I don’t know how long I was out. It must’ve been a long time, because I regained consciousness during a rather beautiful sunset.

A terrible chill was the first thing that I felt. It seemed as if frost had settled into my very core. I was shivering fiercely, and a groan slipped out of my lips, as it was the only thing I could do at that time. They say that Tartarus is filled with flames to torture its inhabitants. I say that if it was filled with the deepest chill possible it would have been more agonizing. I certainly would have ended my own life to take the pain of the cold away.

The next thing I felt was that I was wet, soaking wet. Well, that would explain the chill, I thought grimly. Why am I wet? The answer to that question eluded my grasp.

Then I heard Tranquility’s voice, and with discernible effort, cracked my eyes open. She was pacing around me, eyes wide with fear and shock. She was also soaking wet. As my eyes swam into focus, I became aware of several more things. I was lying on a hard, rocky surface, belly down, and my tail appeared to be caught in some sort of moving water. We were in a place that I didn’t recognize at all. There were spots of red everywhere along the rocks I lay on. Tranquility was bleeding from several cuts along her body… and a chunk of her ear appeared to be missing, with the wound bleeding profusely, dying part of her mane and one half of her face crimson red. She didn’t seem too bothered, though. She was up and walking, which was better than me. And she appeared to be speaking rapidly in the thestral language, but I wasn’t sure because my hearing was still really wonky.

It was at that moment that my body decided to make me aware of my own injuries.

A host of various pains registered in my mind. It seemed that I had been cut up worse than she had, as evidenced by the lines of agony that could be found in many places around my body, although it appeared as though nothing important was hit. It felt like there was a puncture wound in my left hind leg, but that wasn’t the worst injury. It felt as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to the back of my head. I seriously hoped that I didn’t have a cracked skull. That was all really bad news. The good news is that the shock of suddenly feeling all that pain jolted me to full awareness.

A strangled yell forced its way out of my throat as tears started to run down my face, causing some shallow cuts to sting even more than they already did. Tranquility froze and ran over to me. “Fall!” she shouted, panic evident on her face.

“Tranquility…” I slurred through the tears, trying to crawl closer to her.

“What is it?!” she shouted, her loud voice driving spikes of pain into my head, making me groan again. “Are you okay? Is there something seriously wrong?” She started to look me over, ignoring her own injuries in favor of trying to find what was paining me so much.

“Cold…” I responded, new shivers wracking my body and aggravating several of my cuts, causing me to gasp.

“Oh!” she said. She wrapped her hooves around my barrel and rather roughly hoisted my limp form up and into a tight embrace, her leathery wings wrapping around me. This jolted my head, and a massive wave of nausea raced through me. I leaned away from her and voided what little was left in my stomach, more tears pouring down my face. Although it was unpleasant, I did see that we were on the banks of a fast-moving river, and we were surrounded by trees. When I finished, she gently pulled me back into the embrace, tucking my head under her chin and running her muzzle through my mane. “Oh, Fall…”

I didn’t respond, instead leaning into her. The embrace was causing me pain, but it was so blessedly warm that I didn’t care. The chill slowly started to abate. I slowly came to the realization that Tranquility was holding me, even after what had just happened. She was holding me tightly… My crush was holding me. I stiffened up and felt a blush rising to my face, despite everything else going on. I have my priorities straight and in order, for sure.

Tranquility noticed and looked down at me, worried. “Your cheeks just turned a very interesting shade of blue,” she remarked, prompting me to giggle. My blood was blue. I was that cold, and it seemed just absurd enough to be funny, even in the terrible situation we were in.

I don’t know how long it took for me to warm up to normal temperatures, but it was enough for the shadows to grow long and the sun to sink below the horizon, and enough for Tranquility’s ear to stop bleeding, although I could tell she’d bled on me. I didn’t care, as I’d done the same. Eventually, I lifted my head off of her chest and nuzzled her neck, trying to keep my mind off of my injuries, although it didn’t work as that caused more nausea to rise and I nearly vomited again.

“Not cold anymore?” Tranquility asked.

“Nope,” I whispered back, not wanting to speak loudly.

“Good,” she said. She then tucked my head back under her chin. “Don’t move… I think you’re concussed.”

“Great…” I replied. It would explain why I felt so nauseous so suddenly, and why I was having trouble articulating words. “How?” I asked, beset by curiosity.

“How what?” she asked.

“How are we alive?” I said. “I fell into that… monster of a tornado.”

Tranquility shuddered, and I felt something wet and warm start to fall into my mane. “Y-you did…” she said, her voice hitching. “And I don’t know how we’re alive.”

“Are you crying?” I asked, concerned.

“Yes…” she said, nuzzling her head into my mane once more. “F-fall, just as you were about to hit the funnel cloud, a rock the size of two of our hooves whirled around and smashed into your head, knocking you out and sending you into the debri cloud. It was terrifying…” she broke off, more of her tears falling into my mane as she fought to regain control of her emotions. “I didn’t want to lose you like… nevermind. I dove in after you and rode the wind currents, getting beat up by the debri in the process. A shard of rock cut part of my ear away… but I didn’t give up. Eventually I found you… you were in a bad state. You were getting cut up more and more every second… I covered your limp body with my own, praying you weren’t dead…” I gently nuzzled her, trying to provide some comfort, but it didn’t really work.

“The tornado turned away from our neighborhood,” she continued. “I don’t know how long we were in it, but eventually it hit the Ponytomac river. It soaked us both, and I think that combined with the wind is why you’re so cold. It dissipated and dropped us in the middle of the river. I dragged us onto a piece of wood that the tornado also dropped in the river. We’ve been on that for hours…” she sighed, her breath teasing my mane. “And you didn’t wake up. I tried to get you to… I thought…” she started to cry a little harder, lightly shaking me. Her cries were oddly silent. I continued to nuzzle her. Eventually, she calmed back down, but she was still obviously stressed and still scared for me.

“I’m sorry…” I said.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she responded.

“Still sorry,” I cheekily replied, getting a soft giggle out of her. “So… where are we?”

“I don’t know,” she responded. “When I dragged you on shore, I flew up to see if there were any towns nearby, so I could get medical help. All I could see was forest, forest, and more forest.”

A sense of dread started to fill me. “We’re… lost?”

“Yes…” she responded softly, dread also in her tone.

“Oh no…” I started to feel tears welling up.

“And…” Tranquility began, shame in her voice. “I lost our sense of direction…”

I started to cry softly, and she did too, and we wept for some time in that embrace of ours. We were scared out of our minds. Neither of us had any survival skills, and I was injured badly… there was no way we were going to live.

Tranquility regained her composure before me, sighing and looking up to the darkening sky. That’s when I heard it. A soft piano melody began to drift through the air around us. I recognized it, a song was starting. I felt no tugging in my heart, so I knew I didn’t have to sing, but Tranquility did. She rested her head on mine, and began to sing.

“Konturo un parouh, we’re lost and alone,

Tuareh un ceireh, far away from home,

No way to go on, no way to make it through,

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh.”

The piano track swelled and took the melody from Tranquility as tears began to run down her face once more. I felt saddened as well, even though I didn’t know what half of the words she sang meant. They obviously had deep meaning to her, and despair was so evident in her voice… and her voice was so beautiful… The background music softened, and she began to sing again.

“Life was wonderful, our futures were secure,

I had found true friendship, I had found a cure,

Then we’re blown away, I don’t know what to do,

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh.”

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo un parouh. Those phrases began to resonate with me on an instinctual level, the magic of music reaching into my heart. I felt pain, the pain of others who had said that before. I don’t know how I knew that, but the music in Equestria always did things like that. At the same time, I knew that our pain was equal to the pain of the many other who had said that before us. I couldn’t fight it. I buried my face in the crook of her neck and began to weep softly. And she kept singing.

“Both of us are injured, me permanently,

My best friend, Fall Streaks, is hurt seriously.

We lay on the riverbank, alone, us two,

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh.”

Even as I cried, I felt strangely comforted. Something about this arrangement was nice, with the both of us relying on each other for support. It was a bit weird, but even the vibrations Tranquility’s voice created were comforting, something familiar in this unfamiliar landscape.

“And now we weep..., and we pray...,

As the stars... end the day…

In this thing there is nowhere for us to turn to,

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh!

Konturo un parouh, we’re lost and alone,

Tuareh un ceireh, far away from home,

No way to go on, no way to make it through,

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh.”

Her voice dropped down to a whisper, and she lowered her head to rest on mine.

“Konturo un parouh, we’re lost and alone,

Tuareh un ceireh, far away from home,

No way to go on, no way to make it through,

Tuareh un ceireh, konturo parouh.”

And just like that, the song ended. As far as songs go, it was a fairly short one, but that was because it didn’t need to be any longer to get the point across. And it did. Both of us were left quietly crying on the riverbank, despairing at our situation, lamenting our misfortune. I’m just glad I didn’t have to sing. I didn’t need my terrible voice ruining the moment of the song.

“Wow…”

Both Tranquility and I stiffened at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. We were in no state to defend ourselves, being cut up and battered (and in her case, really, really tired), so hearing that scared us both to the bone. Tranquility gently pulled out of the embrace we were in and stood in front of me, where she heard the voice come from. “Who’s there?” she said, baring her teeth, which is something she never did. Thestrals had sharp, pointed canines that were longer than most ponies. In the low light, they probably looked like fangs.

Something small stepped out from behind a bush that Tranquility was facing. I didn’t see it, but it caused Tranquility to relax her stance. “What is it?” I asked.

“It looks like a baby diamond dog,” she said, “but it’s not.”

“That was really beautiful, miss,” the aforementioned creature said softly. It sounded like a filly, so I assumed it was female.

“Thank you,” Tranquility responded quietly.

“It was really sad, though,” the creature said, walking towards us on all fours. I could see it a little more clearly. Tranquility was right, it wasn’t a diamond dog, although it appeared to be of the same species group, for it looked to be canine in nature. It looked to have a well-groomed golden coat and big, cute eyes.

“Yeah…” Tranquility said, not moving.

“Why was tha-” the creature’s voice cut off, and it’s eyes widened in shock. “Gods above!” Before either of us could react, it rushed at us and began looking us over thoroughly, taking in every mark on us. Tranquility reeled away from it, and I gasped and jumped to my hooves. “What happened to you?!” it exclaimed. “It looks like you guys have been through a- ack, what is the name of that pony invention I saw once… a blender!”

“Nature’s blender,” I muttered, trying to get my racing heartbeat under control. Having an unknown creature rush at us in that state was terrifying.

“Could you please back away?” Tranquility hissed, baring her teeth again.

“Sorry!” it said, prancing away from us. “You two look beat up!”

“A tornado would do that to you,” I said, sitting down.

“You lived through a wild tornado?!” the creature exclaimed, shocked.

“Apparently,” Tranquility replied.

“Never mind! You guys need help!” the creature said, worry plain in it’s voice. “Follow me! I have medical supplies back at my camp!” it said, starting to walk away from us.

Tranquility didn’t budge. “Should we trust it?” she whispered.

“It’s the only option we have to get help,” I whispered back. “We have to.”

“Come on,” it said, beckoning to follow.

“Okay…” Tranquility said. She then walked over to me as I was standing up, and in one smooth motion, slid under me and lifted me onto her back, grunting. I blushed at this, but knew better than to protest, and wrapped my hooves around her neck. We walked over to the creature, who was smiling at us.

“There you go!” it… no, she said. “It’s only a short walk from here.” She began to walk away from us again, and this time, we followed.

“Thank you,” Tranquility said.

“It’s no problem!” she responded. “I haven’t had anyone to talk to in ages. Oh, and by the way,” she said, turning to face us with a cute smile on her face. “I’m Cam.”

Author's Note

Suddenly doggo!

God, this is fun to write! I haven't been able to churn out writing like this in a long time.

But yeah, new chapter! I hope I did well on it (I'm a little tired right now), but I'm not sure, so if you guys could spare the time to leave some feedback in the comments, I would love it.

And now, for your edition of THESTRAL LANGUAGE GUIDE!

“Konturo un parouh” - A saying used to describe when a thestral is in a dark place. The direct translation is “lost and alone”

“Konturo” - Lost

“Un” - And

“Parouh” - Alone

“Tuareh un ceireh” - Often goes hand-in-hand with the phrase konturo un parah. Direct translation is “broken and battered.”

“Tuareh” - Broken

“Ceireh” - Battered

On a completely different note, tomorrow is November 8th! This is formally known as Election Day in the United States and informally known as Depression Day America. How are you guys going to be spending it? I known that I'll be watching the news while laugh-crying at this terrible situation.

But yeah! As usual, let me know if I've made any errors and I'll correct them.

~Pyrepinna

P.S.- This chapter is brought to you from thirty-six thousand feet in the air!