Twilight's POV

Two months.

Two months living in this.. wasteland of a planet. Sure, everything was fine for the most part until the first month officially passed. Everything went downhill. The plans for the house were being built, but it seemed every other hour something would collapse and fail. Rex was getting more and more frustrated and ended up punching one of the wooden boards he was using. His fist got caught on a splinter, and it left a nasty little cut. We treated it, but it didn't help his mood one bit.

Rex was out hunting one night and got attacked by more 'insectoids'. According to him, not all of the bugs in that cave came out, and the hive was still intact. Which meant it was creating more and more of those evil looking bugs. As long as we were not anywhere near that cave, we were fine. But Rex just got a little too close that night. He didn't get hurt, thankfully, but it was enough to scare me. We actually got into an argument that night.

I wanted him to be more careful. I couldn't stand losing the only friend I have here and being alone. He got angry at that, saying he was fine to do what he pleased, that he had lived here long enough to know how things work and how to handle himself. I, of course, yelled back. I wanted him to be safe, but he just couldn't see that. Thinking on it now, it was both of our faults for that argument. Just a bad night in general.

We were fine after that, not a single argument afterwards. Though things weren't looking too well.

The crops we had growing were infected with some sort of.. disease? I don't know, but Rex said it wasn't good. We had to get rid of a lot of plants. It spread faster than we had initially thought. If we had paid attention to the crops, it probably wouldn't have gotten that bad. Can't really do much about it now though.

Rex suddenly grabbed me from my research to show me something as I was writing in notes for the Geothermal Generator.

"What is so important that you need to show me right now?" I asked.

Rex looked at me, a strange look on his face. The best way I could describe it is.. grim. "Something that you need to see."

With that, we continued to walk outside. We made our way behind a little mountain that was nearby. I hadn't traveled out this way, so I don't really know what he was going to show me. Perhaps it was some animals? Ores? Or just some new plants he found. Eventually we turned the corner of the mountain and he stopped. He stared ahead, as did I.

There were graves. Dozens of them. I opened my mouth but no words came out. I could feel my throat tightening as each second passed by, and it was getting that all familiar pain each time I swallowed. Eventually, I looked up to him, and managed to get a few words out.

"Why.. did you want to show me this?"

Rex glanced at me before staring at the graves. He didn't speak for what seemed like forever, simply staring ahead. He opened his mouth multiple times to say something, but nothing came out. He took a step forward and shook his head. "I don't know why. It just felt.. necessary. Like you had to see this."

"I.." I didn't know how to respond to that. Was there really any reason to show me this? Perhaps there was, but I couldn't see it.

"When winter came along, they got covered in snow. Now that the snow is gone, they're visible again."

"Were these people that.. you.."

"Killed?" He said, looking back at me. I nodded hesitantly. "Some, yes. Others, no. Whether they tried to kill me or not, I believe they deserve.. something. No one asked to be on this cursed planet, and since they found themselves on it, they deserve some sort of respect. Even the ones that didn't get a chance to live." He said, pointing at a small grave that looked newer than the rest.

I felt my heart squeeze when I saw it, yet no tears came out.

"I guess.. I guess I brought you out here to show you that even though we may be forced to kill people.. even though we're forced to do things we don't want to do, we still aren't monsters. I need you by my side when I get into a fight, and I need to count on you during those moments. And even if you do something you aren't proud of, you still are never a monster."

I nodded slowly. "Did.. you used to think you were a monster?"

He sat on the ground, crossing his legs. He gave a sigh and nodded his head. "I did. First time I killed someone I did. I kept running the scenario through my head, thinking about what I could've possibly done to make the situation play out differently. If I could've talked, or wound them enough for them to stop fighting. After the fifth, I began to change my thinking. If I kept thinking I was a monster, I would end up stooping down to become one."

"Rex, no matter what, I won't ever think of you as a monster. Okay?"

He nodded with a slight smile. "I know that. The same doesn't go for the others though. That singular bullet that ends someones life doesn't just affect them, but their parents, their siblings, their friends. They'll all have to live without them, whether or not they were a bad person. No matter what side you choose, somebody's going to think you're a monster."

"I never thought of that.." I said, looking down at the floor. I never thought about the effect on the families. Their friends, parents and siblings, everyone around them. That realization kicked in quite hard for me, and I could feel my heart squeeze with pain. My throat continued to tighten, to the point where it felt like spikes were lodged into my throat.

"When that pod crashed here," Rex continued. "I relived all of the moments I had when I first landed. How scared I was, how hopeless I felt. My immediate reaction was to just.. save whoever was inside. I saw myself in that little ship, and I so desperately wanted to save them." He stared at the small grave. "Must've been put into a pod at the very last second. Their parents put all their trust and faith into that pod in their very last moments I imagine. Look where it ended up leading to."

I could see Rex clench his fists. "This world is fucking cursed.. I don't know why only bad things happen here-" His voice raised with each word he spoke. "-but I'm fucking sick of it! Every god damn day, I have to fear what comes next! I keep trying and trying and what the fuck does it matter if I end up in the same god damn soil like them?!" Rex stood up, turning away from me.

The very next second, he yelled. He just.. screamed into the empty air, clenching his fists and shaking his head. It went on for a little while until he ran out of breath. He wiped something from his eyes before shaking his head again. "The only thing good that's happened to me since I've been here, is you, Twilight. And that scares me." He said, turning to me. I stared up at him, my heart squeezing when I saw the tears on his face. I had never seen him cry.

"If it were just me out here all alone, I could give less of a shit if I died. I'm so done with all of this. But I have you now, and now I have something to lose. And whenever you have something to lose in this world, it most definitely will be taken from you."

I shook my head at these words. "This world won't take me away, okay? I know that's hard to believe."

He sat back down, facing me. "You're innocent. You're normal. I hate seeing you change because of this world, when you could've just been normal."

I gave a slight smile. "I'm not even close to normal, Rex. I didn't even have friends until I was basically forced to go out and make some. I spent a lot of my life just reading books and researching spells. I had very little real life experience. I never went out to parties, or to go celebrate things with people. I sat in my room all day, doing nothing but learning. Even though I would rather not be stuck on this world, it's given me more life experience than I have had in my entire life. Yes, I've saved Equestria from multiple villains before, and helped people along the way with friendship problems. But, until I was stripped of most of my magic, and my ability to fly, and.. well, my home? I didn't realize that I had no experience."

Rex sighed, turning his head away from me, looking over to the graves. "I'd rather you stay in your room doing nothing but learning, than being stuck on a fucking cursed piece of shit planet. This place is so shitty, you'd think it's some god damn simulation or something. But no, it just wants to see everything fail. Like, something is pulling the god damn strings up above or something, trying to fuck us all over."

"And if there was, could we do anything about it?"

Rex shook his head. "I suppose not."

With that, he stood up. Without saying another word, he started his way back to the house.

I hope I can help him feel better.

With the big ass generator finally put back into storage, the main room was opened up a little. Nothing crazy, but it definitely felt less claustrophobic. Besides, that thing generated a little too much heat. During the winter it was all fine and dandy, sure, but it's spring now. I really, really don't need the inside of my house fucking baking. I'm not a fan of becoming a cookie.

Twilight has been a huge help on research as of recently. She's learning all sorts of shit, stuff that my small brain couldn't even begin to comprehend. Geothermal power? How the fuck would that even work? The schematic I bought had barely anything to go off of, which meant that Twilight was writing a lot of it in herself. The only reason I could build things like the generator and the wind turbines was because of those schematics I bought off traders passing by. Without them, my dumbass would barely be able to make something remotely useful in terms of tech.

The only thing I really could comprehend were drink mixes, and that was because it was my job to know.

I was with Twilight in the main room, simply chilling out. I didn't feel like working anymore on the damn plans, and I didn't feel like doing anything else either. Twilight seemed quite tired from researching so much, so she didn't feel like doing anything else too. So, there we sat, on both of our beds, staring at nothingness, completely silent. I wanted to break the silence, but I didn't know what to talk about.

It took a few minutes before I realized that I should probably do something. I mean, I really didn't want to, but sitting here doing nothing meant that I was wasting time. I could've told myself that I was simply chilling out with Twilight, but we weren't talking, so that wouldn't have made much of an argument. I shook my head, standing up and heading for the door. The crops needed to be checked up on, just to make sure none of them had blight.

I was only a foot away from the door before it swung toward at me, smashing into my face and causing me to fall.

I was instantly dazed. I looked up and saw someone standing in front of me. I instantly got onto my feet, ready to face them, before I got punched in the face. I wasn't prepared for a fight. I tried to face the attacker again, but I was only met with another fist to my face before I fell down.

I could feel blood leak out of my nose. I backed up as far as I could on the floor, my back meeting the side of my bed. I looked over to Twilight's bed, where she was currently cowering in the corner. I turned my attention to the attacker, who I now got a good look at. He was wearing a big dark brown duster, a white shirt underneath and what seemed to be flak pants. He was carrying a knife, pointing it at me.

"Oh, did I startle you, Rex?" He asked, before kicking me in the face. My face felt numb afterwards, and I rested my head on the side of my mattress. My eye's were still open, though irritated from the blood that got on them. I turned my head towards him again, slumped up against my bed.

"You know, for someone who killed my brother, I would've thought you'd be more.. difficult to deal with."

Murder his brother? Who the fuck was this guy?

He turned his attention towards Twilight, pointing his knife at her. "What the fuck do we have here, huh? What in the fuck am I looking at? Oh look at that fur.. That'd be nice on a coat-"

"N-No.." Twilight spoke with a tremble in her voice. The attackers face instantly became confused.

"What in the fuck? Did you just talk? Did you- did- did you just- hey-" He pointed the knife at me now. "-did you fuckin' teach this thing to talk or some shit? What is it, your pet?"

I couldn't respond even if I wanted to. My mouth was numb, though I counted all my teeth with my tongue. None of them broke. He shook his head at me. "Eh, doesn't matter anyways. That thing will sell beautifully on the market. Look at it- look- it's exotic purple color, the weird fuckin' horn and wings. It'll sell almost instantly!"

"But you-" He said, getting down onto his knee's and pressing the knife against my cheek. "You look like shit. I can't be goin' around selling shit to my most valuable customers, now can I? You ain't got a use, Rex. I mean, the fuck am I gonna' sell you for? Labor? We can get that out of anyone- I mean, come on, let's be honest here, you ain't got a us-" His face went from serious to delighted. "Actually, I think I have an idea!"

He grabbed me by my collar and began to drag me, but I tried to resist. I was met with another fist to my face, though the pain was numb at this point. I still couldn't feel much on my face. He forced my left hand onto the table. He curled all of my fingers up except my pinkie finger.

"I've gotta' make sure I'm right on this. I don't want to waste my precious time, do I?" He asked. With that, he brought the knife down onto the knuckle of my pinkie finger, and I felt it disconnect from my hand. Instant pain was sent through my arm, and I jerked myself away from the table, falling onto the floor.

I stared up at him as I groaned in pain. He reached over to my pinkie finger that was now on the table, examined it up close, and popped it into his mouth. He took a few seconds, swishing it around in his mouth and chewing, before spitting it out on to the floor. "Nah, you taste like shit." He dragged me back over against the bed, taking a few steps to examine me from afar.

"Although.. you could make for some good leather.. maybe- just maybe you do have a use after all. You won't mind if I take your skin off, do you?" He asked, stepping close to me with the knife in his hand, twirling it. I groaned, my eyes now half lidded. I hesitantly lifted my right hand up to flip him off. If I was going to die, I was going to do it being an asshole.

He chuckled. "Y'know, if you just died when my brother came to visit you, that would've been nice. I send him and his friends out saying 'hey, its just a small little house I found while running around, steal the shit and burn it down.' It was an easy job. Just some chemfuel, a match, and a couple bullets was all it would've costed. And yet you-" He said, pressing the knife against my throat. "-had to be a bitch and fuck it all up."

He stood up, kicking me in the gut. "Also, those graves? I took a good, long piss all over them. I was holding that in for way too long. Though, I did search each and every one of them to get my brother out of it. He's all rotten now, but he'll make for some good broth maybe. He'd love that I'm sure."

I could feel my consciousness fading from the pain, but I was determined to stay awake. I kept my eyes open, staring at him as he talked to no one but himself. He smirked at me, shaking his head. "Well, I guess I should get along with it, shouldn't I?"

With that, he crouched down and was ready to stab into my throat.

Not a second later, my ears began to ring from a sudden gunshot. His body went limp and fell onto me, his mouth hanging open and blood pouring from the side of his head. With my ears now ringing, I could feel my consciousness continue to fade, yet this time I was unable to keep myself awake.

My body felt as if I was falling through an infinite sky.

Starlight Glimmer's POV

Days have passed since Twilight went missing, and I don't know what to think of it.

Princess Celestia and Luna have had their best ponies searching for any clues. The girls have tried to intervene and help, but were told to simply return back to their normal lives, acting as if nothing was wrong. Spike has been going crazy the past few days, stressing so much that he's even had to sleep in my room.

I looked all over the castle, looking for anything that could help me. I didn't find anything relating to her disappearance.

I've been in charge of running the school for the past five or so days, and its stressful. The kids are constantly asking where she went, and coming up with their own theories as to why she disappeared suddenly. Celestia and Luna tried to keep things a secret, but it turns out most of Equestria knew only a day after it happened. Somepony in a high position must've accidentally let it out.

This was of course, bad news. If a villain decided to strike, now would be the optimal time. With Twilight gone, we aren't nearly as strong as we usually are. She and the girls are considered great deterrents, though with her now gone, this might give evil a chance to stirke.

I made my way to Twilight's bedroom, opening the door quietly. Over these few days of her going missing, I've been visiting her room. I don't know why. I guess I imagine myself to find her sitting on her bed one day, simply appearing after being gone for so long. As if nothing was wrong. It obviously wasn't going to happen that way, but it sure was something that I wished would happen.

I made my way over to Twilight's bed, stepping up onto it and sitting down. Her mattress, pillows, and blanket were something else. Perhaps she enchanted it with some spell to make it comfier. It was easily the best bed I have ever laid on, and I wished it was my own. Twilight sure spoiled herself with this.

I groaned, flopping my head onto one of the pillows. Without Twilight, nothing felt right. It felt as if she was the glue that held everything together. I mean, we were all doing fine without her so far. The girls were still able to teach, and do their own jobs. Celestia and Luna haven't changed one bit. Spike, other than having constant panic attacks, was doing fine, reading his little comic books and helping out.

Nothing really changed except her disappearance, so why did everything feel like it did?

I mean, of course, one of our best friends disappeared in an instant. Of course that was going to change things, especially our moods and all of that. But it felt different then that, it felt..

I can't put it into words. I didn't have the vocabulary to do so, and I didn't know if there was even a word to describe how I feel right now. I simply want my friend back. I miss her a lot, probably more than I thought I would've. I guess it's true that you never really know what you have until you lose it.

I went to get up off the bed before I felt something paper-like shift underneath the blanket. I could hear it crinkle, and I looked down at my hoof. I peeled the blanket off of the bed and found a small little paper sitting there, a little crumpled up with my sitting on top of it.

I grabbed it with my magic, examining it up close to read whatever it was.

It was.. spell markings? It was strange though, as the markings were things I've never seen before. A new spell of some sorts it seemed like. I could make out the small traces of teleportation magic, though it was mixed in with a few other things. I turned the little piece of paper over to the opposite side.

It read:

Long Distance Teleportation
Destination - Griffonstone
Goal - To revolutionize transportation
Twilight Sparkle

It certainly was written with her style. It would certainly explain the hints of teleportation markings in the spell, but what is the end? If it has to do with the destination being Griffonstone, perhaps its the location written in spell marking? This might be how she went missing! Maybe she's stuck in Griffonstone, all alone! I know how those griffons can get.

I thought to myself if I should contact Celestia or Luna, but I thought against it. I can send a letter to them later explaining what happened, but Twilight could be injured for all I know, ready to be caged up or something by those griffons. I needed to act immediately, and as soon as possible.

I deciphered the spell markings as fast as I could, and I was ready to cast the spell.

"Twilight, I'm coming!"

I felt like I slept for a thousand years.

I was able to slightly move my hands around the area I was in. I could feel a blanket on top of me, and it felt just like mine. Well, atleast I knew I was in my bed now. I tried to open my eyes, but they were closed shut. I could feel my face tense up with pain, and I realized what happened before I knocked out. My face must be pretty swollen.

I brought my hands up to my eyes and forced them to open. It turns out it wasn't my face being swollen that forced my eyes shut, but that stupid crust that forms on top of it. I peeled it away with my fingers painfully, and I was finally able to see. I could see that I was indeed in my bed, covered in my blanket. I brought my hands up to look at them.

That's when I noticed my left hand had my pinkie missing right at the knuckle. It was wrapped in some sort of bandage, so I couldn't see the nasty little details hiding underneath, but it certainly was gone. I was just thankful that I couldn't feel the pain of it anymore. I turned my head to my left, taking in the rest of the room.

It was normal. Nothing seemed to have changed, except for one thing.

There was a potted plant on top of my end table. It wasn't fully grown, so I really couldn't tell what it was. I was going to chuckle to myself, but I could feel the pain rising in my chest, so I didn't. I said a long while ago that I wanted something to decorate the room with, and I thought about a plant. And what do you know, now I have one.

I heard a sigh come from the storage room. A second later, Twilight walked through the doorway.

"The math says it shouldn't work, but it seems in theory it doe-" Twilight's eyes landed on me. Her eyes went wide and she immediately went to my side. "Rex!"

I smiled at her. "Hey.."

She looked as if she was going to cry, but she shook her head as if to stop herself from doing so. "Sweet Celestia, you've been asleep for awhile.."

I tilted my head at her. "..how long..?"

"Well.. After.. you know, all of that happened, you were hurting badly. You were unconscious and kept groaning in pain, so I put.. a healing spell on you. The down side of the spell is that whoever you cast on it will be put in a sort of.. stasis."

I wasn't liking what I was hearing, and apparently my face showed it.

"No no no- you weren't out for a long time! It's only been a week."

I still didn't like the answer, but it was better than what I was thinking previously.

"I'm just glad you're okay.. I.. I'm sorry for not acting sooner, I-"

"Twilight-" I said painfully, my voice scratchy. "-stop. I'm just glad you were able to do something before it was too late."

She nodded her head, still having guilty feelings obviously shown by her sad look. I tried to change the subject onto something else, to possibly lighten the mood up. I didn't want to be feeling sad or stressed at the moment, I was already dealing with bodily pains at the moment.

I lifted my hand up and poked the potted plant. "So.. what's this..?"

Her face lightened up. "Oh, that's a rose plant. I was thinking the room could use some decoration, and I thought that a plant would be the perfect thing to do that."

I chuckled to myself in my head. "Great minds think alike."

"Huh?"

I didn't respond to her, and instead smiled, staring forward at nothing. I felt my body ache still, and I felt extremely as well. Twilight seemed to notice this as my eyes went half-lidded. "It's normal to feel tired after the spell wears off, so you'll probably be asleep for another day."

I nodded to her and closed my eyes. "Thank you, Twilight.." I said quietly as I felt that familiar falling feeling.

"Goodnight." She said.

That was the last thing I heard before my mind drifted into the abyss.

Author's Note

I hope you guys enjoyed this one. It's a bit different than the others, that's for sure.

I suppose this chapter could be perceived as moving too fast, though I wanted to take it that way. Rimworlds events happen insanely quick, as does real life. Still, let me know on how I handled the pacing.

If you have any criticisms, or just want to show appreciation for the story, be sure to comment below! I reply to a lot of comments, but even if I don't, don't worry! I always read them, promise.

And for anyone who needs it,

Life hits you unexpectedly, and all that took you years to build can be taken down in mere seconds. But you keep rolling with the punches, because soon, you'll build something that nobody can touch, no matter how great of a flame they possess.