I'm So Scared (Raindrops II)

Somewhere out in the world there was a place with a gazillion stars and another filly had lived there and she had been beautiful and loved. Yet everytime she closed her eyes Raindrops was there and not the filly. Nopony loved her and she was ugly. Her parents looked at her with spite in their eyes and the ponies called her names and threw rocks at her. She stumbled away from them and wished them gone and gone they were.

Somewhere out in the wide world was a place as beautiful as a paradise. The most gorgeous place and it was burning in her dreams and they were all screaming as their eyes melted, just as their coats turned to ash and they tried to run but their legs turned to cinders.

Raindrops sat at the side of it all. The first time she'd been alone and she woke up kicking and screaming. She remembered that she called out the names of the other filly's parents. Not her own, never her own, Raindrops had no parents but the other filly did. She also remembered that the tears wouldn't stop and that the others were scared, too.

The second time she was alone again and the third time, too. The fourth time, she tried to avoid as long as possible but then she was sitting there again. She was bruised from the rocks and broken from the insults but what hurt the most was seeing all these ponies hurting. None of them were ever dying, instead they were going through constant pain. That was what scared Raindrops the most, because she had wished for it.

"They hurt me," she said.

You are getting closer.

"They abandonend me," she said.

You are moving deeper.

"I never wanted to leave," she said.

You can do this.

Then she tried to look to who was talking to her but she woke and the dream died and not even the memory of the strange voice lingered.

There was no way they could tell what time it was, but by now, Twilight was looking the best of them. Lyra was shaking all over, her aquamarine coat was dirty and her hair a mess, while a black spot had formed on her leg. Octavia had stumbled so often over her own legs that they were bruised but she led on, alongside Lyra. Much like Derpy and Twilight they were keeping each other up. Yet it was who Derpy looked worst of them all. She was always trotting about with a smile and she just wouldn't wake from the nightmares, she was always fighting through, no matter how much she cried and yelled in her dreams. One time she nearly drowned in the river, only to get up and continue walking like nothing had happened. Truly, she was the most stubborn pony Raindrops knew, but she understood that Derpy kept her going. The grey pegasus was the closest thing she had to a sister and right now was the moment where she had to pretend to be strong, to be able to go on no matter what. The only reason she could still walk straight, though, were her wings. She kept them unfolded at all times, giving her extra balance. It made things only marginally easier.

What was even worse: Trixie hadn't reappeared at all and much like Canterlot, everypony had left her behind already. If they'd reach the Lunarium they could save her. Nopony knew how, though. They didn't even really know what the Lunarium was and what the information they had gotten from a voice in Twilight's and Octavia's head they had now both dismissed. Raindrops wasn't sure whether this situation could get any worse.

On the fifth night she dreamt a stranger's dream.

She sat on a terrace of white wood. Before her stood a table with lemonade on it and around her were cupcake trees and birds looking like oranges flying through the air. She took the glass of lemonade and drank it. The glass was tasty, the lemonade she then put on the table again.

"Do you like it?" her new friend asked.

"Yeah," she answered.

She couldn't quite make him out, even though he was sitting right on the other side of the small round table. She knew however that he was smiling.

"You know, I wondered. Did you know that you will die?"

She didn't answer this time.

"Because you will and then this world is going down," he said with a snicker. "However! You can help me, help you. All that's needed is for you to stand in front of me and do something that doesn't make any sense, something that isn't planned, something that nopony could comprehend."

She looked at the lemonade that stood on the table in front of her, "Why?"

"Why indeed? Tell me, little filly. What are you right now?"

There was a pause there, for she didn't know what to answer. She cast her eyes down. No, maybe she already knew the answer but was still pretending to be like her sister. That's how children did, they pretended to possess somepony else's strength.

"I'm scared," she answered, tears starting to fall down from her eyes. "I'm so scared..."

"Well, that's as good a reason as any. It's a little something we all need in our lives. The very thing that keeps us going, that keeps us excited and amazed at the universe. What good does magic and peace do to you when you are in a situation like this. What you need now is the one thing everypony yearns for deep inside. What do you need a plan for and order and dreams, when what you need is simply the void and the darkness around you. Let it make you strong. I can help you, because I am. . ."

He smirked then, but never said the last word.

She woke up by the riverside and Octavia stood above her, bags beneath her reddened eyes. "Come on," she said, only to be interrupted by her grumbling stomach. How long had they been down here, without food, with only the water to drink? She didn't know anymore.

Raindrops stood up, but she was close to her own end now. She knew that soon she would collapse and then she'd go to the Night Terrors again. That's what the dreams were. The Night Terrors of old had come back and they were feasting on fear of the darkness. She didn't say anything. Instead they all moved on and everypony kept their silence. With grim determination they walked by the riverside through the crystal caves.

During the sixth night she them dreamt of the burning plains again and was crying beside them. She knew what was happening. She saw Stone Heart, the old, grim lady who never talked. She saw Forest Mist, who had told her that he'd teach her some games in the future. Even Slimy Git - or Passion - depending on whoever you asked. Amidst them, the father of another filly burned, a filly he had once loved and then abandoned. They all burned and little Raindrops was despising herself for it.

A harp played in the background, a lonely melody she could hardly make out at first, but then it became clearer. A song pierced the darkness around her and the flames before her became smaller as a beautiful, wonderful, yet sad and lonely voice started to sing a melody she was well familiar with and yet had never heard before.

Take my heart away

Take it far from me

Lead me astray

So together we'll be

And sing our song again

As the truth awaits at the end

And we will let the earth rend

Our hopes will all come true

And I would never of ask you:

Do you still dream of magic?

No wait, that's wrong

Raindrops opened her eyes, Lyra sat amongst the group and was trying out another lullaby, seemingly calming everypony around her down.

"What're you doing?" Raindrops asked and Lyra turned towards her, smiling at her stupidly before she started to sing 'Cider in the keg' in a hushed voice. The little unicorn couldn't help but smile and closed her eyes again.

This time she slept peaceful, even though she felt herself starving and soon she would need something to eat. But on the morrow the river continued on and they went farther into the mountain and this time, they didn't stop for a break even though Raindrops started to complain, because everypony was walking with their last bit of strength. Hunger was leading them now. Hunger and the hope of finding something that even just looked edible.

"You need to think positive," Lyra started, "Think about. . . uhm, being robots. Yes, robots don't need food."

"What's a robot?" Derpy asked.

"It's a thing that doesn't need food."

"Not even muffins?" There was scepsis in Derpy's voice.

"Yeah."

Derpy laughed, "That's stupid, how can anypony live without muffins?"

Lyra tried to explain but by then Derpy had fallen snout first into the sand. "Hey?" The green unicorn moved towards her friend, "Derpy? DERPY!" Twilight stood on wobbly hooves beside them both. She looked at the darkness before them.

"Wait," she said. "Do you hear that?"

Before them water was rushing. "A waterfall?"

Lyra turned around. "Maybe there's something edible there!" She tried to help Derpy up and Octavia was quick to help her. Raindrops took it upon herself to aid Twilight. Then, there wasn't any more talking and they just continued their long walk.

Patches of blue flowers at the sides of the cave and two waterfalls with a statue whose features had long since been washed off by the water between them, and a lake in its middle. Raindrops didn't care, Twilight didn't seem to care, nopony cared about all that and they immediately hurried towards the flowers. Even Derpy, just woken by the smell of them, and then they started to feast like they had never eaten before, munching down the blossoms and the stalks. For Raindrops, every bite felt heavenly and she lost the empty feeling in her stomach more and more. The taste of these flowers was the best thing about it all, for they reminded her of that place where muffins had often been on the table and a sweet scent had lingered in the kitchen.

Soon after they all sat amidst more flowers than they could ever eat and they lay in a circle and suddenly Lyra started to hum another song. First her own lonely voice sounded through the dark and then Octavia started up too, in her high-pitched way. Soon enough Derpy was clapping her hooves together and Raindrops did the same. The last to add her voice was Twilight, whistling the leitmotif of the little seapony and all together they created the most beautiful version of The Seapalace.