Lost on the Way to Nowhere

A burden of shame weighing on his mind, Ocean Breeze looked on over Mender's shoulder as he went about his teachings. "Th-this letter is an 'M', it makes the 'mmmm' sound, like in 'mother' or 'mumble'," he explained, pointing to the letter on one of the book's pages. Ocean rested his head on his hooves as he gazed at the page, a miserable look on his face.

I feel like a child, he thought to himself. I can't stand upright without falling over, I can't read, and hell, maybe tomorrow when I wake up I won't be able to speak either. He let out a long sigh, closing his eyes. Mender looked back at him.

"D-do you want me to stop for now?" he said, offering a sheepish smile. "Sorry if I'm not a good t-teacher..."

"No, no, it's not you, I just..." Ocean began, pausing for a moment. "Nevermind. You can keep going."

"W-well... as long as you're sure," Mender replied in an uncertain tone. Turning back to the book, he began teaching him the letter N. "This one is an 'N'. It m-makes the 'nuh' sound, like in 'nobody' or 'nothing'."

This went on for another half hour, Mender going through every letter one by one until he finally got through the letter Z. "So n-now you know your A-B-C's, next time can you si—" He stopped himself, not finishing the sentence. "Uh... y-yeah, so... now I'll quiz you on it. Gotta p-practice it to make sure it sticks." Ocean rolled his eyes and sighed again, resting his chin in his hooves as his gaze redirected to anywhere other than the book.

"O-or we can... s-stop. Would you rather...?" Mender looked to Ocean with an eyebrow poised.

"It's fine, we can continue." His dour frown said otherwise, but Mender reluctantly launched into the next portion of his teaching.

He leaned over the book once more, pointing to characters seemingly at random, asking Ocean, "So what letter is this?" clearly trying to maintain a poker face for each answer but still wincing somewhat every time Ocean missed the mark. After having pointed out ever letter at least once, he turned back to Ocean with a forced smile that ended up looking more sheepish than sincere. "Maybe we should... go through the alphabet again?"

As the sky began to darken as the sun crawled slowly toward the horizon, a thud on the platform outside of the treehouse announced Forest Flash's return, her figure soon appearing in the doorway with a ratty satchel filled to the brim with berries tied to her back. "Got a present for you guys," she said, her voice betraying a mood much more jubilant than earlier. She untied the satchel from her back, tossing it on the ground between the two stallions as Ocean leaned over Menders shoulder, looking up at the mare and then down at the berry-filled satchel on the floor.

"What'cha guys doin'?" she inquired, looking between the two.

"I was tea—" Mender began, before being hastily cut off by Ocean.

"We were just reading, y'know? Only one book and two of us, so... yeah," he said as he rubbed a hoof on the edge of his bed and averted his eyes from making contact with Forest, his expression similar to that of a foal caught with a hoof in the cookie jar.

"Uh... alright," replied Forest, raising an eyebrow but not prodding any further. Mender slowly closed the book, looking back over his shoulder at Ocean with an apologetic look. Soon enough, though, their gazes both returned to the satchel on the floor, Mender being the first to get up and take a closer look.

"O-oh, wow," he said, taken aback as he opened up the bag. "There's a l-lot more variety here than usual!" He beamed at her, offering her a wide, thankful smile, inspiring a prideful grin on Forest's face. He waved Ocean over eagerly. "C-c'mon, look!" Ocean got up off of the edge of his bed, trotting over to the satchel with his head tilted.

"You weren't kidding," Ocean said with a wide grin as he beheld the wonderful assortment of juicy berries held inside the bag. "That's like a whole rainbow in there." Mender started to pick out different colors of the berries, listing off their names for Ocean.

"Th-this one's a sunberry," he said, holding up a light yellow berry. "They're super tart, but s-so good. One time, I heard they're way better fermented, but I'm not sure w-why anypony would let them go bad. Oh, and this one," he said, grabbing another berry, this one pinkish in color, "is a b-bubbleberry. It's super chewy and just a little bit sweet. And this one is—..." He plucked out a white berry, squinting as he looked it over. "H-hey, Forest, do you know what this one is?"

Forest offered no more than a shrug. "Thought it looked cool so I grabbed it. Why don't you eat it and find out?"

"Forest, for, all we know, this thing could be poisonous. A-are you sure it'd be a good idea to just stick it in my mouth and 'find out'?" Mender shot her an incredulous look.

Ocean was struck by a wave of voracious hunger, his stomach growling as if it were impatiently trying to remind Ocean that it was time to eat. "Hey, guys, uh... is it alright if I start eating now?"

Looking from the white berry to the bag and then back to the white berry once more, Mender said, "W-well, we got plenty of other berries. No need to dabble with the unknown." He tossed the berry aside, letting it roll off to the corner of the room as all eyes turned to the bountiful harvest of berries that lay in the middle.

Ocean was the first to act: he quickly grabbed a hoofful of berries and jammed them into his mouth, a stream of juice running down his chin as he chewed on the delicious wad. Forest was the next to follow suit, shoving a hoof in and grabbing her own hoofful to munch on. Mender joined in soon after, unable to restrain himself from partaking in the fruity feast. All three ponies continued to grab more and more, stuffing themselves silly with the sweet, delectable berries.

It wasn't long before all three ponies were snoozing away, totally full and content to rest and digest. Forest was splayed out on the bed, snoring loudly; Ocean lay still on his back, both hooves settled on his stomach as his chest rose and fell almost silently; and Mender was sat up against the wall by Ocean's bed, stirring lightly in his wakeful rest.

Ocean felt warm—uncomfortably so. Sleepily kicking off the thin blanket draped over him, he rested his head back on the pillow. Yet he still was warm. Hot, even. Are the nights here always this warm? he thought to himself, somewhat annoyed by the uncomfortable climate. He inhaled softly, letting out a sigh.

As he drew in a breath, however, a thick, unpleasant smell filled his nostrils. Ugh, did somepony burn something? Shifting once more in bed, he put his head underneath the pillow. The scent still remained, only somewhat blocked out by the pillow. Squeezing his eyes shut tightly as he tried to get himself to sleep, his mind mulled something over, but in his groggy state he couldn't make out what. Burned something? Who would be cooking? He considered this idea for a second before he felt a surge of adrenaline in his veins that blasted away any sense of lingering sleepiness.

He leaped out of bed, looking around with his eyes wide open. Mender was jarred awake from his sleep by the thud of Ocean's hooves hitting the ground. The air was hazy, a thick, black cloud of smoke covering the ceiling. An orange glow danced rhythmically on the walls of the room.

"Why's it so... warm in here?" Mender groggily muttered, before the reality of the situation quickly struck him. "Is s-something burning?!" he said, scrambling to his hooves. His vision darted around the room before it settled on Forest. "F-Forest, wake up! FOREST!" he cried, now by her bedside and shaking her.

"Wha...?" she replied, her eyes barely fluttering open. "Hey, Mender... what's up?..." She yawned widely, blinking lightly.

"FIRE!" he answered, his eyes brimming with panic.

As Mender jostled Forest awake, Ocean hastily trotted onto the platform outside and was immediately met by what could only be likened to some sort of apocalyptic hellscape. Embers drifted through the air, all the trees before him enveloped in a blazing inferno. The dark sky was filled with smoke that billowed up from the canopy—it was as if the entire sky was occupied by one big unnatural cloud, hovering ominously over the trees as they were consumed by the blaze. Leaning over the edge, he saw the tree upon which the small, wooden structure was built had already caught alight, the flames slowly creeping up toward him, almost taunting him with their slow but steady and relentless approach.

"Guys?" Ocean said, slowly backing away from the ledge as a fifty-pound weight sank to the bottom of his stomach. "Guys, we need to—"

His words caught in his throat as the ground beneath him shifted slightly, and through the noise of the roaring inferno came a soft, quiet crack that pierced his ears like a bullet, the fierce pounding of Ocean's heart turning utterly still for just a brief moment. He turned to the treehouse, and as he opened his mouth, the only sound that came was the deafening sound of splintering wood as everything began to fall.

Ocean didn't remember the fall, nor did he remember the impact. One moment he stood, frozen in terror as if he had met the gaze of some invisible cockatrice through the flames, the crack ringing in his ears like an explosion. The next moment, he lay amongst broken and shattered wooden boards that once composed the treehouse as the flames surrounded him like an audience, their crackling an uproarious laughter at his misfortune, and they eagerly waited to see what he would do next.

He stared up at the smoky sky, wishing the stars would keep him company in his demise, but the sadistic inferno denied him even that. It was determined to consume his hope, his body, his life, and it would stop at no less. The flames tightened their noose around him, sucking up his oxygen like a murderous vacuum.

As he passively watched the flames approached, something gnawed at his heart, as if some part of him struggled to free him from some sort of mental snare. I have nothing to lose. Nothing. Maybe I earned this somehow. But... did they?

His miserable apathy was suddenly replaced with a fierce desperation, one that gripped his heart, mind, and body and refused to let go. They had saved his life, and yet here he lay as they burned, as their lives burned, as everything burned. Was he truly the kind of pony to allow others to die? To give up at the expense of others? But it's not like I can do anything. I can't just walk through fire. I'm already trapped myself. Maybe if I hadn't waited so long to do something, hadn't let the fire get this close...

He rose up from where he lay, turning in his place as he scanned the fire that encircled him, holding the faint hope there might be some break, some point where the fire had not yet reached, but to no avail. I'm trapped. There has to be something... I can't... There has to be some way for me to do ANYTHING!

A cool, refreshing gust blew gently over his body, a stark contrast to the oppressive heat of the flames. He felt a tingling in his horn as it was illuminated by a violet glow, and he felt...

Damp? In the middle of a fire?

He suddenly felt a surge of energy course through his body toward his head, and he knew exactly what to do. It was not some memory from which he drew his certainty, but rather by the same instinct that allows one to know how to make their leg move, how to breathe, how to blink. As the surge of energy reached the tip of his horn, it became a torrent of water before him, driven forth by an invisible wind. It crashed upon the ground like a wave breaks against rocks on a shore,  splashing a salty wet spray into the air as the fire hissed beneath it like a slain beast and was extinguished.

He rushed forward through the newly-made opening in the circle of fire, his hooves splashing through the puddle left on the ground. Now freed from the fiery noose, he perked his head up, struggling to make out any figures through the infernal disaster that remained of the treehouse. He sensed a presence not with his eyes, but rather, with his ears.

"Forest, get up! Y-you have to GET UP!"

He galloped toward the voice that had arisen from the roaring of the fire, his hoof occasionally catching on pieces of rubble, but he refused to allow himself to stumble and fall. He weaved clumsily through the flames that ate at the charred and splintered wood that covered the ground, approaching the source of the voice. "Please, Forest. PLEASE!"

His eyes were met with the sight of a familiar stallion, his silvery coat stained with soot as stood over a prone Forest Flash. A mound of wooden planks was piled atop her hind legs as she struggled desperately to free herself, Mender frantically prying at the wooden rubble. The opposite side of the pile was already ablaze, the fire spreading rapidly. "O-Ocean? Ocean, h-help!" Mender called out as he turned his head in Ocean's direction. "Sh-she's stuck... Oh dear Celestia, she's s-stuck and I can't lift this and... please..." His eyes were bleary with horror, liquid fear running down his cheeks as embers tauntingly danced in the air around him.

"Mender, get the hell out of here already, I've... I've got this," she shouted at Mender, a hint of fear in her voice. "Just GO already!"

"Mender," Ocean said, swallowing his own panic and trying to maintain a steady voice, "start with the wood at the top. I'll keep the fire away."

"W-what?! How?" Mender exclaimed incredulously. "We're g-going to get trapped in the fire and it's going to burn us all and we—"

"Mender. I need you to trust me. Please just trust me, okay?"

Mender stared at him for a few seconds, and he struggled to get rid of the lump in his throat. "O-okay. Okay, I'll trust you," he replied with a shaky voice. He looked back at Forest. "We're... w-we're going to get you out, okay?"

"Are you stupid? I told you, I've got this, I can..." Her desperate tugging at the wood above her weakened as a look of defeat overcame her. "I can't..."

Mender climbed up to the top of the pile, kicking planks off of the pile as quickly as he could manage, and Ocean turned to face the approaching flames that were nearest to him. "Forest, I need you to keep an eye on the flames. Tell me when it's getting to close on one side, alright?"

Forest nodded, a bit of fear draining from her expression. "Alright... got it!"

Ocean's horn lit up once more with its violet glow, channeling the familiar energy in his body through his horn and firing off another blast of water, drowning the flames in the current. He sprayed along the length of the wall of flame, beating it back with the water. Confident that it would be enough, he halted the torrent. As the stream faltered, he was confronted by an awful lightheadedness. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, trying to regain his concentration. Forest's voice rang out: "Fire on the other side is getting a bit too close!"

Snapping his attention in the opposite direction, Ocean galloped over toward it, catching himself as he felt himself stumble a bit before skidding to a halt. Alright, round three. The water emerged from his horn, silencing the roar of the flames as the water crashed against the ground. His dizziness worsened, his vision blurring slightly. "Mender, are you... almost done?..." he said, swaying where he stood.

"I-I've almost got it, almost..." Mender replied, the pile now about a third as massive as it previously had been. Turning his head over his shoulder, he looked back at Ocean with a renewed panic. "Ocean, l-look!" he called out, pointing to the side opposite of where Forest was trapped.

Ocean rushed toward the other side of the pile, but he felt one of his hooves slip out from under him, his face slamming into the dirt. With a pained grunt, he slowly got back on his hooves, weakly spitting out the dirt in his mouth before picking up his pace once more, hurrying toward the fire. Coming face to face with the flames, he felt himself struggle to gather his remaining energy, his horn flickering a few times as he tried to force it to come to life once more. C'mon. Just one more...

The fire was quickly swallowing up the distance between itself and the pile as Ocean stood between them, his horn flickering on and off like a faulty light bulb. He gritted his teeth as he finally managed to force the last of his energy toward his horn in one last surge, making it light up in full as the water came forth from its tip. As the fire receded, Ocean found himself short of breath as his knees gave out beneath him, a warm wetness on his upper lip. He raised a shaky hoof, touching the wet spot as he brought it into his vision. His hoof had been stained crimson. He forced himself back onto his hooves, taking a few steps toward the pile before falling to his knees once more.

"M-Mender... I think... I'm gonna take a nap..." he heard himself say dreamily, before he fell down onto his side, his vision fading in and out of focus. As his gaze touched upon Mender's flank, a soft, faint thought echoed in his head. That's funny. He doesn't have a cutie mark. Then, he resigned himself to rest, his world fading away to a dreamless slumber.