. Rainbow Dash also fell back, arm gripping the other. The pain was almost unbearable.

Steven quickly came to her, and then put one ear on Twilight chest, trying to see if it worked.

"So, how is she?" asked Rainbow Dash, obviously worried.

Steven put his ear closer, but there was no sign of a heartbeat. It had stopped.

"What's happening?" she asked again.

No, no... she can't die. I can't allow it. I won't allow it!

Steven closed his eyes and listened further. In his heart, his desire to save this one life grew. He couldn't allow another death on his hands.

Please be alive, please be alive, please be alive...

A single tear rolled down his cheek. Rainbow Dash caught sight of this, but she needed to hear it from Steven himself.

"How is she? Please... Tell me..." she said, her voice getting lower.

The voice in Steven's head grew louder.

Please be alive, please be alive..."

Just then, a strong wind came inside the room.

Please be alive, please be alive..."

Rainbow Dash then noticed Steven's horn starting to glow a brilliant, shiny blue.

"Um... Steven?"

Please be alive, please be alive...

The wind then came in strong gushes, completely lifting Twilight from off the floor.

"Steven!"

Please be alive, please be alive...

Twilight's eyelids opened, revealing bright, pupil-less eyes staring right in front. Her hooves stretched sideways, and her horn also started glowing with a bright purple aura

Steven's eyes were still closed, and he was deep in concentration and hope for Twilight Sparkle to live. It amazed Rainbow Dash how much he wanted to save Twilight, even though they've never even met before.

Please be alive... Please...

"LIVE!" shouted Steven, his voice turned deep and powerful.

What happened next was an amazing sight. The blue from Steven's horn spiraled toward Twilight's body, forming a sphere around her. Twilight's own purple magic then shined through the blue ball, making it look like light was coming out from the sphere. The wind around it also started to glow with blue and purple light, turning the dark apartment into a bright place.

Rainbow Dash watched in amazement as the following events unfolded. She saw the bright sphere surrounding Twilight's body like a cocoon, only her eyes managing to pierce through it. She felt the very strong wind, making her hair flap, while she was trying to keep her place on the ground. She wanted to shout- shout as loud as she could, but she knew that she couldn't stop whatever was going on. All she could do was just stay there and watch.

Steven then opened his eyes. His eyes also became balls of white light, locked in gaze with Twilight's eyes. Then, Twilight's magic in the blue sphere started to spin. It spun and spun, until it eventually broke the blue sphere. Then, Twilight's mouth opened, and the energy around her- magic and wind, went inside her eyes and mouth, energy seeming to overwhelm her body. Every single bit of energy flew inside her body, until there was nothing left. Silence filled the room.

Suddenly, a shockwave exploded from Twilight's horn. A huge shockwave that shattered windows and glass, blew open walls and doors, and made creatures of all sizes, excluding Steven, fly. Rainbow Dash herself was caught in the shockwave, and she crashed the wall of the living room.

After all the energy was gone, the winds died down. Twilight also slowly floated back to the floor, still unmoving.

Steven himself also collapsed, breathing heavily, and feeling very tired. He had no idea what just happened, except for the fact that the living room became much messier than before, despite him thinking that it couldn't have been any messier.

I guess anything is possible.

He slowly picked himself up, and shaking badly, went to Twilight. He looked around for Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow Dash?"

"I'm here..." said the energetic voice of Rainbow Dash.

She quickly ran to Steven's side.

"Is she alright? What happened just now?" she asked.

"I don't know..." he said.

Both of them then looked at Twilight and waited expectantly for something to happen.

But nothing did.

Steven looked down. He had let another life pass in his hands. He should've been faster than this. He might have saved her then...

But then a miracle happened.

Twilight coughed.

"Twi! Twilight! She's alive!"

Steven looked up in disbelief. Alive?

Twilight then gasped for air, continued by heavy breathing.

"She's alive!"

Steven and Rainbow Dash hugged each other tightly.

"We did it!" said Steven.

"Yes, we did!"

The hug went a tad bit too long than expected. They both blushed and quickly let go.

"Let's bring her to the bedroom."

"Why not use this bed?" asked Rainbow Dash, pointing to the bed in the living room.

"That bed is for me when I started working late. It's not exactly comfortable."

After bring Twilight back to Steven's bedroom, Rainbow Dash turned to look at Steven excitedly.

"That was amazing! What did you do?" she asked.

Steven himself didn't know what had happened. All he felt was himself floating in a room of infinite white space, and having no worries or problems in his heart.

"I don't know..."

Rainbow Dash winced. She grabbed her arm in pain again.

"Does that arm still hurt?"

"Yeah, but I can manage. I have beat pain even a million times worse than this, so this one should be no probAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" She screamed in pain as Steven ever so lightly touched her arm.

"It's doesn't seem like its no problem to me." said Steven. He then pointed to the other bed.

"You better lie here for now. I'll be back, just wait."

Steven went to the kitchen to look for his ointment and a cast. As a physicist, they had to test many things that involved falling and speed, so he always kept them at the ready. He also had a basic knowledge of mending broken or dislocated bones, because he had to fix so many of them before.

But this is strange. My hoof had easily healed after it got crushed by that large piece of rock earlier. How come her arm didn't? Horses and humans should have the same healing time. Or maybe...

He quickly took the required things and returned to Rainbow Dash, who was staring at the ceiling, a single tear in her eye.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" he said, surprising the rainbow-haired woman.

She quickly looked away and rubbed her eyes, and then looked back at Steven.

"Hey! You've got the stuff? That was quick." she said, smiling innocently at Steven.

"Yup." he said. He then picked up the container of ointment.

"Help me open this with your good hand, won't you?" he said.

Rainbow Dash easily opened the lid, and then she lied back down. Steven then held up the injured arm in one hoof, and positioning the other hoof behind her shoulder.

"You might not want to look for this part." he said, before unleashing the full power of his front hoof into Rainbow Dash's dislocated shoulder. There was a loud 'SNAP', and Rainbow Dash closed her eyes to try to hold the pain in.

"Ow! That hurt!" she said.

"Sorry, princess." Steven said, as he started rubbing ointment on her shoulder. "I didn't know you were so sensitive about pain."

Rainbow Dash gave him an annoyed look.

"I can hold pain well!" she scolded. "And be thankful I wasn't a princess, because if I was a princess, then I would've ordered your head to be cut off."

"Your humble servant apologizes, your Majesty." Steven said, with a hint of laughter but a tone of seriousness. "He was only trying to help."

"Oh, cut it out." Rainbow Dash said.

"Fine, fine. Feeling better?"

Rainbow Dash tried to stretch her injured arm, and she was prepared for the pain. But it never came. Her arm was perfectly fine.

"It's great!"

"Good, now don't move it too much, it might get dislocated again. It needs some time to heal."

Steven then started to put Rainbow Dash's arm in a cast. As he did this, he couldn't help but ask something that had been bothering him.

"Hey, I don't get something..."

"What's up, humble servant?"

"Yeah, well, when I woke up in this new world, my hoof was being crushed by a huge piece of steel. The thing is, my arm healed right away after I got it out, but when you hurt your arm, it takes a long time to heal. So, what's up with that."

Rainbow Dash thought about this for a bit.

"Wow. I never really thought about that. Back in Ponyville, I must have crashed through many roofs, but they never seemed to hurt much. But this was just a simple door, so... Yeah..."

"You know, you've never really told me much about where you came from. Now's a better time than any!"

Rainbow Dash looked deep in thought.

"There's not really much to say... Except that it's home. And I miss home."

Steven finished up the cast, and then stepped back.

"There. It's done. Now don't move your hand a lot, please, because your bones are really sensitive right now."

"Okay, okay..." she said. "Now, you got anything to do?"

Steven looked around. There really was nothing much to do except for work in this place.

"Not really. Although I have a few novels back in the library, but you obviously won't like that..."

"Novels? Sure, I'd go for them. They sound great!" she said, excited.

"Seriously?" he asked, giving her a mock quizzical look. "I never thought you were the type for reading."

"Hey, a girl can have hobbies, can't she?"

Steven sighed. This girl was full of surprises.

"Sure, just wait a bit. I'll get you a book or two"

He looked at his book collection. Out of all the novels he used to have, all he had left was the Twilight Saga boxed set (He reminded himself to burn the whole thing later and bury the ashes), the Harry Potter books (a series Rainbow Dash would like, if only a majority of its pages hadn't been torn away), and the recently completed Pittacus Lore series. He took 'I Am Number Four' from off the shelves and gave it to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash eyed it with concern.

"I Am Number Four? That's a funny title. What's it about?"

"Oh, it's about 10 aliens from the planet Lorien who-"

"No, I think I don't want to read about aliens right now."

"Well, I have no more readable books anymore, so..."

Steven made the TV sit up straight, and then he pushed it in front of Rainbow Dash.

"What's this?" she asked.

"It's a TV. Usually, it shows videos (moving pictures) about different things. Sometimes they're funny, sad, scary, and so on so forth, but since it broadcasts from satellites, and they probably would've been destroyed by now, so-"

"Get to the point, Professor."

"Well, do you like to sing?" he said.

"Sing?"

"This is karaoke chip I got," he said as he inserted a microchip into the TV, "it allows you to sing as words are put on the screen."

Rainbow Dash looked confused. Steven took a book, and chose a song, and then played it on the TV.

All of a sudden, the TV started playing music loudly. Rainbow Dash jumped back.

"Ha! This is one of my favourites." Steven exclaimed, grinning.

"Just turn it down, will you? You'll wake up Twilight." said Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, right." Steven used his nose to press another button, and the volume became lower.

"OK, now, you see those words on the screen? Well, just follow the little dot that jumps on the words, and read the word that the dot lands on. You got it?" he said.

"I think, but-"

"Come on, the song is starting! Remember, keep your voice in tune with the song, all right?"

"Okay, okay... Um... We're no strangers to... um... love... You know the rules... and... so do I..."

"Great, you're doing great!"

"A full commitment's what I'm... thinking of... Is that right? I don't think that right..."

"No, you can paraphrase. If you're not a 'guy', then you can change it. You can do anything you want, there are no rules."

"Sure, sure... I... just wanna tell you what I'm feeling... Gonna make you... understand..."

Steven smiled. A pony-turned-human, a cute one too, is singing 'Never Gonna Give You Up'. It's been about a century since that song was first made, but to him, it was one of the best songs ever. Rick Astley is a legend.

"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down..." sang Rainbow Dash.

"Never gonna run around, and desert you." sand Steven.

"Never gonna make you cry..."

"Never gonna say goodbye..."

"Never gonna tell a lie, and hurt you."

Steven and Rainbow Dash laughed. It was a funny song, but singing it out loud made it sound really stupid.

"I'm gonna pack up for when we leave soon. Now that Twilight's been revived, we could possibly get answers by tomorrow. You just pick another song" said Steven.

"Sure, sure, go." said Rainbow Dash, halfheartedly. She found karaoke singing fun, and she wanted to do another one. However, she didn't know any of Earth's songs, so she just closed her eyes and put her finger on a song.

She opened her eyes and removed her finger to see the song she picked.

"Hmm. Let's see..." she said, as she read the title and artist of the song.

"Friday by Rebecca Black..."