Equestria RPG

I groan as I regain consciousness, only to wince as a surge of pain shoots up my back before smashing into my head. My hands rocket towards my head only to find that something soft and warm is restricting them at my elbows. The things restricting me tighten and press my back against something else warm and soft. I whimper and curl in on myself as someone starts making soothing sounds above me.

“Shhhhhh, it’s alright Storm, Mom’s here. I won’t let anything happen to you, alright?” I hear my Mom whisper right above my head. My breath quickens as another surge of pain shoots through my skull and I squeeze my eyelids shut tight.

“It hurts,” I manage to whisper, feeling as though someone is swinging a greataxe through my skull again and again. The tiny rays of light stabbing their way through my shut eyelids making me feel as if someone is flailing away at my body with a whip. Thinking hurt, being awake hurt, existing hurt!

I feel my dark sanctum shift, sending another jolt of pain through my head, as Mom starts talking to someone. One of her arms lifts just enough for me to briefly touch my face and feel something rough and sticky covering the left side of it and keeping my left eye shut.

“Storm? Storm, look at me,” I crack my right eyelid open and look up at Mom’s blurry face. She’s holding something in her hand but I can’t really make out what it is. “Eat this Storm, it will help with the pain.” Squeezing my eyes shut again I take the thing in a shaky hand and pop it in my mouth. Another jolt of pain shoots through my skull as I bite down on the thing. Every bite sounds like an explosion in my ears as a bitter liquid bursts from the thing. I force myself to swallow the stuff and focus on keeping myself breathing. The spasms of pain slow down a little bit, seeming only to happen when I exhale, leading me to take very deep breaths, hoping to stop it all together.

I don’t know how much time passes but the stabbing pain in my head eventually becomes nothing but a dull throb in the back of my skull. My thoughts slow to a crawl and a moment later the world slips away as sleep takes me.

I groan as I regain consciousness once again. My head is still throbbing, but I’m not in nearly as much pain as before. I can still feel something wrapped around my ribs and pressed against my back. I push myself against the warm wall of fur and snuggle in, trying to get comfortable.

“Feeling better, my little whirlwind?” I hear Mom whisper above me.

“Mhmmm,” I mumble in response, wincing as one last surge of pain goes through my head when I nod an affirmative.

“Don’t move too much, Storm,” Mom says before yawning loudly. “Snow says that while that berry will help with the pain, you’re still pretty banged up. You’re not leaving the wagon for a few days, and no physical activities until Snow says you’re good to go.” She shifts a little bit before the entire world seems to tilt, leaving me disoriented for a moment and forcing me to open my right eye to see what’s happening. We’re sitting up in the wagon with Mom’s blue feathery wings wrapped around us, blocking out the world. My stomach doesn’t like it when the world tilts, and lets its opinion be known with a surge of bile traveling up my throat and out my muzzle, all over Mom’s arms and trickling down my blue pants.

I can feel Mom’s hold on me tighten a little as she winces and folds her wings against her back. “Treble,” I hear Mom call off to the left in an exhausted tone. “You were right, get the bucket and the brush.”

I try to steady my breathing as my eyes start to water from the stinging smell assaulting my nose. I can hear someone approaching, but the involuntary response of emptying my stomach has left me dazed and weak. “I told you she would,” I hear Treble sigh before dropping something beside us and hearing her climb in. The grey mare crawls on her hands and knees in front of us before leaning in and looking at us with scrutinizing squinted eyes. “You both look horrible,” she says before reaching forward… only to turn her judgemental gaze towards Mom as she leans back slightly. “Now, Wind.” Treble starts in a voice with a hint of steel in it. “This can go one of two ways. You can give Storm to me, go wash up in the nearby stream and go get something to eat by the campfire, or I can have Bob pry Storm out of your arms and drag you away kicking and screaming by your mane… It’s your choice.”

I squirm in Mom’s grip a little bit as her arms tighten around me for a moment before they relax and fall to my stomach. Treble leans forward again and lifts me up by my armpits before laying me down on an assortment of blankets in the wagon. “I’ll just…” Mom starts before sighing and getting to her hooves. I watch her walk away slowly until she drops out of sight, feeling Treble undoing my bile covered pants at the bottom of my vision. I wiggle a little bit feeling uncomfortable lying down on my wings despite the soft expanse I feel beneath me.

“Stop it,” Treble says as she tugs my pants off and leaves my lower body with only my boxers in the cool night air. Shivering slightly as my body adjusts to the sudden change, I try to focus on anything but the scrubbing brush I can feel thoroughly cleaning my legs. My eyes quickly settle on the one thing that is taking up most of my sight.

“Treble?” I start in an inquisitive voice, raising my head slightly to look at the mare, she pauses for a moment and looks at me with a weary gaze. “Can you tell me about the stars?”

Treble looks at me for a moment before chuckling and shaking her head, “Well dear, I can’t tell you very much about them. If you really want to learn about them than ask Bob or Snow, they could tell you a lot more than I could.”

I blink my right eye before returning my attention to the starry night sky. The countless lights illuminating the endless expanse make me think of questions I never really put much thought into before.

“Whatcha thinking about, Whirlwind?” I hear a gruff voice ask to my right. Turning my head slightly, I see Gale leaning against the side of the wagon with his head being supported by his armored claws crossed over each other.

I look back up at the night sky before opening my mouth, “Do you think we’ll ever be able to reach the stars, Gale?”

“...Well, it depends.”

“On what?”

“On if we’re determined enough to reach them.”

“But what if we fail?”

“Then we’ll get back up and try again.”

“What if it’s impossible?”

“...Storm, look at me,” I blink before looking over at him. He’s standing up with his head leaning over the tiny wooden wall and staring at me with slitted eyes. He lifts a armored claw and points it in my face, “Nothing… is impossible. Impossible, is just a word that some individuals use to describe what hasn’t been done yet. Your mother has proven that to me more times than I can count, and if you think we will reach the stars some day… Then I have no doubt that you will be the first one to touch them.”

I don’t know how long I lie there staring at Gale, but I eventually turn my eye back to the sky. Gale sighs and a moment later I can hear him walking away, his armored paws noisily marking his journey back towards the campfire.

I blink as I hear Treble sigh. “Well, you’re clean at least. I’ll go get you some food, just wait right there.” My stomach grumbles loudly at the mention of food, but I can’t even be embarrassed when Treble chuckles as my thoughts are consumed by what Gale told me.

‘Nothing… is impossible.’

My thoughts turn briefly to the tales Iron Hoof tells by the campfire. ‘The Sisters’ opening the path to Terra from ‘The First World,’ to ‘Sir Lance’ the earth pony ranger who single handedly held ‘The Bridge of the Ancients’ for three days straight against the Minotaur Army, to 'The Griffin King Horus' who could create tornadoes that could level mountains… To Princess Cadance, who raises the sun, and to Queen Chrysalis, who raises the moon.

“Nothing… is impossible,” I whisper to the stars.