“Cam!” I yelled, stumbling over to her. As I got closer, I could see the rising and falling of her chest, indicating she was alive, and a wave of relief swept through me. I slowed down to a walk as I reached her. Her eyes were closed, giving the impression that she was sleeping peacefully, except for the pained and tortured expression on her face. It was the look of a broken pony, one who had lost everything at no fault of their own. As I watched, a tear slid down her face and dropped onto the sand below. I sighed softly.

“Is she okay?” Tranquility asked softly, trotting up beside me. I shook my head and reached down, scooping her limp form up and into my arms. Her eyes slid open, and a soft grunt of pain escaped her lips.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“No... “ she hissed. “M-maybe some broken ribs…” I immediately changed my hold on her, cradling her on her back. “D-doesn’t matter…” she murmured softly

“Cam, you’re hurt!” Tranquility protested.

“I know…” she sighed. “I-I…”

“Yes?” I said. Cam didn’t go on, instead closing her eyes and leaning into me. I sighed and sat down, Tranquility doing the same. I gently nuzzled her, but she didn’t respond. We stayed like that for a while, until Cam shifted in my arms.

“Describe what’s around us,” she murmured. I did, explaining the strange purple ocean, the odd foliage, the unusually soft sand, and the reddish sky with no defined sun. I told her about how the air smelled strange and tasted a little like seafood. Cam groaned at that. “Get me to my box, now,” she commanded. I did, placing her next to it. She stumbled inside, and after a moment, tossed two things out. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be masks of some sort. “Put those on,” she said. I did, tossing the other to Tranquility.

“Why?” I asked, confused.

“I created an unsecured rift, one that could have dropped us anywhere in any reality,” Cam said. “We landed in the Iodine Seas, a reality that’s pretty much saturated with elemental iodine. It’s toxic in large quantities, so keep the mask on, don’t eat anything, and don’t drink the water.”

“Oh.”

It took Cam a few more minutes to come out of the box, and when she did, she was dragging a bundle of supplies with her. She dropped it and opened it up. I recognized the healing balm that she’d used on us, but there were a lot of other things I hadn’t seen before. Cam stuck out her paw and levitated a small roll of plant fibers into the air. The balm also floated up, and Cam began spreading the balm on the roll, which I saw was an improvised bandage. She then wrapped it around her chest several times, before splitting about half off and tying the two ends together.

“For my ribs,” she explained. She then levitated the remaining bandage over to me and wrapped it around my head, tying a similar knot. “And that’s for your head.”

“I thought you said the balm wouldn’t work!” Tranquility said.

“I’d never had to treat a concussion before,” Cam said. “I wasn’t sure if it would, but now I have to try. He’s gonna need his full health from now on, so we’re trying that.”

“Why?” I asked. Cam sighed.

“I just jumped us out of your dimension,” she said. “It’s gonna be a while before we get back… if we get back…” Tranquility stiffened at those words. Her head slowly turned to look at Cam, her cat-like pupils dilating to be little more than black lines that divided her eyes in twain. I froze up. I’d never seen her act like this.

“What do you mean… ‘if?’” Tranquility whispered softly. My ears folded back when I heard her tone. It was a soft, neutral drone, not betraying anything. Her serious voice.

“I’m n-not sure if I can get us back…” Cam whispered.

“You… you’re not sure?” Tranquility whispered. “You’re not sure if we’ll be able to get back to our home? Our friends? Our family?” Her voice raised in volume with each successive word she spoke, her breaths getting shorter and shorter. “W-we won’t be able to get back to our lives? I-I built my life there. Everything I care about is back there. And you just took us away from that?” Her eye started twitching. “You took away my life, is what you’re telling me. You stole awa-”

“I KNOW!” Cam screamed, cutting Tranquility off and shocking her into silence with the sheer volume of her yell. Tears started to slide down her face again. “I KNOW! I-I’M SORRY! I-IT WAS T-THE ONLY THING I-I COULD DO! I-IT W-WAS-” Her face took on a green tinge, and she turned away from us and vomited. When she finished, she collapsed in the sand, sobbing brokenly.

I walked over to her and picked her up again, letting her sob into my chest. This time, Tranquility kept her distance, immense guilt spread across her face. I gently rocked and stroked Cam, trying to help her calm down.

Eventually, she did, although I had no clue how long it took. She lifted her face off my chest and looked at me with bloodshot eyes. “W-water…” she croaked.

“Where?” I asked.

“Box…” she answered, whimpering. I nodded and gently set her down. I walked over to the box and stuck my head in. Not even half a second later, my jaw dropped.

Inside the box was an absolutely cavernous room, about ten stories tall, I think, and as big as a professional theatre. The walls were an off-white color, and there were no windows. Shelves lined each wall, and there were rows more filling the space in-between them. A lot of the shelves were filled, but countless others weren’t. How the hay am I gonna find water in here? I thought, stunned. Just as I thought that, a ceramic jar floated off a shelf and flew over to me, hovering in front of my face. I reached out and cupped in in my fetlock before transferring it to my mouth and pulling my head out of the box, still stunned. I walked back over to Cam and gave her the water, which she drank greedily.

“What was that?” I asked softly.

“Personal dimension,” Cam answered.

“Do all Mages have those?” I inquired.

“I dunno,” Cam whispered, wincing. “Probably.” Drinking the rest of the water, she lay back on me. “Well, I can confirm that some of my ribs a-are broken… screaming caused pain, and dehydration plus bad pain wasn’t great, so I threw up, and that hurt real bad…”

“I’m sorry,” Tranquility whispered.

“I… w-we need to have a talk about our situation,” Cam said, leaning up against me.

Tranquility warily trotted up to us, ears folded back. “I… I freaked o-out… I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“I… understand,” Cam said. “I’m… don’t t-think I’m not s-sad… and freaked o-out too. Part of t-the reason I’m not sure I can get us back is because I have no e-experience with dimensional travel. I-I’ve lived in that spot for all seven years of my life. I… I planted seeds for all the plants we picked before you guys got up because I thought I would help you guys get home and then come back… a-and now I can’t.” She closed her eyes. “I-I wasn’t k-kidding or joking or lying. The Mages would have killed you guys w-without a second thought. T-they’re technically above the rules, but they’re so c-convinced of their legitimacy and correctness that they w-would’ve done it anyway. T-this was the only o-option…”

“I’m sorry,” Tranquility said again, sitting next to me.

“It’s f-fine…” Cam said. “I-I would’ve reacted the s-same way.”

Tranquility looked to the sky above us. Through her mask, I could see her lips trembling. I couldn’t say that I wasn’t sad also, but Tranquility was taking it much, much harder than I was. Sure, I had friends. Sure, I had family. Sure, I would miss them. But the way I saw it, I was with the one pony who I truly wanted to be with. So, I was scared and sad, but not too much. But Tranquility…

She was distraught enough that a passing remark about the mere possibility of not being able to get home made her snap at Cam, who had just completely broken down over what had happened with the Wolves, and said that she might have had broken ribs. Something about being away from home, possibly permanently, hurt her deeply. I didn’t know what, though, but there was something. I resolved that I would talk with her later.

I was caught up so deeply in my thoughts that I barely missed the soft words that slipped out of her lips.

“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…”

As the last notes left her lips, tears started to slide down her face. There was no sound to her sobs. The only reason that it was evident she was crying was the shaking of her chest. I extended my wing and wrapped it around her, and she leaned against me. I leaned back, holding her up, being both a literal and figurative pillar of strength for her, for Cam too. Cries started to escape her too, and soon, they were both crying. I picked Cam up and started to rock her, while nuzzling Tranquility and rubbing her back with my wing. After a few seconds, an impulse came over me, similar to the magic of music. I opened my mouth and began to whisper.

“Konturo un parouh, tuareh un ceireh, jai yeiruah, jai yeiruah.

Konturo un…”

I repeated that phrase, the words which I did not know the meaning of, for a long time. It helped both Tranquility and Cam marginally. Eventually, Cam settled down, and Tranquility smiled at me.

“You have… the worst Equestrian accent,” she said.

“I’m not surprised,” I replied, nuzzling her gently. She giggled for a moment before the smile slipped from her face. I sighed at that.

“Cam… I have a question,” she said. “Two, actually.”

“Shoot,” she said.

“When you said that it was normal for parents in the Wandering Wolves to abandon their kids when they turned two… was that a lie?” she asked.

“Y-yes,” Cam said. “I didn’t want to tell the truth…” She didn’t notice, but I felt a lot of tension leave Tranquility when she said that. She slumped against me a little more.

“Second… what happens now?”

Cam sighed. “I… I expect we start moving, and quickly.” She shuddered. “They can track where the rifts go… I expect that within twelve hours they’ll have t-the Mages here, trying to kill you and catch me…” she sighed. “W-we’re gonna have to… jump dimensions until we make them lose our trail or we get back to Equis.” A second later, she let out a sad laugh. “I mentioned something about an adventure, didn’t I. Heh… didn’t think it would be this kind. I’m sorry…”

Instead of responding, I wrapped her in my other wing, a silent gesture of comfort. She sighed and slumped down. “Seven… the age of the end,” she whispered.

“It can’t be like that,” I said.

“I… I built my life on Equis, like you guys,” Cam said. “M-my whole life just came crashing down. I made my grove there. I learned potions there. I made my deal with the Alpha there. It’s my home too. And now… I’ll… probably have to spend the rest of my life running. So yes, it is like that. The end begins now.”

“Weh pourehasti du quri surai, weh pourehasti du zhaigai,” Tranquility whispered, her eyes widening in comprehension. She took Cam from me and started to pet her. Cam nodded, closing her eyes and shuddering, a grimace crossing her face. “Yeiruah?”

“I-I.. I-I think s-so…” Cam whispered back. She started to sniffle again. Sighing, Tranquility pulled her into a tight embrace, her leathery wings completely encompassing her golden fur. A few seconds later, the sound of sobs began to emerge from Cam’s hidden form.

I got up and walked behind Tranquility, sitting down and draping my wings over her shoulders. I could feel her flinch at the contact before she slumped against me. “You okay?” I asked.

“Tired…” she responded softly. I extended my wings more, creating a sort of blanket around her.

“Then rest,” I murmured, tucking her head under mine. “You’ve been up for a while.” She nodded slowly and closed her eyes. A few minutes later, her breathing slowed and evened out, and she went limp against me. Cam’s cries, however, did not cease.

“Cam?” I murmured.

“Y-yeah?”

“It’s gonna be okay,” I said. “We’re gonna be fine.” Cam didn’t respond, but her cries abated slightly. Soon, she too was asleep.

I closed my eyes as well, and a rush of emotion swept through me. There was fear, of course. It was the filler between the others, permeating everything like an unpleasant odor. There was worry, there was concern, there was sadness, and underneath it all, there was a hint of curiosity. The combination made me feel slightly sick. As I drifted off to sleep, I found myself thinking one thing.

Fate, don’t make a liar out of me.

Please.

Author's Note

Well then... hello depressing chapter.
It gets better, guys. There is some funny and cool stuff in this.
So yeah, we learn what I meant by "Adventures" of a Tone-Deaf Pony. This plot development is... questionable, but I know what I'm doing... I hope.
In other news, I finally have the rest of the story planned out! The idea came to me late at night, so it's UNDOUBTEDLY good! I find the best ideas come at night. I always keep a notebook and pencil by my bed so that I can write ideas down. I definitely recommend doing the same, so that those gold ideas don't slip away.
And with that, it's time for... THE RETURN OF THE THESTRAL LANGUAGE GUIDE!

“Jai”- Not

“Yeiruah”- Forever

“Weh”- The

“Pourehasti”- Crumbling

“Du,”- Of

“Quir,” Fields

“Zaigai,”- Lives

“Surai,”- Established.

“Weh pourehasti du quri surai, weh pourehasti du zhaigai”- Another thestral saying, again relating to when the species as a whole was poor and suppressed. The direct translation is “The crumbling of fields established, the crumbling of lives.” The phrase has taken to be synonymous with the importance of having a home, and what can happen when that place of security is taken away.

Y'know, in Google Docs, the Guide is now two pages long. We're in chapter 7. How long do you guys think it'll be by the end?
Happy Thanksgiving to all you fellow 'muricans out there! (although I'm uploading this a little late)
~Pyrepinna