Six Story Freefall

Chapter 2: 55ft

Well this is how my life ends, I suppose. Not a soul awake within 10 miles and definitely not one that would care. Much to my surprise I regained my vision as soon as I had fallen back, not that it would do much for me anyway. As I plummeted backwards time seemed to slow down almost to a standstill, all my limbs splayed out in a vain attempt to stop the fall, thermos of lukewarm tea still clutched in my hands. Time froze, I mean like literally froze; the cold I’m talking about isn’t the “Oh, I can see me breath” kind of cold,  picture the pure absence of all heat, like stranded out in the deepest reaches of space surrounded by absolute zero. IF you can picture that you would have pictured 1/1000th of the cold I’m currently experiencing. I could see the frosts starting to collect on the back of my neck – wait, what? I was floating next to myself, watching myself in mid- free fall, yet unmoving, stuck in time I suppose. It was very surreal I assure you.

Then I was suddenly ripped from my position. Ever try that one carnival attraction where they tie an elastic to your back, and you have to run as far as you can before the tension of the elastic snaps you off your feet and you go flying backwards? This was exactly that, but I had run at the speed of light and it snapped back so hard that I rocketed out of the atmosphere at warp speeds. I watched worlds, even entire galaxies whiz past my vision and disappear into the non-existent point of collapse.  After what felt like eons I began to heat up, I immediately missed the biting cold as it was replaced by a searing hot pain that engulfed the entirety of my body. I curled up into a ball in a feeble attempt to stop the pain, I felt like I was traveling through a heat that only the nuclear heart of the sun could produce. I began to black out, the sweet release of unconsciousness blocking out the outside world.

Then, and only then, did I let go of my thermos.

It was utter chaos in the library; Spike was lamenting his blanket and bed as they were obliterated on impact. His wails of grief could be heard across Ponyville. Twilight was in a panic, unsure of what to focus on first: the books on fire, the meteor, her wet mane, the books about to be on fire, or run in circles screaming. She chose the latter of the bunch. Rainbow Dash had stopped laughing at Twilight’s predicament and had realized the full implications of her smashing into Twilight’s house. She stood more akin to a statue then living pony.

Owlowiscious kept a calm head and was currently trying to vent the smoke away with his wings, beating them as fast as he could. Finally Peewee chirped happily in the corner, blissfully unaware of why fire would be bad inside a pony’s home.

Twilight snapped out of her stupor, this was no time to be running in circles panicking, there would be time for that later. There were books in danger and as the town’s librarian she was the designated literature guardian, and it would be a crime to let them burn.  Twilight closed her eyes concentrating on her spell, she charged her horn using it as a catalyst between her and a nearby ley-line of power. Energy coursed through her veins, fueling and giving strength to her spell. Then she released the spell, her eyes snapped open aglow with magical energy illuminating the entire library in a flash of violet in a loud crack! The pulse of light raced across the room expanding in all directions, it immediately snuffed all the flames from existence and forcibly expelled all the smoke from the windows.

Exhausted and breathing heavily, she lost her balance and fell to her knees. The crater was still pouring smoke but the flames had been extinguished and the books were safe. Immediately Rainbow was at her side, acting as her crutch.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash said frantically.

“I’m fine, just some magical exhaustion,” Twilight said as she pushed herself off Rainbow Dash and once again onto her hooves.

“Wow, I knew magic was your talent, but that was awesome!” cheered Rainbow Dash, her concern for her friend alleviated.

Lyra trotted happily across town, her grocery basket and list in mouth. She slowed down as she passed the library, from the outside it looked as if a dragon had taken a bite of the roof, black smoke spewing forth from the gaping hole. Sounds of a roaring fire and screams of grief emanated within, somepony could be in danger! Lyra raced over to one of the windows to get a better look. Then a crack of thunder, followed by a flash of purple exploded from the library. Lyra in turn received a face full of exhaust and ash. She did a one-eighty and walked off sporting a brand new coat color. As she trotted off she thought “That’s why I ship my book to my house”.

My, my was it smoky, I sat up slowly trying to recall what happened. I was on the roof, and then a beam of light hit me and … right, so this is the afterlife. Heaven was more smoggy and hot then I thought it woul- aahhh man I went to the other one, didn’t I. I stood up and arched my back and let out a long yawn, I involuntarily puffed out my chest in the process. Flying through space-time really cramps your muscles. I stood to my full height, or at least I tried to before a wooden beam decided I was too tall. I quickly looked around, might as well accustom myself to the sights of hell. I was surrounded by demons, well, two pastel colored equine creatures, a lizard, and an owl (why the owl?). Well, I best get to it, I approached the purple pony-ish demon, tripping on some bad footing on the way. I had to throw my arms out to steady myself. And this smoke is really stinging my eyes, I can hardly see.

After Twilight's spell, the tension in the room had faded with the fire, left only with a crater in the middle of the library. Spike had recovered from his mourning period and was checking on Peewee, Owlowiscious had had quite enough excitement this morning and retired to his bird stand for a breather. Rainbow and Twilight were casually chatting over a small remaining pile of books.

“Hey Twilight, you know I forgot to mention this in the heat of the moment, but you still have the cu- uuuh Twi, I think we got a problem here,” Rainbow dash said, pointing.

Twilight immediately whipped her head in the direction Rainbow indicated and saw a beast arise from the smoke. Its skin in scorched tatters and covered in soot, the beast let out a horrifying roar and puffed its chest out in an act of dominance. It then proceeded to head butt a nearby fallen beam, clearly more evidence of its savagery. It slowly lumbered towards Twilight, stumbling on its way, throwing its arms out and flailing them in fury. Twilight was in shock, petrified in terror.

Rainbow Dash, seeing the situation unfold dove between the creature and Twilight. “If you want her you gotta go through me first!” Rainbow shouted defiantly.

The creature came to a stop in front of Rainbow Dash, and in response made a series of weird noises while continually flailing its limbs.  She readied herself for combat, steeling her soul for what was to transpire next.

“I SAID DO. YOU. HAVE. A WASHROOM?” I exaggerated, and only got more whinnies and neighs in response.

The blue, chromatic haired pony demon had jumped in front of the purple one for reasons beyond me and started neighing, blocking my view of the purple one. Regardless, nature was calling and there was no sense in having a full bladder while in Hell. My vision having cleared up, I spotted some linoleum; and where there is linoleum, there is a washroom.

“Never mind, I found it, thanks.” I waved behind me as I rushed to the bathroom. On a different note on the way to the bathroom I learned that my head making contact with low hanging washroom doorways are followed by the sound THWACK!

“Uuugh that’s gonna leave a mark tomorrow.” I made a mental note to try and find some ice later…. in Hell. I sighed to myself.

The beast lumbered off into the depths of the bathroom, disappearing through the door after having head butted the doorway, an entrance ritual perhaps? Twilight's brain’s cogs were busy churning through the amount of data being forcefully shoved into the brain. If there was any spare paper in the library she would have been taking notes.

“Twilight, what is going on? And did that thing just use your bathroom?” Rainbow Dash said hysterically.

Twilight stood frozen in place. Rainbow could see the gears turning in her head. A pregnant pause silenced the room; it was broken only by the sound of Twilight's toilet flushing. Coincidentally it also snapped Twilight out of her daze.

“Nobody move!” Twilight shouted.

“Uh- no one was moving,” Spike commented.

“We don’t want to startle it,” Twilight said, completely ignoring Spike.

“Us startle IT? That thing would startle a hydra!” Rainbow Dash half whispered, half shouted.

“Did you see the way it head butted that door-frame?”

Any retort was cut short by the re-emergence of the beast.

Okay, this isn’t Hell; no demon has a bathroom with butterfly shaped soap. And now that it’s not so smokey this was actually a very quaint home. So if I wasn’t in Hell, where in the world was I? I exited the bathroom, making sure to duck the low door-frame this time.  So once again I see the non-demonic ponies, a lizard, and the owl (seriously what’s up with the owl?). Then I noticed something that didn’t belong, it clearly didn’t go there and didn’t even fit; no, this wouldn’t do. I quickly walked up to the purple one.

The beast sped over to Twilight, still making sounds from its mouth. Rainbow Dash moved to intercept but Twilight waved her down. Rainbow opened her mouth to warn Twilight about something, but Twilight shushed her before she could say it.

“I don’t think it’s hostile Rainbow,” Twilight said out of the corner of her mouth. Rainbow Dash stopped but remained in sprint position. The atmosphere was palpable.

I stretched out my hand towards the middle of the purple pony’s head

The beast extended a limb towards Twilight's head

I grabbed hold of the object sticking out and gave it a yank for good measure

Twilight screamed. “Ahh! It’s pulling my hor-“ She stopped as she noticed the creature had only taken back the strange cup on her horn.

“Oh I forgot about that, hehe...” Twilight smiled sheepishly.

The sound of Rainbow’s hoof hitting her forehead echoed around the room.

“I tried to warn you,” Rainbow Dash said. Rainbow then motioned over at the beast who was currently hugging the cup and spinning wildly “Now that we know that that this isn’t as dangerous as it seems, what do we do with it?”

“Don’t make any assumptions, yet,” Twilight said nervously, “We don’t really know anything about it yet, except for it likes that cup and washrooms. We need to study it more. The extra-terrestrial seems intelligent; maybe it has a language we could translate. We need to subdue it first”.

“Uhhh, one more time for the ponies without eggs for heads?” Rainbow dash asked.

“We need to watch it more,” Twilight said flatly “Preferably in a cage.”

“How do you suggest we do that?”

YESSSSS!  Thermos! My precious is back; what a nice pony thing, getting my thermos for me. Now I was absolutely, one hundred percent sure that this is not Hell because an object of pure happiness and joy like my thermos would not exist there. I rolled it around in my hands inspecting it for damage, the front seemed normal , handle in fine condition, bottom was alright, the back was IS THAT A SCORCH MARK?! No! Not on my precious,  I need to wash this off quick! Yes, the faucet in the bathroom. I sprinted over to the sink. This time however I did not duck the low door frame, and low and behold another blackout. And yes it did make a thwack sound. I'm getting sorta tired of being unconscious all the time.

“Well that was convenient.” This time Rainbow Dash didn’t suppress her laughter.

Authors note: Thank you all for viewing and a special thank you to those who commented, it really gives a person the warm fuzzies when they read stuff like that. Anyways, i've been a long time reader of fanfiction, and reading great fics like "Past Sins" and "though the eyes of another pony" really inspired me to make my own.

This chapter i thought i would indicate change of view through dashes rather then color coding as i think the colors are more distracting then helpful. As always i welcome any feedback, and if you like the story gimme a thumbs up (shameless self promotion). Also I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes, I don't have a proof reader so i do the editing all on my lonesome. Sometimes one pair of eyes will spot something that i another won't.