Twilight's POV

It's been about three weeks now.

The snow has melted for the most part, and it's beginning to get warm out finally. Rex seemed quite happy about it, and he was able to take some clothes off. He still kept the parka on, but the gloves and other things were taken off. He also seemed to get happier as it got warmer. The winter was definitely dreadful, so I can understand why he's been having a mood boost.

We've began extending the house. Rex has a whole plan drawn out for it, and it's going to take a lot of time before we can get anywhere near what he wants to make. Still, if we do eventually get this built, it'll definitely be a lot more spacious than it is now. We can have dedicated rooms for certain things. Maybe we can even move that tailor bench from the kitchen into its own little room, and move the research table from storage somewhere else.

Things are looking up slowly but surely.

Though, each passing day I've been thinking about my friends more and more. It's worse than what it was before, and I'm sure it won't get any easier. Rex had seemed to notice pretty early on, and talked to me about it. He did a pretty good job of making me feel better, but it didn't last for too long. I'm still scared, despite being more comfortable with this new world I've found myself trapped on. I have no idea what to expect, and the scariest part is, neither does Rex. He's lived here for two years, and still has no idea what to expect.

Also, my magic hasn't really gotten much better. I can do simple scans, and still pick up objects, but no complicated spells still. Each time, my horn would fizzle out, and if I gave it enough force it'd send out yet another purple wave, disabling all of our electrical wires. Needless to say, I stopped trying after Rex yelled at me the third time.

I just need to have faith that somepony will come get me. Even if that faith is misplaced, it'll give me something to believe in. I think that's better than believing that I'm stuck on a random planet, bent on destroying everything that lives on it. It'll help me numb that realization and that pain. Even if that's not a good thing, I find that it works better than thinking about it all the time. Something to keep you distracted, right?

Me and Rex are pretty good friends now.

He's a bit rough around the edges. Well, way more than rough around the edges. He's not one to express his emotions all that much, which I've seen has ended badly for him. He'll kick or punch things out of anger, but always in the opposite direction of me. I know he wouldn't hurt me, but it still scares me when he gets like that. If something isn't going his way and he gets frustrated, he'll just.. flip out and start cursing.

I can't really blame him though, can I?

I'd say my trust for him went really high when he gave me my own little parka. It was a little loose, but he still made one for me, even though I told him to not worry about it. He felt bad though, since he had forgotten he even made it for three or so days. Still, I'm really happy that he did that. It was decently comfy too. Sure, Rarity wouldn't have been excited about it, but I sure was.

I want to make him something, to return the friendly gesture back, but I have no idea what to do. I know next to nothing about these weapons he's taught me to use, so I couldn't make him anything like that. I wasn't exactly the best with tools, but I knew the basics. Still couldn't think of anything with that either. I'm sure i'll find something eventually, especially now that its warmer out.

I've spent a lot of time indoors. I got the research for the basins done, so the hydroponic thing is pretty much finished. It gave me an opportunity to look at the other blueprints he had in storage, and begin to research those more and understand how they worked. They were all pretty interesting, and some of them were quite scary.

The one that interested me the most is this 'geothermal power generator.'

You build it and put it on top of a steam geyser, and it can convert the steam into power. It'd basically fulfill all of our electrical needs for a very long time. That was what I decided to start researching. The faster we can get this thing built, the less problems we'd have to deal with. Plus, more power means more heaters in the winter. Gotta' think ahead.

I have faith that things will pick up from here on out. I just nopony forgot about me..

Our room was getting tight, and these new plans should give us some room.

I mean, the main room is pretty tight. We moved the table next to the door which proved to make it look nicer, but still. We desperately needed space, and I was going to start working on that as soon as possible. I've drawn out what I want it to look like, and I think it's pretty decent. It will take some time however.

We'll deal with our little room here for now.

Twilight has been a great help these past few days. Her research is proving to be quite amazing. She always did seem smart, but I never expected her to be that smart. I thought she would have trouble coming up with idea's for things that didn't require magic, since her world relied on it so heavily, but she proved me wrong. She's grasping the more physical style of this world easier than I thought.

I've been getting nervous, however.

With each day that passes by without trouble, I can feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Nothing ever goes this long without something bad happening, whether it be huge or minor. I didn't like the tension. The worst part about it, is that you can never really prove that something is going to happen, only that you can feel yourself get more nervous. It happens out of the blue, point blank, without buildup. Instead, your left with a gut feeling that something will happen, yet you truly never know when.

I'm not exactly nervous for what's going to happen to me, but more nervous about what might happen to Twilight. She passed out during that insectoid attack, what happens if we get raided by some cannibals or something? Would she be able to fight when it counts? Will she be able to handle that? Anyone's first raid changes them. Somebody dies most of the time, and if you're lucky, it's not you.

Yet you're left with that little thought in your head telling you that you just killed someone. And, no matter how many times you do it, no matter how used to it you might think you are, it'll still be in your head reminding you. People here on the Rim simply don't talk about it and ignore it. It helps us cope with the events we've been forced to deal with. We always try to keep busy to distract ourselves.

Would Twilight be able to kill someone if she was forced into that situation?

I couldn't really tell. Half of me thinks that she'll do whatever she can to protect herself, using that survival instinct. Yet, the other half of me thinks she might just give up and let her life be taken because she doesn't want to hurt anyone, that dying is better than killing someone else. I don't want to bring this up to her either, because she's one to dwell on her thoughts constantly. Sometimes she frets over the littlest things.

That's been changing ever so slightly. I actually heard her curse once while doing some research.

Yeah, Twilight cursed. I guess from hearing it from me all the time it's burned into her mind. It was strange to hear the adorable purple pony that is supposed to be this little 'innocent' thing curse. It's like hearing a baby say fuck or something. It's funny.

I was outside, looking at the previous growing zones that I had put up before winter hit. I had nowhere to put the basins, and I didn't want to keep them outside, so traditional growing was the way to go at the moment. It wasn't quite warm enough yet to begin growing anything, but in a day or two, maybe three, it will be. Instead of waiting until then to get things ready, I was already marking where I wanted certain plants to be.

I didn't have a green thumb or anything, but I knew how to get things going. I really wanted to get some healroot growing, but I didn't know shit about it. I just harvested what I could from nearby, which proved to be good enough. However I'm not alone anymore, so we'll need more medicine if we want to be on the safer side of things. Perhaps Twilight could look into how to grow some? She might be better at this than I am.

Well, I finished up the outlines for the grow zones, and headed back inside. I'm a little excited to have some vegetables growing. It'll spice up the daily meals, instead of just.. meat and potatoes, or whatever else we can find that mixes it up a little bit. Some berries and what have you.

Twilight was currently on her own bed, just sitting there, chilling. I headed over to my own bed and sat down, my back against the wall.

"So, how was it?" She asked.

"Outlines are done, but still not warm enough to start growing anything."

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

The conversations between us became more casual. As time went on, we were getting used to eachother, and that resulted in us feeling more and more comfortable. We could tell what we were thinking sometimes. The silence never felt awkward either. We didn't talk when we ate all the time, we didn't talk about what we were doing all the time, we just simply lived. It's been the realest thing I've experienced since I've been on this planet.

"After we get the plants growing, you're going to start on building, right?" She asked.

"Yeah. I know the plans at the moment are kind of.. ludicrous, but I'm going to be focusing on one part at a time. It's not something I can make in a single summer. I think i'll start on expanding this main room, and get bedrooms for the both of us. I'm sure you'd love to have your own room."

Twilight smiled. "What, getting sick of me already?"

I chuckled. "No, but I'm sure you hate hearing me toss and turn in my bed all the time."

"You've got a point." Twilight said whilst she buried herself under one of her blankets. "Having some alone time wouldn't hurt."

"Agree'd." I said whilst laying down, staring up at the ceiling above. "I know that things are worse off for you, since you went from actual civilization to.. this.. But, for me, things have never been better since I crashed."

"If it weren't for you, Rex, i'd more than likely be dead. So while things might be.. worse, than they were before for me, this is probably the best outcome of my situation, and I'm glad I could be of use."

I chuckled a little. "You act like I use you for work."

"Well, used for work and as a friend."

"Better."

The room was taken hostage by silence. It was kind of nice, to simply sit there and enjoy the quietness. It's weird though, I used to hate the silence. It reminded me I was alone. Yet, now that she's here, even when it's silent I feel.. warm. I can't really explain it. It's an emotion I can't describe. I guess it's less of an emotion and more of a.. feeling.

Warm.

Twilight's POV

I'm pretty sure Rex fell asleep.

After we talked for a little bit on the beds, he just went silent. I tried talking to him a bit afterwards but no response. He deserves some rest though. I guess I should go back and get back to researching, there's nothing else to do other then that, huh? I'm not even tired yet. Well, not tired enough to sleep, that is.

I made my way back into storage and plopped myself back onto the little seat.

Back to researching. Atleast, that was the plan before I heard a loud crash from outside. The ground shook, along with the entire house. It obviously woke Rex up, because I could hear him rush outside the door nearly instantly after the sound. I immediately followed him, a little scared to be left all alone in the house.

He didn't make it far from the front yard however, as he was staring at something off in the distance.

"Re-" I cut myself as I saw what he was looking at. It was a large, metallic object, not far from our house. It was burnt, with flames all around it. I stared at it, not really grasping what it really was.

"A crashed pod.." Rex said, staring at it still. Not a second passed by before he took off, sprinting at full speed towards the object. I followed, not knowing why he was running at it. Was it dangerous? It could be.

"Rex, stop! Wait-"

"There could be people!" He yelled back at me, continuing to run towards the pod. I don't know how he expected to get anyone out of it, it was burnt pretty badly, with fire surrounding it. He stopped at the front of the fire, looking around it frantically, trying to find a way through the fire.

The inside was not on fire, so he jumped over the fire and into the big pod, disappearing from my sight.

I stood still, waiting for him to re-emerge. A minute passed by. One minute became two, and two became three. I was beginning to get worried. I couldn't hear movement inside the pod anymore, and I was starting to think he might have gotten hurt.

That was, until he finally re-emerged. Yet he was cradling something in his hands.

He jumped back over the fire, making his way over to me, but suddenly stopped, looking at me. I stared at him in confusion, watching his expression. He looked.. I don't know how to explain it. He looked sad and angry, and.. defeated. I then looked at what he held in his hands.

I choked on my own breath, and I felt my stomach churn.

It was a baby. A human baby. It was wrapped in a ragged piece of cloth that Rex must've torn off from his own clothing. It was completely burnt.

It was burned alive.

"It was the only thing inside.." Rex said slowly, staring down at it. "It must've burned up in the atmosphere.."

I wanted to throw up. I turned away from it, but the vision was still stuck in my mind. The burnt flesh, peeling off its body. The dark blood covered over its body, and its melted eyes stuck to its cheeks. I couldn't move, I was afraid any movement would set me off and make me start puking.

Rex still held it, and walked past me.

I watched him. He walked in a straight line, staring ahead. He didn't even seem lifelike.

It took me a few minutes before I felt just a tiny bit better and walked slowly towards the house, where Rex had disappeared to. I walked through the open door and immediately headed for the bed, taking a seat. Rex had appeared from the storage room with the lifeless baby in one hand, and a shovel in the other.

Without saying a word to me, he disappeared back outside.

He said that the baby must've burned in the atmosphere.. on its way down. It was alive while it burned.

It all happened so fast. I was just about to get back to researching, and all of a sudden.. It happened. I couldn't feel it coming, I couldn't tell if anything was going to happen, and it did. It opened my eyes fully to this new world, and what I was really going to have to endure.

Equestria seemed farther and father away with each thought, and I began to cry. Rex had come back inside at some point, but I didn't notice since I buried my head in my pillows. I could feel a warm hand touch my back, but it didn't stop the images of what I witnessed from popping into my head.

The burnt, peeling skin.

The melted eyes on its cheeks.

The dark, almost black oozing blood pouring from its cracked skin.

I hate it.

Author's Note

Let me know if you liked this chapter or not!

I also added in a little picture of their bedroom, using ingame furniture and stuff.

If you liked the chapter or have any criticisms, be sure to let me know in the comments. I usually reply, but even if I don't, I always read them. Promise!

And to anyone who needs it,

Don't make decisions on a whim. It's better to think about a decision deeply before you truly make it, no matter how big or small. It might not matter in that very moment, but it might later down on the road. The more questions you ask yourself, the more answers you might find. But don't fret over any unanswered questions. You just haven't experienced that part of life yet to truly answer it.