Distant Flutter of Angels

Chapters

The Beginning of the End
The Fall
Lost
New Awakenings
One Step Forwards, Two Steps Back
Interlude: The Quest for Soap
Resistance
Smothered Memories

The Beginning of the End

Well here's my day so far: lost my home, my job, my friends, and everything I've ever known.

Still, I suppose my life could be worse.

Oh wait, forgot that I'm currently falling to my death. Guess it really couldn't.

Wind whistled through my ears, and I could feel it thrashing my mane back and forth. The chill of the altitude froze me to the core. My stomach churned at the rapid changes in direction.

All this in the moments before I could even open my eyes.

Once they finally snapped open, the sight that greeted them was not a welcome one. My first view was of the sunset sky, empty and nearly free of clouds. Then, as I found myself spinning, there was a momentary view of the horizon. What I saw stunned me: I was at an incredible height, way above a deep forest, with nothing but wilderness as far as the eye could see. Even the distant mountains looked untouched by pony hooves. But before I could take anything else in, I found myself staring upwards at the sky again as my body kept on whirling out of control.

I tumbled headlong through the air, cartwheeling madly across the sky. My limbs flailed wildly in sheer panic as I tried to do something... anything to stabilize myself. All thoughts of where I was, and how I got here slipped from my mind as the world twirled crazily around me. Losing all sense of direction, my head began to spin and I closed my eyes again to try and not be sick.

Despite my loss at what to do, my random flailing somehow managed to slow my spin. As it did, the nausea passed and I began to feel better. It was only then that I realized that despite the fact that my heart was beating a million times a second, and the sheer terror facing me, my thoughts were actually eerily calm. In truth, it was rather disturbing how I could be looking death in the face, and that while I was panicking on the outside, I was cool and collected on the inside.

Still plummeting head over tail, I strangely found my mind drifting, obsessing about how different it was to fall in real life compared to how it had been in my dreams. Growing up in the clouds, in the way that I had, having nightmares about plummeting to my doom had happened all the time. Despite this, I had never really fallen in any major way before. I had been lucky.

This time, I knew it was different. This was no dream, as much as I may want it to be. Not only because I could see the ground coming up to meet me, as I spun to face it, but also since I was able to feel the air rushing past me, feel my mane whip and crack at the force. A dull roar filled my ears, the wind’s frigid blasts chilling my flesh to the bone. All in all, this was far more terrifying than anything my mind had ever been able to come up with before. Since I had never really fallen from any height before, my dreams had always been eerily silent and devoid of feeling.

Not so now.

A high pitched noise mixed with the roar of the wind, finally allowing me to focus again. At first, I couldn’t figure out what it was. I was all alone out here, miles-high above the Everfree forest. It had to be the Everfree, of course, for where else in Equestria would there be absolutely no sign of pony life but in one of the only places where ponies fear to tread? Also, with my luck, where else would I end up? No, there would be nopony around for miles and miles.

That’s when it hit me: I had to be the source of the sound. It wasn't screaming, even though logically, I knew I should be crying out for help or something by now. I knew that would be the sane thing to do.

But sanity had no place here: the stress of today's events had pushed me past the breaking point.

Though my thoughts seemed clear and focused; mentally, I had snapped. On the outside, I looked like a raving lunatic, with my eyes bugged out and a crazed look on my face. The noise I was hearing was myself cheering loudly at the top of my lungs, as I fell towards the trees below. Any statements my cracked mind may have been trying to make were garbled, just complete and utter nonsense. All that came out was random whoops and hollers, and even that was nearly silenced by the roar of the wind.

My train of thought paused at this point and I became concerned. Why couldn't I control my reactions? Internally, I felt so calm... collected. But I could hear myself yelling, feel my mouth stretching, contorted into a wild, crazy grin. My limbs still flailed, uncontrolled. My unblinking eyes, dry and sore from both being open so wide, and the beating of the wind pushing against them. Anypony looking at my face would think I had gone insane.

Perhaps I had. It's amazing what your mind will do when everything falls apart in front of you.

My thoughts resumed, moving on from the fact that I could not control myself in the face of certain doom. No sense dwelling, I suppose. I started searching for a way out, for anything that could save me at this point. I knew I was alone out here, as anypony who was out in the middle of this forsaken place would have to be as insane as I appeared to be.

No, help would not come.

Nonetheless, I took stock of my surroundings. There were no clouds nearby to land on, or to even slow my fall. Below me, peeking through the forest canopy, I was able to make out some water, a river, or stream perhaps, and what looked like a bog. However, even from this great height, I could tell that both were very shallow, as they were filled with boulders and trees. Not only that, I was falling between them, with no way to change my course. In the distance, miles away, there appeared to be some larger body of water, but without any way to get there, it made no difference.

There wasn't a single survivable landing location below me. All I could see coming up to meet me was thick forest, that I just knew was filled with sharp, pointy branches. The dry autumn leaves caused the foliage to look terrifying, almost as if I was falling towards a surface covered in jagged, rusty nails. I shuddered as I had an involuntary mental image of myself hitting those trees. It was not a pretty picture.

I shook off this dark thought. Surprisingly, my head actually responded! Seems as if the length of the fall had a small upside: I was back in control! Maybe now I could take advantage of my overly clear mindset.

My head moving freely now, I looked around again. I gazed further afield, but there was still nothing within sight. Why did I even bother? Anything useful would have to be nearby anyway. Sighing in the thin air, I kept thinking: Since there was nopony to save me, was there anything that I could do to save myself? I strained myself and tried to move my body, but it all just seemed so difficult. I found that not only was I alone, but also that I was completely drained of energy. I could move, but only just, every limb feeling as if they were made of lead.

My eyes sank and became unfocused. My train of thought derailed, crashed, burned. Not only was I out of energy, but at this point I realized that I just didn't care anymore. I had no will to fight. Nothing to live for. No reason to exist.

As they cinched shut, my battered eyes finally began to tear up and I started hallucinating. Perhaps hallucinating was the wrong term, but with the state of my mind at this point, who can really say? Perhaps a better description is that I started seeing my life unravel behind me, and at the same time, feel the future fade before me.

Out of the darkness that enveloped my mind came pictures: jumbled images that at first were hard to place. Then, like a dam breaking, the memories came flooding back.

The first one that I recognized involved my mother and father. As happens surprisingly often, their names related to what they were good at. My father, Lightning Flash, was a genius at making the most spectacular storm clouds, and my mother would take the fluffy white puffballs and make amazingly beautiful sunsets. Her name was Violet Sunset, of course. Both were older pegasi, and their talents lent themselves to their positions in the cloud room at the nearby weather factory.

In the scene, we were outside our little cloud house, sitting on a cloud bench, near the outskirts of Cloudsdale. When you live in the sky, it’s not surprising that everything is made of clouds. They were holding me close, their forelegs wrapped around me. Back then, I was still a young colt. I had just gotten my cutie mark, a white puffy cloud with an ornate sun peeking through below. The light beams coming off it were shaped like lightning bolts, each formed with perfectly straight lines. My parents were so proud of me: they knew that since my special talent was related to clouds, that it meant I would probably come work with them at the weather factory someday.

I was overjoyed: My parents had always worked there. It was almost all they talked about. And, for as long as I could remember, I had wanted to work there too. I loved the place; the grown up ponies there had always made it feel like a second home when I came to visit. Every day I would sit in our window that faced the factory, waving goodbye to my parents as they left for work.

Little did I know that this would be the last day I would ever see them.

I wallowed in my memories, thoughts going beyond the now fading image. They had left our home in Cloudsdale shortly after that scene, bound for the factory. They were never late for work: this would be the first and only time. Getting my cutie mark had been a big event in our lives, and they had delayed their departure to spend some time with me. Together we had planned a big party for the very next day. My mom kept calling it a cuteceanera, even though I begged her to just call it a party. I remember telling her that cuteceaneras were for fillies, at which she just laughed. Once they had nailed down everything I wanted at the party, they headed out... they loved their work almost as much as they loved each other, and loved me.

They really did love me, I think. They told me that every single day. I just never believed that this would be the last time I'd ever hear it.

The scene changed to another still frame in my mind, from later that same day. In it was the foreman, a big grey pegasus who had taken me on countless tours of the factory over the years. He was knocking at my front door. When I answered, he looked down at me sadly. With a voice filled with sorrow, he reported to me that there had been an accident at the factory. Some kind of explosion that created a giant, uncontrollable storm. His voice caught in his throat as he broke the news: My parents had been lost to the storm. They had not been able to find any trace of them after the disaster had been cleared. They were just gone. Completely. Never to be seen again.

My mind darkened further and I choked back a sob. That had been the first time in my life I had ever cried. And instead of the comforting embrace of my parents, all I had was the foreman, who awkwardly put his foreleg around me and held me as I bawled like a foal.

Thankfully, the image swirled and changed, moving on. I saw myself on a stage, standing next to the president of the weather factory. I had been so small back then; he just towered over me, as did everypony. He had given a speech to the public, offering his condolences to everypony affected by the tragedy, though none were as affected as I. Sure, there was several other injured ponies, but only my parents had had the misfortune to have been right at ground zero. To have been wiped off the face of the planet.

Flatly, he announced to a cheering crowd that as a company, they would give me a place to live, and provide a caretaker for me until I was old enough to live on my own. Behind the scenes, they also offered me a well paid job as an accountant. Since I was good with numbers, they had an excuse to employ me, and still take the credit for their generous act.

Back then, I was alone for the first time in my life. But I was a smart kid, It hadn’t taken me long to realize that I had no relatives, not a single pony who cared for me. It came down to this, or an orphanage. The offer was a real public relations win for the company, which they sorely needed after the unexplained disaster. Also, I was going to be old enough to take care of myself pretty soon, I thought, and even though I knew that he was doing this for publicity, and not for my sake, I decided that this was much more than any orphanage could ever provide.

So I took his offer, determined to make a life for myself at the factory my parents had dedicated their lives to.

Many more snapshots flashed through my vision, years of my life spent toiling in that office, and nights spent sleeping in the back bedroom. There were meals cooked in the kitchenette, showers in the washroom, the late nights studying yet another book on advanced mathematics and accounting. I could never explain why, but I had always loved math. I read everything I could on the topic, and unlike other things, like History class, everything I read just stuck with me. It wasn’t long before I was reading math texts for ponies far older than me.

Then there were the times I set aside for myself, reading a new novel, or making some art: The scenes all seemed to blur together. All they had in common was that the place was always kinda messy, with dishes in the sink and work files on every open surface. I lived alone, so I never felt the need to clean. I had nopony to impress. Despite this, I still tried my hardest for the company that had taken me in.

My mind continued to trace my past, even without an image to go with it. My childhood had basically ended once my parents were taken from me. The other children had grown more awkward around me since the loss, and of course my boring job, which was all I did in my spare time, didn't gain me any friends either. It actually worsened to the point where it felt as if they were shunning me outright. To top it off, this one group of jocks who were about my age, Dumb-bell, Hoops, and Quarterback, would laugh and jeer as they flew around me. They made fun of anything they thought was a fault, pestering me and isolating me from the others until each time I finally fled from them.

I would always run back to my home, my safe place. I retreated more and more to my sanctuary, leaving behind my old life, my old memories. Eventually, I just stopped trying. It wasn't as if anypony was making the efforts I was. I didn't have one pony at that school I could even call an acquaintance, much less a friend. Anypony that even tried was driven off by the bullies; nopony wanted to be near their target.

So I just stopped going. I had a job. I had money. I didn't need anypony. All I had now was my work, and I poured myself into it. I always tried my hardest and did the best I could. I learnt everything there was to know about mathematics, and the finances and inner workings of the company. It was a lonely life, but I made the best of things, and learned to love my work.

Another familiar scene warped into view. It was a few years later, with me sitting at the same desk, in the same office, in the same part of the factory. Nothing much had changed, but I had grown, and my skills had as well. I had drastically improved the filing systems and the efficiency of the company. They had never had a full time accountant before, at least, not one like me anyway. Profits had improved as a result, resulting in a major increase in the amount of bits the company was earning. My performance had not gone unnoticed: I saw myself smiling as the same foreman from all those years earlier knocked on my door, this time giving me good news: a letter showing how my monthly wage had increased again.

As the slide-show continued in my mind, more years continued to pass. Despite my inclination towards solitude, a few of the more recent scenes showed a gradual change, occasionally I was with other ponies. Eventually, through trial and error, I had managed to make a few friends. They were all older than me, other stallions who worked at the factory in departments near mine, but they were friends. We went out to expensive shows and restaurants, drinking, eating and having fun. It was all on my tab, of course.

Now, this may seem silly, as I was an accountant after all, but I had my reasons. Since I had no expenses, to me, my income was disposable. If it made me happy, I did it. I craved the feeling, I hungered for attention, I did anything to get it. And so with my wage I paid for the drinks and entertainment, laughing along and enjoying my time with them. Things had changed; I no longer felt quite so alone. I was finally happy again.

For a moment, I half-broke free from my hallucinations, suddenly able to feel the wind rushing over me again. Wincing involuntarily, I gave my head a violent shake; I really didn't want to remember the rest! Struggling, I tried to open my eyes, but I was just so tired.

So very tired.

With my eyelids as heavy as lead, I sagged, defeated. Perhaps sensing my surrender, something changed in my mind. No longer was it content with just still-frames of my life; I found myself slipping deeper into my memories. My mind transitioned to the more recent events that had destroyed my life as I felt myself sucked back into the darkness.

At this point, things became sort of surreal. Instead of images from my past bringing back memories of years gone by, it was like I was watching the events unfold through my own eyes. But instead of just remembering it, I found myself feeling detached, separated. My view was clouded, greyed out, almost flickering, like a old black and white movie. And like the shows I had seen as a foal, it was soundless, almost deafening in its silence. It was as if these events had happened to somepony else, and I was just viewing them.

Nonetheless, the sights I saw were familiar. The pony I inhabited was looking over my well-worn desk, strewn with papers. Idly chewing on the pencil he held in his mouth, he was studying a spreadsheet which lay open in a yellowed folder. It was an eerie feeling, like I was a ghost looking out the eyes of a stranger, as I watched him fill in the missing numbers and sign MY name at the bottom. Curious, despite myself, I began studying the scene. My eyes happened upon the date on the paper and a chill ran down my spine. It was from this very morning!

Knowing what was to come, I began to panic, trying to take some control over my host. I wanted to flee, to escape what I knew was coming; but soon realized it was useless as he just kept scribbling away, my desperate attempts unable to change the past. I was a prisoner in my own mind, reliving the memories, just along for the ride.

Helpless to do anything, I watched myself idly open another folder and slide out a new document. My mouth went dry, for I knew I would never get the chance to read this one. I was about to be interrupted by the first in a series of events which would lead to where I was now: falling helplessly from the skies, forced to relive the torture of my final day.

My host suddenly looked up, towards the door, as if interrupted by something. Though I could not hear it, I knew what it was.

The knock on the door that signified the beginning of the end of my life.

The pencil dropped from his lips, and though I heard nothing as it clattered across the table, it was as if every bounce was a strike on a giant drum, booming in my head. With each impact, I shrank back, trying to distance myself from the scene. Nevertheless, I found I was unable to close my eyes, or even look away as my host walked over to the door and opened it.

The rest of the scene played out as I remembered it. My supervisor entered the room, and we sat at my desk. I found myself mouthing the words, the conversation still fresh in my mind. I almost choked on my tongue as I spoke the phrase I knew he was saying.

“I’m sorry Indigo, but you’re being let go.”

The rest of the memories washed over me. Surprised and in shock, I had began to stutter, but still managed to ask him why. Looking up at me sadly, he had told me that my job was being given to somepony new, a pegasus prodigy, who had demonstrated more ways to improve the company's accounting. Simply put, he was better than me. Also, he was somepony the company would not have to pay room and board for. I guess after all these years the public awareness of the incident had faded, and the company no longer felt it needed to be so generous. Almost before I knew it, I found myself on the street, without a home, and thanks to my spending habits, almost bitless.

My memories raced ahead, and the scenes sped up along with them. What happened next was pitiful, especially in hindsight. With my head almost dragging on my hooves, I went from door to door, asking each of my friends in turn if I could stay with them. I don’t think I will ever understand why, but as soon as they heard my story and that I was unemployed, and more importantly broke, each and every last one of them had some excuse for why they couldn't let me stay with them. Not one of the ponies whom I had called my friends offered me a single night to rest my head.

As the last door was quietly, almost reluctantly closed in my face, an overwhelming feeling of abandonment came over me and I was unable to hold back the tears welling up in my eyes anymore. I was torn between wanting to buck their doors down and demand they be the friends I had always believed them to be, or just curling up in a ball and fading away.

Unable to stand these feelings, I ran from them. Recklessly, I galloped blindly through the streets, between buildings, not caring, not seeing: a dangerous thing to do in a city in the clouds. I didn’t care. I just couldn’t face my friends or these emotions anymore.

Looking back, I’m tempted to say that running clear off the clouds might have actually been better for me. Instead, I ended up accidentally running headlong into somepony, knocking myself silly. I landed roughly onto my side, knocking the wind out of me for a moment. Gasping for breath, winded, I tried to blink my eyes clear. I opened my mouth to apologize, but before I could say anything, my voice left me as the pony I had hit began to speak, a familiar sound I had been glad to have avoided for many years.

I involuntarily cringed, both in the memory and in my prison behind the eyes of my host, as the tears cleared and we both looked up into the faces of the ponies who had persecuted me mercilessly throughout school, all those years ago.

That’s when everything changed again. Sound returned like a slap to the face, and with it’s return came the colors, the muted greys and blacks replaced by the full spectrum of light. The whisper of the wind, the bustle of the nearby marketplace filled my ears, but all I saw was the browns, oranges, and greys of the bullies who stood over me.

"Well if it isn't little Indigo SPLASH, running around town making puddles. Though I gotta say that making them with tears is new." This was followed by a short, brash chorus of laughter.

My host wiped his eyes and looked up at the unmistakable grinning faces of the group of pegasi jocks, far older now than the last time I had seen them. And then I heard my voice speak. "Dangit, Hoops. I don't need your horseapples right now. You know very well that my name is Indigo Flash and you also know that I haven't made puddles around town since I was a little foal. Grow up and go bother somepony else."

Nearby, Dumb-bell snorted. "Little touchy today, are we? All sad because you lost your cushy job? Or is it that you finally realized that nopony cares about you?"

Gossip spreads fast in a city full of ponies with wings, I guess. I felt myself glaring at him, defiant, despite all the evidence to the contrary. "You don't know what you're talking about. My friends will come around. They all have perfectly good reasons to not be able to board another pony right now."

Whatever bravado I’d had was crushed as he broke out laughing, with his companions following suit. "Friends? What friends? You mean those ponies you spent all that time around, paying for their fun? You actually thought they liked you?"

He sneered and leaned down towards me, still laying on the clouds where I had fallen. "Think about it. Did any of them ever ask to spend time with you of their own free will, or did they just let you pay for their fun? Did any of them ever ask if you wanted to hang out? Did any of them ever even ask how your day was?" He snorted and raised his head, wings flaring, looking down at me with contempt. "I bet they didn't. Everypony knows that you were loose with your money, and now that you don't have that any more, nopony will want you around."

Hoops chose this time to chime in. "Yeah, heh, you've always been an outcast. You've never fit in here, and you never will. Maybe it's time you got the hint and go make your splash elsewhere, eh Puddles?"

I was sucked into the scene as I relived this terrible moment. My jaw dropped as my entire world fell away beneath me. I wanted to deny it, to try and stand up for myself, but I couldn't think of anything, find any example that would prove them wrong. Like being doused with a bucket of ice water, I suddenly came to the realization that everything that I thought I knew about my friends and my life was false, and not only that, but everypony already knew. Everypony except me.

My mind went completely black with overwhelming despair and anguish.

All I could hear was everypony laughing at me, their sneer and taunts echoing in my skull.

All I could feel was cold hooves running down my spine, causing me to shiver uncontrollably.

And all I could see was endless doors slamming shut in front of me, with the ponies who I thought were my friends looking away as they shut me out of their lives.

…

That’s when something exploded.

The smooth motion of the scenes playing in my head abruptly halted. Despite their weight, my eyes snapped open, so fast that it hurt. Tears fell from my eyes as my memories disintegrated, swept away in the wind. All I could remember after that seemed to be shrouded in a purplish haze.

What I did see seemed broken, detached. Random pictures that I could barely make heads or tails of. In one, I saw the heads of the jocks... but only their heads, lying on the clouds with me standing over them. I couldn't see them clearly through the fog: everything was blurred. All I could see was their mouths and eyes, the former screaming silently, the latter wide in terror, both unmoving in the image in my mind.

Then it changed, and I saw my home, in the process of being ripped to shreds by invisible claws of flame, the furnishings and files burning as they swirled around the room. The acrid smell of smoke assaulting my nostrils as the heat of the fire pushed me backwards, out of the room.

Next I was confronted by a crowd of pegasi, some I had once known, grown up with, and even those I had called my friends, though there were others whom I had never met. They were lined up in ranks against me, staring me down with deadpan eyes. They marched towards me in lockstep, and I was fleeing from them. I found myself pressed against a solid cloud wall, screaming, trying to press myself through it as they closed in.

More disjointed scenes: a reflection of myself as I flew over a lake. I was flying at incredible speeds, faster than I had ever flown before, faster than I had thought I was capable of. I could feel the tears streaming from my eyes and trailing behind me, creating a trail of ripples in the lake below. My face hurt, and in my reflection below, I could see that it was contorted into a look of absolute suffering and despair.

I saw endless mountains and plains, lakes and rivers, forests and valleys, saw myself going farther and higher than ever before. The earth shrank below me until I could no longer see it, and I kept going until I could no longer feel it, or anything else, anymore. I rose until every breath was a labor, until the very air tried to freeze my bones. It was then, and only then, that the haze finally faded from my eyes and I came to a stop. All my muscles locked up painfully and I cried out, but there was nopony to hear me, nopony to care.

So high that I could barely fill my lungs with air, with my very life essence drained, I dropped from the sky above the vast Everfree forest.

Numbly, I wiped the tears from my eyes as I returned from my reverie, finally free again from the tortures of the past day. I looked down towards the trees, which had grown several sizes since the last time I had been able to look and found myself wishing that all this would just hurry up and be over. I was so tired, tired of everything, and I knew that I could not even slow my fall even if I wanted to at this point.

Sighing again, I twisted my head around to gaze mournfully at my smooth, bare back and found myself wishing, not for the first time, that I had been born with wings.

The Fall

With my head now turned away from the ground, the wind caught my mane and whipped it fiercely against my neck. The speed at which I was falling was so great by now that each and every time a strand hit my neck, it stung as if someone had hit me. A sudden gust of wind from the west twisted several stray hairs around my cheek and sent them right into my eye. I cried out in pain: my eye was already wind-stripped and sore, screaming in raw agony.

It was just too much: tears started to stream again from both eyes, formed by both agony and emotion. Gritting my teeth and stifling them, I twisted back around, my mane then free to flow behind me once again.

I had only been falling for moments, but I could see the mountains growing on the horizon. Returning my gaze to the rapidly-approaching forest below, I took note that it no longer looked like a field of sharp, rusty implements, but more like an orange and auburn carpet punctuated with highlights of black and brown interspersed throughout. As big of an improvement as that was, I still knew that it would be no softer of a landing. I was still going to hit somewhere in the forest between the bog and the river, right between the only places where at the very least, I wouldn't end up punctured by the branches of some tree. Of course, I thought wryly to myself.

Sighing again, I let my mind wander. I realized I would look quite a sight, if anypony could see me now. My poorly tended mane and tail had grown quite long over the last few years, afterall. What I would look like to an observer, perhaps a bird flying by? A mental picture formed: I must look like a bluish comet with a black tail, meteoring directly towards the ground. What a crater I would leave! The image in my mind was unexpectedly absurd, and it brought a small chuckle to my wind-chapped lips.

As I idly scanned the forest below, my thoughts turned dark. I began to wonder how many trees I would take with me. Would there be anything left to mark my presence? Any trace of my final resting place? I shook my head again, trying to clear my thoughts, but still found myself wondering what would happen if anypony I knew could see me right now. Would they even be able to tell it was me? And even if they could, why would they care?

My eye twinged again: irritation flaring from where the earlier hairs had struck. A few strands had managed to get stuck in what little moisture remained on the surface. Pain brought clarity, and I was able to banish the dark thoughts from my mind, at least for now.

I reached up gingerly to wipe the offenders from my eye, and in the process, one of my hooves brushed up against my horn. I'd almost forgotten it was there, and realized once I touched it that this was because it had gone completely and utterly numb. Despite it being made of keratin, I had always been able to feel its presence, the magic flowing within making it feel almost like an extra limb. A limb which now felt as if it had been amputated.

I wanted to laugh, to cry, to scream at the sunset sky. On the one hoof, I was happy that at least one part of me wasn't sore, freezing, or in pain for one reason or another. On the other hoof, the only thing that could possibly help me to survive this fall, my horn, was useless.

I closed my eyes and tried to channel magic through my horn, hoping against hope that I had something left in me, some bit of energy that I could try and focus towards doing something, anything to stop or even slow my fall. I took a deep breath, feeling for the root of my magic. Finding it, it felt empty and hollow, a foreign sensation. Nonetheless, I took hold and pushed. Nothing. In frustration I strained so intensely that I nearly screamed... But nothing, not even a single spark or fizzle appeared. In frustration, I whacked it several times with my hoof. This had no effect of course, but thanks to the numbness I didn't even feel a thing.

The despair overwhelmed me, and I gave up almost immediately. I had known from the start that I had nothing left in me. I could feel it. Both literally and figuratively, apparently, because as if on cue my stomach took the opportunity to rumble and groan, so loudly I swore I could hear it over the wind. It was then that I realized that I had no idea how long it had been since I had last eaten, drank, or slept. For all I knew, I could have been flying overnight, or even for days.

For a brief instant I grew concerned and started trying to calculate in my head how long it must have been, when suddenly my eyelid began to twitch as the silliness of the question hit home. Dying of starvation, dehydration, or exhaustion was seriously the least of my worries right now! I snorted; it was ridiculous that the thought had even crossed my mind to begin with.

But I couldn’t put it aside. The thought of me starving, or falling asleep before I hit the ground was so striking, so absolutely hilarious, that I just couldn't escape it. First starting as a smile, I began to chuckle helplessly as I pictured myself sleeping in midair, pillow, blanket and all. Eventually it escalated until I was laughing so hard I was holding my aching sides and gasping for air. This, however, suddenly made me realize just how far I had fallen. I was no longer struggling to take each breath, as the air was much thicker now. I knew this should be cause for concern, but for some reason that just made me laugh all the harder. I doubled over as my entire body was wracked with spasms of laughter.

Abruptly, I straightened up. The humor promptly vanished as my eyes narrowed into a icy glare. I stared up at the sky and with a raw voice, screamed to the heavens. "Come on! Is this all you've got? Bring it on! I don't care anymore! I hate this! I HATE THIS!!!” Taking a deep breath, eyes bugging out once again, I continued to rant and rave. “I have nothing left, nothing at all! You took my parents, my job, my house, my friends and now, now you taunt me by prolonging taking the last thing I have left: my life! Just get it over with! I have nopony who cares for me, so what does it matter anyway! Do you hear me?! Just bring it! End it! Do it now!"

Spent, I went limp, the last of my anger ebbing out of me as all traces of muscle control faded. The wind pushed my limbs outward, splaying them widely, but I no longer forced them back. Deep down, I knew that I didn't want to die, but I just didn't, couldn't seem to care anymore. There was nothing left for me here. I just wanted it to be over.

My tears started flowing freely once more as I closed my eyes and whispered, begging, to nopony in particular.

"Please..."

It was then that consciousness slipped away, the lack of adrenaline allowing exhaustion to finally take me. The irony, of course, being that I was now asleep after all, and as I continued to fall, I dreamed. I found myself on a lonesome cloud in a darkened sky, surrounded by endless numbers of dead, staring eyes. They floated, bodiless, in the air, circling around my little puffball. Glaring at me as if I was a bug to be squished underhoof, they seemed to blame me for some unknown grievances. As I gazed upon them, they turned and left, abandoning me. Retreating from my cloud, they shrank as the distance increased. Even though I feared them, hated them, DESPISED them with every fiber of my being, I found myself helplessly begging and pleading with them to come back. I didn’t want them to leave me alone.

As the last pair of eyes faded from view, I lay there, on a solitary cloud in a boundless sky, curled into a tight little ball. My eyes were wide open but unseeing, pupils shrunk down to tiny dots; I was losing myself in my own mind.

As my vision started to blur, I suddenly saw a point of light off in the distance. My eyes refocused as I stared intently towards the light. Climbing back to my hooves, I hoped against hope that someone had come back for me. As it got closer, the light grew, and filled the blackened sky with colors. It raced towards me, a wall of storms filled with prismatic flame, gaining speed as it approached my tiny cloud.

I shrank back in terror as my legs locked up, eyes widening with recognition: it was the explosion that had taken my parents from me, all those years ago! I hadn't seen it since I was a foal, gazing out the window on that bright, sunny day, looking wistfully at the weather factory, waiting for my parents to come home so we could celebrate the arrival of my cutie mark properly. When it appeared back then, bursting from the factory, I had found it beautiful, an omen of good things to come. Now though, I wasn't so foalish, so naive. I knew what it could do to ponies, and what it had done to my parents.

Shaking with fear, I realized that it had come to take me too! I wanted to flee, screaming at the top my my lungs! Straining, I tried to run, to turn away, but it was as if my hooves were rooted to the very cloud I stood upon. All my struggling accomplished was to make me lose my balance, falling heavily onto my rump. The colored lights became overwhelming as they bore down on me. I started to raise a hoof to shade my eyes, but as I sat there, my terror faded. A sudden calmness, acceptance flowed over me, filled me.

Everything faded away into the light until it was all I could see. A single, final thought rose to the surface of my mind: "Mom, Dad. I'm coming. I'll be home soon." I lowered my hoof and stared off into the glow, waiting for it to take me away.

Thud.

A sudden impact knocked the breath from my lungs, my chest compressing tightly with the force of it. My frigid back felt a sudden blast of heat and friction and my sight blurred further, far worse than what the blistering wind had done before. I started hearing a ringing in my ears, and I swore I heard something else as well, but I couldn't make out what it was. My vision filled with a bright pinkness, swirling and undulating hypnotically wherever I looked.

My first thought was that I had hit the ground and had somehow survived, however impossible that was. What really threw me off though was the lack of any new pain. I still felt as sore and tired as I had before the impact. Figuring that I must just be in shock and that it just hadn’t registered yet, I froze, not wanting to feel the agony of a broken back or leg. Moving as little as possible, I took several shallow, halting breaths. My chest still felt squished flat, so I took the time to try and clear my senses.

Doing so, I started noticing things that seemed out of place. Firstly, I found I could still feel the frigid wind blowing past me, which didn’t make sense. It was autumn, not winter, and there wouldn’t be much wind in the deep woods. My confusion continued to mount as I started to feel a rubbing, undulating sensation along my spine. Had I landed on some creature? I blinked my eyes furiously, my vision returning with each breath, and as it did the pink haze in front of my eyes shifted aside.

Still lost, my mind in total disarray, I looked up crosswise as the pinkness flew up and twisted around my horn, which I was very happy to see was still protruding from my forehead. I stared upwards, stunned, as I realized that the pink wasn’t in my eyes, but was actually something real. Gingerly, I reached up with one hoof to touch it, as whatever it was looked like it had entangled itself around my horn. After some fumbling, it came free, and flew up out of sight. I looked up to follow it, and the twisting of my head brought the background sound that had been hovering on the edges of my hearing into focus.

"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!"

Sanity returned like a splash of ice cold water as everything came together in my mind. The wind, the tightness, the warmth, the friction; it all made sense only when you put it all together. The tightness in my chest was somepony's forelegs wrapped around me, the warmth was the feeling of their body pressed against mine, the movement and friction I could feel was the pounding of their wings as they tried to slow my fall, and of course the wind was still there because we were still descending at an incredible rate.

Stark realization hit me like an anvil landing on my head as I realized what this meant: Somepony was trying to save me!

How, why, where they came from, none of it mattered to me right now. All I knew was that there was somepony here, somepony who cared enough to try and save me. My briefly deadened emotions roared back to life as a goofy grin appeared on my face. In one quick motion, I twisted myself around and blindly buried my face into the neck of my rescuer, embracing the stranger more tightly than I had hugged anypony since my parents were taken from me.

At first, I felt this strange pony’s neck muscles tighten in shock at my sudden movement, but soon I felt a head come to rest softly against mine, comforting me. I found myself wishing this moment would never end. I didn’t know the pony who I felt such sudden love for, and frankly, I didn’t care. Soon however, the rush of emotion faded, and reality set back in: we were still falling, and I didn’t have time to get all sappy. Slowly opening my eyes, I was startled to find the strange flowing pinkness swirling in front of my nose again. I pulled back in surprise and saw the face of my benefactor for the first time.

From the start I knew it would be a pegasus, but imagine my surprise when I saw that the pony who would be my savior was a young, light yellow filly. She seemed nearly my age, her deep azure eyes which looked upon me with such kindness that I could not help but feel safe and reassured, even in our predicament. The pinkness that had haunted my vision was now revealed to be her flowing mane and tail, fluttering upwards in the wind as we continued to descend. Her delicate looking wings flapped rhythmically, but I began to worry as I noticed that they seemed to falter every once in a while. Looking back to her face with concern, I realized that while there were beads of sweat forming on her brow and she seemed to be straining, giving it her all, our descent was not halting. In fact, it barely seemed to slow.

Leaning in, I placed my mouth close to her ear, calling out loudly over the roar of the wind. "We aren't slowing down!" Hearing me, she stiffened in surprise, and her wings skipped a beat. I pulled back and looked into her eyes, but what I saw did not reassure me.Her pupils contracted at the same time as her eyes widened in shock, looking downwards over my shoulder. She must have come to the same conclusion I had, for she leaned in, positioning her mouth near my ear. Even being so close, I found I could barely heard her faint response over the wind.

I expected panic, but her words came out soft and smooth. "Oh my... I've never really carried anything heavier than a few cute little critters before. I don't know if I have enough in me to stop us!" I was flabbergasted at how calm she sounded, admitting that we were falling helplessly. Though the emphasis in her words implied more concern than her tone, those words themselves made it seem like she had already given up, despite her wings still flapping madly. When I looked back into her eyes and saw the fear in them, I decided then and there that I had to be strong for the both of us: There had to be a way out of this mess!

With my new-found sense of purpose I once again scanned the terrain, but this time my mind was whole and clear. I started doing some calculations in my head, studying the forces and vectors applying to us. My lips parted into a small smile as I realized that all those late nights studying advanced mathematics for my job... my old job... actually did have some practical use after all. Trying to plan the best route, I realized there were many destinations that may be in reach, but her strength was a variable I just didn’t have. I couldn’t make a plan for us: I didn't know enough.

What I did know was that what she was doing wasn’t going to work. I looked back up and yelled into her ear. "Don't try to counter the force directly, it will just wear you out and we already know it isn't working! See if you can take us down at an angle, get us somewhere better to land, like a lake, or even a meadow. Anything is better than these horrible trees!"

She nodded, though I could have sworn I saw a small frown as I finished the last sentence. Looking around, she must have saw something she recognized, because she tilted her wings and turned us towards the setting sun. My empty stomach churned and groaned lightly as I felt our descent start to shift away from vertical. Turning my head, I nodded at her, my smile growing wider. I started to relax again as our trajectory changed in relation to the mountains in the distance: It was working!

I grinned happily, hugging her tightly again. As I did, I found I could not help but relax in her forelegs. All too quickly, my adrenaline faded again and exhaustion fell upon me like a heavy wool blanket. My eyes grew heavy, my sight grew dim, and before I realized it I had already laid my head against her shoulder as consciousness slipped from me once again.

This time, though the location was the same, the dream had a very serene ambiance. I awoke on the cloud in the same endless sky where I had, only moments ago, been petrified by the approach of my deepest fear. But now, when I opened my eyes again to the dreamscape, a single pair of the floating eyes which I had begged to stay had returned. Its sparkling sea blue gaze hovered in the sunset sky, no longer filled with hatred, but with compassion. They looked down upon me with the love and kindness that I had so sorely missed, and I basked in the affection that had long since been denied me. Surrounded by such peace and tranquility, I curled up on the cloud and slept. Perhaps I had a dream within the dream, I do not recall.

An undetermined amount of time later, I was roused slowly from the dream by an insistent nuzzling against my face. Blinking sleepily, my eyes began to regain focus. As they did, I nearly had a heart attack as I realized where I still was. I quickly lifted my head from her shoulder, glad that I had not drooled on her clean, well-groomed coat. She bumped my head again, and I looked up at her. Smiling hesitantly, she tilted her head towards the sunset. I realized I must have been asleep for at least a minute or two, as the sun, which had already been low on the horizon, had sunk further behind the mountains. While some of that could be accounted for by our drop in elevation, I nonetheless quickly took stock of our surroundings.

At first, I couldn't tell what she was motioning at, but then a flash of light caught my attention. There, far in the distance, I saw a shimmering sparkle of reflected sunlight. Squinting at it, I cursed my sore eyes. I even slapped myself in the face with my hoof, but it still took several precious seconds for my vision to focus enough for me to realize that what I seeing was water. Raising my hooves with a cheer, I almost wet myself as I began to slip from her forelegs. Freaking out, I wrapped my hooves back around her, clinging to her instantly, as I turned my attention back to her.

She looked exhausted, probably more than I did. The raging wind had tangled her pink mane, and she was biting her bottom lip in frustration as rivulets of sweat just poured down her face. Her wings no longer kept a steady rhythm, but instead were fluttering intermittently, and at different paces. It was obvious every muscle in her body was strained beyond reason, yet somehow she was still managing to keep going.

I began panicking internally as I leaned in again and called out to her. "Are you okay?" She must have seen the concern in my eyes as she managed to force a smile and nod, and her wings somehow returned to their normal rhythm, at least for now. I was not convinced by this however: it was painfully obvious that she couldn't keep this up much longer. Turning my head again, I replotted our trajectory, cursing the fact that I had fallen sleep. So much wasted time! Much to my horror, I found that we were still descending too quickly. Despairingly, I double-checked, and confirmed that we were not going to make the water; in fact, we only had a minute, maybe two before we would be in the trees. And that was only if her wings didn't give out!

I looked around as I triple-checked the numbers, looking for something, anything I could use to change the equation, make this survivable. It was useless. Other than the water in the distance, all I could see for miles around were those enormous accursed trees. At this height, the autumn leaves did not even hide their deadly ugliness; I could see their solid, blackened trunks, and their sharp, spindly branches, stretched towards the sky.

The sky that we were falling from.

I knew that once we hit those trees, it would be over for both of us. We were out of time.

My eyes steeled as I made my decision.

I looked back into her eyes, the deep blue pools which had brought me some small happiness after the worst times in my life. She looked back and, somehow surmising my intent, tightened her grip around me. She started shaking her head: No. I looked her dead in the eyes and yelled out the flat, ugly truth. "I'm not going to make it, and if you stay with me, you won't make it either! I will not let my last act in this world be to take the life of another pony!” Taking a deep breath, I spoke the words she didn’t want to hear. “I need you to let me go, and I need you to do it now! There’s no time to argue!"

Her gaze abruptly darkened as she stopped shaking her head, locking her gaze with mine. The warm blue in her eyes turned to ice as she frowned, her eyebrows knitting together. Sudden anger made her pupils grow wide and seemed to vibrate as she gave me what could only be described as a death glare. I shrank back from her then, but even so, I had no trouble hearing her this time.

Unblinking, staring me dead in the eyes, she yelled at me. "NO!!!" I cringed, but could not look away. "We will find another way! I will not let you die!"

Trying to muster my failing will, I began to protest. "But I..."

The glare somehow managed to intensify, her pupils shrinking. "Don't you 'But I' me, mister! We are in this together and that is final!"

As her deadly stare drilled into my soul, I felt my resolve start to crumble. So I did the only thing I could do. I leaned in and gave her a hug. This must have thrown her off, because I felt her relax as my hooves wrapped gently around her neck. This made it all the harder as I pressed my lips close and whispered into her ear.

"Thank you, but goodbye."

Mustering the last of my remaining physical strength, I planted my forehooves on her shoulders, and my hindhooves against her hips, and with all my might, I pushed off of her in one sudden burst of movement. For a second, her grip almost held, but then I broke free, tumbling away from her. Falling, my back to the trees below, all I could see then was her horrified face, surrounded by the darkening sky, and in it, the first stars of the night.

For a moment, I wished that I hadn't looked back, as the look of betrayal in her eyes ripped me to my core. I felt tears rising again, but I shook them away; I had to be strong for her. She had to be okay. She might hate me, she might not forgive herself, or me, but she would live. I looked back again, wanting her to see me smiling, to know that it was okay, but that smile faded instantly as I saw her one last time.

Her wings had stopped beating!

I could see her hooves flailing wildly as her wings snapped shut. Her eyes scrunched shut in concentration as she strained her back, arching it as she tried to force them open again. But it was no use. I was too late. Like me, she had nothing left. She opened her eyes again and looked at me. That gaze haunted me. Those eyes, once filled with kindness, now held nothing but fear and hopelessness. Our eyes locked, and now all I could think of was how I had abandoned her for nothing; that because of me, she was as doomed as I was.

"No."

Time slowed to a standstill. My heart stopped mid-beat. Our manes, blowing wildly in the wind, froze as if turned to stone. Her eyes bored into my very being. Here was a pony who had just risked her life, who had pushed herself past her limits, and given everything she had to save me. Me! A nopony! She didn't know who I was. She didn't even know my name, yet she was willing to give everything up to save me. She had held me as I slept, she had comforted me, she had chased away my nightmares. She had been there in my time of need. All this for a worthless pony like me!

I could not let this happen.

My eyes twitched and opened wide, as they lit up with a bright, white glow. My forehead felt like it was ablaze. My body spasmed uncontrollably, and I could feel my limbs forced to bend at strange angles. All I could feel was agony, but it was worth it because, suddenly, I could feel something. Deep down inside, entrenched within me so deeply, so small and tiny that it was almost infinitesimal, I found one last bastion of strength. I grabbed at it, wrenched it free. It felt as if I was dragging it from my very life essence. Maybe I was at that point, but it didn't matter because it was there, and I needed it now.

A spark of magic.

I would NOT let this happen!

I exploded with power, releasing a primal scream. "NO!!!"

Time started again, but it seemed to crawl. The purplish haze returned with a vengeance, tinting the world. Magic erupted from me in all directions, pink lightning bolts striking the trees below that were now very close. Ironically, I was glad they were nearby, as they made perfect lightning rods, keeping the filly safe from me. I was now a hazard to everypony once again, including myself this time.

I had never felt pain like this before; it was like every nerve in my body was shredding itself, but I had somehow partitioned my mind, separated it so that I never lost clarity. As my head slowly turned, I gazed at the bolts of magic which had begun to flow from me. They arced through the air in slow motion, and my eyes travelled along their length, marveling in their elegance. I watched in awe as the trees that were struck around me changed. Some melted, cascading slowly into rainbow pools, while others morphed into solid ice, some of which exploded from the sudden transformation. As they combined in midair, colors shone and sparkled as the last beams of the sun caught them tumbling below me, creating the most amazing panorama of color and light. A tear began to form in one eye; it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

Then I saw it, between the trees. That tantalizing sparkle. Water. Instantly I focused and fired a concentrated, spiralling beam of magic directly at it. From this distance, I couldn't see it hit, but I could FEEL it. I reveled in being able to feel my magic once again. I was filled with it! I churned and frothed the water, spinning it faster and faster, pulling it upwards and outwards. Soon I had created a waterspout. As the water rocketed out of the top, I directed the spray towards us.

Feeling a strange vibration in my horn as the water flew through the air, I took a moment to look up at my forehead. As my eyes crossed, I could see beams of light erupting from within the horn’s surface. It seemed to be slowly pulsating, emphasizing the slowness of time. With each throb I swore I could see tiny cracks appearing and growing, spreading with every pulse. In any normal situation this would scare me to my wits end, but at this point, it was of no consequence. She was more important. Nothing else mattered. I turned my attention back to the torrent of water flying towards me.

Darkness started to creep into the corners of my vision: I knew I had little time remaining. I released the remaining water at the lake from the spell I had cast, and made sure that the water already in the air was directed towards and below her. Shadows crowded my sight; I could no longer make anything out. I knew I had to do it now, but I could no longer see where the water was! I began to panic; had I miscalculated? When I finally felt that first droplet of water land on my flank and start to run down my leg, I knew that she was going to be alright. Tensing up one last time, I released all my remaining magic in one final, wide area burst below where that one-of-a-kind filly was falling.

My body went numb. I could no longer see anything at all, but as the darkness took me, I felt my magic strike its target. As the wave of magic collided with the water droplets, they evaporated, and the remaining magic fused it all together into a thick fog bank. I could feel the mass of clouds swirling all the way to the ground, and I knew that it would be big enough and soft enough to save her.

The last thing I heard as the magic faded from me and time resumed its normal speed was a satisfying whoomph as filly met cloud.

Well, I guess that technically isn’t true. The last thing I really heard was the sound of my body breaking through the uppermost branches and hitting the trees.

Crickety-crackle-crack Thump Whumph crinkle-crash SPLUT

Lost

Eternity was formless: dark, empty, and silent. Inky blackness filled the universe, and at first, I didn't exist. Nothing did. I was the very stuff of nothingness; no eyes, no body, no substance. I existed there, unmoving, unfeeling, unthinking for what could have been centuries.

Consciousness returned first, niggling feelings and broken thoughts swirling through the deepest recesses of my ethereal mind. As they began to take shape, so did my self image, and my form coalesced from the very stuff of the void. My body formed, unfeeling. My eyes opened, unseeing. My mind inhabited the empty shell, but there was no sense of self. I sat there dumbly for another few millennia, as my brain slowly percolated and frothed.

Eventually, self-awareness pieced itself together, scattered thoughts and memories colliding randomly until they created something of substance. As my mind began to slowly clear, faltering occasionally, I began to breathe again. My eyelids fluttered as pupils appeared and grew from tiny dots back to their normal size. Muscles twitched, and my body moved. Haltingly, I lifted a hoof and rubbed my cheek: I still had no sense of touch and my entire body was completely numb. As that realization sank in, I found more of my memories returning. Surprisingly, all my recent ones appeared intact, despite the trauma of my fall. Everything seemed so crystal clear now, after the fact. I found myself going over all that had just happened and analyzing every detail. I had the time now, I thought wryly to myself.

Despite my best efforts to keep my mind on other things, my thoughts kept returning to that mysterious yellow filly that had appeared out of nowhere. Images of her seemed to be locked into my head, but each and every time that I thought of her, I found that they were shrouded by that last look she had given me. That final look of fear and betrayal overshadowed all else, and I knew it would haunt me for the rest of this eternity, more so than any other painful memory that I had ever had.

I sighed inwardly. And of course that look would be the last thing I ever saw of her, wouldn't it? I knew she had at least hit the fog bank I had managed to create at the last possible moment. What bothered me was that I had no idea whether it was enough to save her, or if I was just fooling myself. I once again found my thoughts turning dark, as my mind immediately started hypothesizing all the terrible things that could have happened to her.

After my imagination finished torturing me, that train of thought led me to thinking about what terrible things must have happened to me. My final memory was of pain and sickening noises, which I knew must have come from collisions in my final seconds before impacting the ground. At least, I hoped they came from me. I shuddered to think of what they would mean if they came from her. Frowning, I shook my head. No, I was sure she was fine. That cloud bank had reached the all the way to the ground from above the trees... hadn’t it? My brow furrowed as I obsessed over our possible fates. It took some time before I was able to free myself from my thoughts. Once again I shook my head clear, and turned my attention outward.

I shifted position and looked down at myself, the only thing somehow visible in a vast sea of black. As I took stock, I realized that all my colors seemed muted and dim. My fur, once a vibrant shade in-between blue and purple, was now murky and nearly grey. My mane, normally black, was invisible in this place; I had to put my hoof behind it to see that it was even there, as I still had no sense of touch to feel it. This was concerning, being completely deadened like this, but after the pain I had just gone through, I found it was a welcome respite.

Deadened. Numb. The words suddenly dominated my existence, such as it was. I leaned back and took in the infinity of emptiness above me. Well, here I was. My wish had been granted; the pain was over. I didn't need to worry about anything anymore. My eyes closed slowly. I thought I would feel happy, or fulfilled, or something... but all I felt now was hollow, as empty as the void surrounding me. I couldn't really say I felt anything. I guess I truly was numb, inside and out. My mind slowly cleared of thoughts as I began to accept my fate.

Sometime later, my reverie was interrupted as I became aware of a quiet sound disturbing the silence. My eyelids, now feeling heavy, lifted slowly, as I looked around dispassionately for the source of the noise. Unsurprisingly, there was still nothing in sight. Eyelids drooping, I lowered my head... and heard the sound again. It was a quiet “plip”, so soft that normally it would be inaudible. I listened carefully and heard it again. Lowering my head further, I finally saw the source of the noise: I was now sitting in a pool of clear water, of which I was sure hadn't been there before I closed my eyes. Slowly, every thought feeling like an effort, I wondered where it came from... And that's when I saw the droplet fall from my face into the pool.

Surprise returning some small amount of focus, my eyes opened wider, and I put a numb hoof to my face. Pulling it away, I examined it: It was covered in the same clear liquid. Still uncomprehending, I leaned forward and looked into the pool.

The face that looked back was streaked with tears.

Shock finished the job: clarity returned, coincidentally, like a splash of cold water. I stared into my own face, wiping the tears from my face with the back of a hoof. Why was I crying? This was what I wanted... wasn't it? Thoughts racing, I looked deep into the pool, searching my face, looking for answers.

That’s when something changed in the reflection. Shimmering, warping, the image moved without ripples. I suddenly found myself deeply disturbed as I saw the face in the pool begin to smile.

A sudden jab of pain shot through my head, disturbing the lack of physical sensations. As I felt my head throb, a whispering voice began to speak, startling me. 'Aw... Why so sad? It's all over, just like you wanted. Come come, now, I thought you'd be happy!'

I closed my eyes and placed my forehooves on my temples, trying to control the pounding. The voice continued. 'Oh, stop being such a wimp...' My eyes shot open wide, suddenly recognizing the sound. It was my voice! Coming from inside my head! I opened my mouth to speak, but it cut me off. 'Don't bother: as you've already figured out, I'm in your head. I know everything you think, so, really, words are just a waste of time.'

Still confused, I tried to formulate a reply without speaking. 'Who...'

The voice let out a loud sigh. 'Do I really sound this dumb? I'm you, foal. The inner you, or something. I don't know. Honestly, I don’t really care. Pretty sure I didn't exist until just now. Maybe you've lost your mind. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised, truthfully.'

I tried to protest that I felt sane, but once again, I was interrupted. 'Sane or not, you are talking to yourself. Are we really going to debate this?’ The voice paused, sighing again. ‘Look. I figure I'm here for a reason, so lets just get to the point, shall we? Why are you crying? See, I know everything you do, and I'm at a loss. This was what we wanted. We wanted it over. Done with. No more problems. And now, here we are. Not satisfied? Something missing? Please, do tell. I’m dying to know.' The voice finished its speech with a sarcastic flare.

Inner Me sounded strange, irritated, somehow unlike me, but I shrugged it off, as he’d raised a valid point. I had wanted this... hadn't I? Searching my brain for the answer that I needed, it didn’t take me long to realize that I didn't... hadn't wanted to die. Not deep down. Not really. All I had really wanted was the pain to be over. I hadn't wanted my life to end. Not now. Not like this. Despite all that had happened to me, I still had so much that I wanted to do. So many dreams left unfinished.

Tears welled up from my eyes again and began to drip into the pool, causing the grinning reflection of my face to ripple. My mind filled with all the things I would now never do. I would never have a family, or real friends, I would never have a house, or a pet. I would never read another book, or touch another cloud. I would never find love. There was nothing left. Everything was gone now. All that was left was me. Alone. Again.

Solid streams of tears now poured into my reflection, distorting it wildly. The smile on my face seemed to stretch wider and wider until the grin seemed larger than the face itself. The voice in my head began to chuckle. 'Really? That's all? This makes you cry like a baby?’ It snorted derisively ‘Get over it. It’s over. The sooner you get that through your thick little skull, the better.'

Suddenly angry, and tired of the verbal abuse, I finally threw a completed thought back at the voice. 'Shut up! I know it’s over! I don't need you to tell me that, and I definitely don't need you laughing at me!'

My rebuttal only served to make him laugh harder. 'Yeah. Right. Like you can silence a part of yourself! You're stuck with me. Besides, the faster you come to terms with it, the quicker I can move onto more interesting things.’ The reflection yawned, looking at a watch that suddenly appeared. ‘Face it, buddy, you got what you wished for. And in the end, it ended up being the one thing you never wanted. Irony, hah! Can't you see the humor in that?'

Shuddering with repressed rage, I tried to reply calmly. 'No... it is NOT funny to me, and shouldn't be for you either. Just... leave me alone. I've lost everything... absolutely everything... and you laughing is just making it worse. So just. Shut. Up.’ I glared into the puddle. ‘Go away, and leave me be!'

The voice roared with laughter, causing me to hold my head again as it began to throb faster. 'Really? Like I care what you say! To me, this is hilarious, and all your protesting just makes it all the sweeter.’ The image in the puddle began to smile again, the eerie grin stretching its face wider and wider. ‘Oh, this feels amazing! Poor little pony, feels so bad... Hah! And to think, all of this happened because poor little old you couldn't control his own stupid horn.'

That was the last straw. Exploding with fury, I screamed and wept openly as I lashed out blindly at my reflection. “SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!” I shrieked as I thrashed and stamped at the pool, splashing and frothing the water until I couldn't see that awful grin anymore. “I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!”

As the image faded, so did the laughter, and my head emptied of sound. My ears were not so fortunate. The scream had shattered the silence, startling me with its sudden intensity. It seemed to echo and bounce back at me, louder with each and every pass. Soon, it became so loud I had to cover my ears, and still the volume increased. It began to vibrate my bones, and soon my entire being. I screamed out in pain as it became too loud to bear, but my cries only seemed to harmonize with the echo of my voice, increasing the decibels further. Once again I found shadows filling my sight as the sound drilled into my mind, nearly causing me to black out.

Just as my vision almost blurred to incomprehensibility, the noise somehow finally managed to leave my range of hearing. The shadows began retreating from my vision, but this was now the least of my worries: Just because I couldn't hear it anymore didn't mean it wasn't still going on. The entire universe began to vibrate. The pool of water I was standing in started rippling of its own accord, waves forming in the miniature lake. And that's when it happened.

THUNK

The vibration suddenly stopped. I looked up, surprised to see that a crack had appeared in the darkness above me. Crumbling noises replaced the silence of before, as more cracks quietly began to appear in the void. Bright white light pulsated through each and every line, causing me to shade my eyes as they tried to adjust from the pitch blackness I had been enveloped in for so long. As the fissures continued to grow and merge, pieces of the void began to rain down around me, colliding with the ground, sections both small and large of the once solid surface beginning to fracture and fall away. I realized very quickly that this was no longer a safe place; I needed to leave. Right now.

I looked around quickly for any signs of an escape, but besides the light, nothing new had appeared. What sections of the void were still intact were unchanged, at least for the moment. I tried to relax and clear my mind, and as I did, strangely, I found an old saying coming to mind: When you have hit rock bottom, the only place to go is up. I had certainly reached my lowest point... or at least as deep as I wanted to go. Turning my gaze towards one of the newly opened holes in the ground near me, into which the pool was now draining, an involuntary shiver ran down my spine. The holes were foreboding, somehow managing to exude an even deeper darkness than the rest of this place. I definitely did not want to find out what was down there!

Tilting my head back, I looked over the surface of the vaulted ceiling of this place, and immediately saw that the light was shining brightest through the fissures directly above me. As they grew, the light spread throughout and my shattering world came into view. This place I had been trapped in was revealed to be a cavernous chamber made of some sort of obsidian crystal, shards of which were now crashing onto the floor, which was made of the same substance. Each falling piece was causing more cracking and collapses as well when they impacted the ground.

My goal was above me, and the only way up was out. Purpose restored, and with a destination in mind, I gathered myself up and set off, splashing through the remnants of that horrid pool. With the world crumbling around me, I noted that the shattered wall was now broken in several places revealing large, gaping gaps of blinding light. I veered to the right and galloped towards the nearest one. As I neared the opening, a large chunk of the ceiling fell directly in front of me, causing me to have to skid to a halt. The ground shook violently, the collision sending crystal dust into the air as small hunks of crystal skittered around me. Accidentally sucking in a lungful of the dust, I broke out coughing, and my eyes immediately began to water. Thankfully, the floor held, at least for now.

As the dust finally cleared from both my sight and my wheezing lungs, I saw the opening I had been headed for was now mostly blocked, no longer even large enough to squeeze a pony through. Despairingly, I looked upwards at the mountain of rubble now only meters away and saw that while it was true that it blocked the opening, that it was not the case entirely: there was still light shining from near the peak, so it couldn't be completely sealed. I shook my head and grinned; I would not be deterred so easily. Brushing myself off, I began the slow climb up the giant shard.

I had only seen crystals in the Cloudsdale museum on childhood field trips, but compared to the tiny samples I had stared at through the glass display cases, this mountainous gem was amazing. Despite the surface being flat, the facets of the gem shone in the bright white light from above, flickering and flashing. I had never imagined that I would ever see, much less climb, anything like this. Truthfully, I had never stood on something that wasn't made of cloud before. The feeling of walking on something like this was indescribable, unlike anything I had ever experienced.

The climb was arduous: It was slow going; the surface smooth and slippery, especially since I still had no feeling in my hooves. Ascending was made all the more difficult by the rumbling shocks of other crystals crashing to the ground. I was careful where I placed my hooves, however, and made steady progress, despite slipping and sliding backwards several times.

While I trudged onwards, I was glad the voice had gone silent. I didn't need it laughing at every little slip I made. As thoughts of the voice crossed my mind, I found myself shivering again. I had never sounded like that in my life... but if it wasn't me, then what was it? Distracted, I misstepped, and the slide backwards refocused me on the task at hand. I didn't have time to try and figure it out right now, I had to keep going.

I could have given up at any time, but I was determined to at least see what was outside of this forbidding place. As I gained altitude, the light shining off of the obsidian also became a hazard, reflecting into my eyes and blinding me repeatedly, but I just winced and tolerated it, pressing onwards and upwards. Finally, as I gingerly slid myself around a rather large, protruding outcropping, the opening presented itself: a small jagged hole in the wall of my prison.

Poking my head through, I immediately regretted it: The brightness of the light was piercing, and it immediately resumed the earlier pounding in my skull. It was different this time though, as the throbbing was now behind my eyes, whereas before, it had been in my temples. As much as I wanted to pull my head back into the soothing shadows, I resisted. There was no place for me there. I was not about to give up now! I opened my eyes again slowly, trying to let them adjust. As they did, what I saw shocked me: There was nothing there!

Instead of an infinite darkness, what presented itself to me now was an endless sea of white. No horizon was visible: I could not even tell if any part of it was solid. No colors, no other obsidian structures, just... nothing. There was nowhere else to go.

I slumped, feeling defeated once again. Dejectedly, I began to pull my head back into the comforting darkness when a sudden flash of light seared my eyes. I yelped, but whatever it was had certainly gotten my attention! Turning my head, I looked upwards, suddenly remembering that that had been my original destination. Even from here, I could see what appeared to be some kind of a brightly shining orb, way up at the top of the structure. I girded myself: I was not done yet! Sliding my hooves into the opening, I squeezed myself through to the other side.

The outside surface, at least the parts of it that were still intact, was smooth and slightly rounded. I had no doubt that if I had seen it from a distance when it was whole that it would have been a perfect obsidian sphere. Or perhaps a dome. (I had no way to tell if it extended that far down.) As I positioned myself properly for the climb, tremors continued to shake the structure as parts of the interior collapsed. I began to tremble as much as the obsidion, but I squashed my fear and made sure of my footing before quickly continuing upwards.

For the moment, the ascent was uneventful; the higher I got, the easier the slope became, until finally I was no longer climbing, but walking. Moments later, I was very grateful for this, as out of nowhere, the section I had just trod across broke into several pieces and disappeared from sight. I froze in fear, my legs locking up, questioning my decision. Could I not just have found shelter somewhere below? Was whatever that was up here worth it? Leaning over, I peered into the newly formed chasm. My mouth went dry as I saw how high up I was, eyes staring fixated at all the sharp edges glittering far below. My knees began to buckle, and I almost fell in, but as I did, the face of the yellow pony came to mind once more. My legs locked and braced; I had to keep trying. I needed to know she was alright, and I felt the answers were ahead. She knew me as little as I knew her, but I was not a heartless pony. I cared about her well-being. A spark flashed in my mind as I came to the second realization since my arrival. If I cared about her, and she cared about me, then, dangit, I could care about myself too! For her sake at the very least!

I straightened back up, new-found resolve and self confidence building once more. Breaking into a gallop, I headed directly for the source of that beautiful light. More shards and structure fell away around me, but as long as they weren't in my path, I ignored them. Sweat poured down my face and I blew steam from my nostrils; I had never exerted myself like this before. Even though I could barely breathe, it felt glorious.

The dome began to level out, the rounded peak coming into view. The light was becoming intolerable. My eyes began tearing up in agony, but I did not dare close them. Small pieces of the dome were breaking away constantly now, and every step had a risk of sending me through. I could just make out the orb through the glare. Wheezing, I let out a breathless cheer: I was so close I could smell it. Taking a deep breath to try and fill my aching lungs, I realized that I WAS actually smelling something. I took another whiff; It was like nothing I had ever smelled before. Clean and fresh, but also filled with warmth and life. Rich and heady, with a strong scent of spices. I even smelled smoke, something I had only ever smelled years ago, when it had drifted up to town from a forest fire far below. So many strange things in this place! The aromas were enticing, and as I took it in, I missed the cracking noise directly in front of me.

KRA-THUNK

Mid-gallop, my forehoof broke through the dome, creating a hoof-sized imprint in the surface. I fell face-first onto the ground and skidded to a stop, my hoof popping out of the hole. Splintering noises filled my ears as I tried to make my head stop spinning. When my vision cleared, I saw that the entire top of the dome was spider-webbed with cracks, originating from where I had originally punctured it. Looking up, I could see the spinning, pulsating light was only a few hoof-lengths away, just out of reach. I tried to slowly shift myself towards it, but every movement caused the cracks to grow. Hoping things would settle, I stopped moving, but even then I could feel the surface beneath me shifting, beginning to give way.

Emotions ran high; I wanted to cry, to shout, to scream in frustration. I even swore I could hear that terrible laughter again, echoing in the back of my mind. I had come so close, only to have it denied me. I knew that no matter what I did, I was going to fall. Laying there, wallowing in my failure, anger began to blossom in my heart. Tears formed in the corners of my eyes, muscles clenched in fury at myself; I wouldn't be in this mess if I had been born a pegasus, like my parents. Once again my differences were ruining my life. If I had just been born with wings instead of my stupid horn, none of these terrible things would have happened to me in the first place. I'd just be able to fly to the dang ball of light and be done with it. No more worries of falling either.

As I lay there pitying and hating myself, scents continued wafting towards me from the light. I found the aromas nearly overpowering now, chokingly so. As it garnered my attention, and my focus shifted to it, I swore I could hear a bubbling noise coming from the glowing orb. Despite my pounding skull, I wiped my eyes and looked directly into the pulsating sphere, trying to make out what was contained within. If I couldn't get to it, I at least wanted to know what it was. The intensity of the light felt as if it was burning my eyes from the inside out, but I forced them open with my hooves.

I still do not know if I was seeing things or not, as the light may have been playing tricks on my mind, but I was sure there was something in there. I squinted and tried to make it out.

Colors swirled and churned; it was impossible to tell exactly what I was seeing. Just before I gave up, for just an instant, an infinitesimal moment in time, I saw something familiar; a pair of azure eyes, framed in yellow and pink. It disappeared almost instantly, but for that split second, I recognized that look of concern. As the image faded, I sat there blinking for a moment, my resolve growing by leaps and bounds as I did. She had cared, to the point of nearly killing herself for a pony she did not know. Even if I still wasn't completely sure that I deserved it, I was not going to give up now!

Steeling myself, I got to my hooves. The ground immediately resumed trembling, as pieces flaked away. I started moving quickly, shifting myself from shard to shard, making sure to get off of each before it fell. My progress didn't last long; the movement had caused the entire shelf to begin to crumble. As I felt every shard I stood on fail under my weight, I gathered myself onto the biggest one I could see, bunched my muscles, and leapt towards the light. The force of my jump was the last straw, as everything below me disappeared with a roar as rubble bounced against each other in midair, crashing to the floor below. As I soared through the air, I already could tell that I hadn't gotten close enough to enter the sphere. Desperately, I stretched myself outwards, reaching for the outer margins of the orb. As I fell past it, the tip of my outstretched hoof brushed the surface, and seemed to stick to it, forming a solid bond. Dangling by my hoof, I hung there in midair for only an instant before I found myself pulled in by some unseen force.

Light filled every fiber of my being, and I quickly lost myself in it, but even as it took me away, I smiled. And the sneering laughter finally faded completely from my mind.

New Awakenings

Consciousness returned in fire and flame. My entire body spasmed uncontrollably as it was wracked with unimaginable pain. I tried to cry out, but all that escaped my lips was a faint groan and some squeaks. Attempting to move, to find a way to free myself from the agony, I found that I couldn't even shift an inch. Nothing budged, not even my head. I was completely paralyzed, helpless, trapped. My eyes began tearing up as they darted around wildly, lost in pure panic. That only made things worse, as what I could see of my surroundings made my blood run cold.

I had never seen anything like it; walls of wood, but warped, twisted, completely unlike the wooden planks my furniture had been made of. They appeared to be alive, with dangling vines growing along the edges of the room. Ghoulish masks and strangely colored bottles adorned the walls, dimly lit by an assortment of candles. The faces seemed to stare, leering at me, and I swore I could see them moving. Once more, I tried to call out, but as before, all that came out was a slightly louder squeal.

I heard movement out of my sight range, as something shuffled, shifting position. A females voice suddenly spoke, easily rising above the quiet bubbling I could hear in the background. “Good morning, pony. I've heard your squeak. I must recommend that you do not speak. You have injuries that are quite severe. In fact, I know not if you can even hear.” A clopping noise approached me, and a face appeared in my vision. Black and white stripes filled my sight, and I flinched in surprise, having expected to see the yellow pony. Instead, a creature of light and dark filled my view, and I found myself trying to shrink back in fear. After a brief moment, however, my eyes focused onto the smiling face. It did not appear to mean me any harm. I took deeper breaths, trying to relax and not wet myself. This place was crazy!

Seeing my eyes focus on hers, the smile widened. “Ah, I see you have returned to the land of the living. That you would, I must admit, I had some misgiving.” Gently she reached over and brushed some hair from my face. “Beaten, battered, and sorely bruised; the fight for life you did nearly lose. Fate it seems had you in hand, with choosing where you came to land. But that is a story for another day; For now, let me take your pain away.” She looked down and I heard the rattling of hoof on glass. Since she was now all I could see, I looked over her face. She looked like a pony, but more exotic, foreign. While her hair seemed stiff and straight, like the bristles on a brush, her eyes belied a much softer personality. In fact, I realized, they reminded me of the yellow pegasus who had tried to save me, and not just because they both had deep blue eyes. While her eyes were similar in shade, I could see right away that there was some hardness buried there as well. Accentuating the difference was that her eyes were also quite a different shape from any other pony I had ever met. No, the similarity was that, unlike most ponies I had known, she looked upon me with concern, and, dare I hope, caring.

My tears finally overflowed and blurred my vision; the pain was not going away, and every inch of me was feeling it. Once again I strained to move, but it was if I was bound in place. My attempts did not go unnoticed, and she turned back to me, the look on her face further emphasizing her concern as she quickly spoke up. “Please, mysterious pony, move no more; I have a remedy I could not give you before. This potion will quickly reduce your pain: but if you sleep, you may not wake again.” Leaning in, she stared me right in the face. “If you think you can stay awake, here is the medicine; please partake.” Pulling back, she leaned out of sight for a moment, returning with a large black bottle. Gripping it between her hooves, she popped out the cork with her teeth and spit it aside. Carrying the bottle tightly in her teeth, she positioned the opening at my lips and waited.

She didn't have long to wait. I wasted no time; the agony was unbearable, and honestly, I had no desire to lose consciousness again. Not after all I had just gone through. Reaching out with my mouth, I took hold of the bottle and guzzled the contents, drinking it so quickly that I felt it try to bubble back past my lips. I felt the pain start to subside immediately as glorious numbness returned. My limbs stopped involuntarily pulling against whatever seemed to restrain them, but even as they did, I quickly found I was able to feel other problems arising. My stomach roiled and heaved; I felt bile rise in my throat, and, gagging, I let the bottle fall from my lips, hitting the floor with a clatter. Barely keeping the contents of my stomach down, I looked up at her in a panic. To my surprise, she was already ready with another bottle open, filled to the brim with small brown seeds.

“Sick to your stomach? I am ready for that too. I knew it would be needed, for you swallowed some goo. A pink friend of mine has spoken of it you see; she told me that rainbows can be very spicy. A large amount seems to have gone down your throat, as you lay in the pool where I found you afloat. The amount you have swallowed will need to be passed, these seeds will assist, and clear it out fast. A powerful herb, it cannot be beaten, they absorb only the things that should not be eaten. This is important for you, you see, for you need sustenance most drastically.” Taking the bottle from her hooves gently with her teeth, she leaned in again.

I nodded quickly, not really paying attention to the speech she was giving (in rhyme, no less!), as I tried to keep from heaving. I took the new bottle in my mouth like the last and tilted it back, gulping down as many as I could. These seeds were nearly as fast acting as the first potion, as I began feeling my stomach calm almost immediately. Unfortunately for me, once again, resolving one problem lead to another. The nausea faded, only to be replaced by an aching feeling of hunger, gnawing painfully at my sides.

I kept swallowing the seeds insatiably, only stopping when I saw the smirk on her face. Pausing, I let go of the container. This time, she was ready, and deftly caught it in her hooves, placing it on some nearby surface out of my view. I tried to speak, but I could still only croak, so instead I gave her a quizzical look.

Her grin did not falter as she spoke with a chuckle: “Hungry pony, those seeds should not really have been eaten. As herbal medicine though, they cannot be beaten. They will pass through quickly, you will see, but when they do, you will want some privacy.”

I still didn't follow and raised an eyebrow. Laughing musically, she took a moment to collect herself before replying. “It is a future that I can easily foretell, in which you will soon feel the need to expel.”

My eyes widened and I coughed up a few seeds, finally catching on to what she meant. As I motioned with my eyes towards my lower half, she began laughing so hard that she had to wipe away tears. Once she recovered, she cleared her throat and spoke bluntly: “Oh yes, indeed, quite forcefully. But trust when I say it would be worse naturally.” Blushing, I nodded, accepting her reasoning; I was already feeling better, but was now slightly concerned, and very aware that I had eaten far more seeds than I probably needed.

Still smiling, she walked out of sight, and I heard strange sounds, as if items were being dropped into a liquid. Not being able to see what was going on, I relied on my other senses, able to focus on them now that my immediate issues seemed to have subsided... aside from the now-constant growling in my stomach. Idly, I wondered if the noise was more from the potion and seeds mixing, or just ordinary hunger. Pungent aromas assaulted my nostrils as I took the time to sniff the air, and as the scents registered in my brain, they rekindled memories that had faded upon waking.

I suddenly recalled the fragrant odor which had filled my senses as the obsidian dome crumbled around me. Had that really been just a dream? Alarmed, I listened to my surroundings, and found that the bubbling noise I had heard was here as well. That gave me pause, and a new need to process all this, to figure it out. Being unable to move gave me time to think on where, or what, I had just awoken from.

Details of my escape from the obsidian prison had started to fade, but as I took the time to remember, the details re-affixed themselves in my mind. Now able to focus, I began to see my experiences there in a new light. Thinking back on it, I very quickly realized that that it could not have been a dream, at least not in any normal sense. Going over what this strange pony had told me in her own weird way, and merging that with my experiences there, I began to scare myself. All that running, and climbing... and that insane version of myself which had laughed at me from inside my own head... I shuddered briefly. If that’s what the inside of my mind was like, I must have some serious issues!

My mouth went dry as I drew another conclusion: If that was all inside my head, then escaping via the orb must mean that I’d brought myself back from the brink of death, or perhaps a vegetative state. I began to tremble lightly: If I had given up at any point, from not bothering to reform myself from the void, to giving in to numbness and fading out, or even just because I didn’t make that final jump, I would be dead! Or at least close enough that it wouldn’t matter! Straining against my bindings again, I tried unsuccessfully to examine myself. Again, I was still unable to move, though I was sure my limbs were trying to. I frowned: How badly injured was I that I had to be restrained like this?

Just then, my thoughts were interrupted by the return of the exotically colored pony, holding a wooden bowl in her mouth. She placed it on a nearby surface that I still could not see, and then began speaking as she turned to face me. “When I found you, you were in such a state, not only injured but you had lost much weight. Dehydrated and starving, and falling from the sky, so many questions to ask, but primarily: Why?” Pausing for a moment, her smile faded. “Answer me now, I know you cannot, so gather your strength, and eat, while it's hot.” With this, she picked up a ladle. Dipping it into the bowl, she then held it to my lips. It smelled delicious, and I found myself salivating. Sighing, I tried to relax again, forcing a smile. There was no use worrying, I was here now, and I would have to take whatever fate had doled out, as usual. I opened wide, and the concoction spilled into my mouth.

As it slid over my tongue, I savored the rich broth and its strange flavors. It had a hint of spices, though there was nothing I could identify. I had only ever cooked basic meals, not being much of a chef, and the restaurants in Cloudsdale did not have that much variety, at least, nothing I would dare try. My taste-buds came alive as I swirled it in my mouth. I almost didn't want to swallow, but my aching stomach and the fact that she was already holding another spoonful at the ready convinced me otherwise. Gulping it down, I licked my lips and immediately opened my mouth for more. I saw her eyes light up at my obvious enjoyment, and she smiled before tipping in another mouthful.

I lost track of time as I ate my fill, but the end came far too soon. Long before I felt full, she got up and took the bowl away. Since I still could not speak, when she returned I gave her my most pitiful look, begging for more with my eyes. Apparently she found this funny as well, as she let out a chuckle. “Yes, pony, there is more broth to be had, but too much too soon would be very bad. For now I think the obvious choice is for me to help you mend your voice.”

As soon as I heard that, I wanted to jump for joy, but of course, I was still unable to move. Instead, I tried to nod repeatedly, excited. As I did, I pulled up against a restraint. Now I was sure I could move, but was being held down. This again brought my earlier fears back to the forefront of my mind. I could understood the need for the restraints at first, before she gave me the potion which numbed my entire body, but what reason could she have to keep me like this now?

Suddenly, I grew cautious; this much generosity for nothing? There had to be a catch. I had no bits to my name, but she must know this as she had brought me here. Was she planning something? My eyes hardened with suspicion, but I tried to stay calm; maybe I was worrying for nothing. Once I could speak, though, I knew I would find out for sure.

She didn't appear to notice my inner conflict, as she brought another bowl over, this one bubbling and letting off a cloud of steam. She placed it near my head; I could feel the heat coming off it, causing the side of my face to begin sweating. She leaned over me, and I felt her teeth grip whatever was holding my head down. As it came away, I watched her remove a tightly wound towel and shake it loose. She placed the towel over the bowl. “Gently, please do go ahead, and to the bowl now tilt your head. Of this steam, now slowly inhale: This housemare's remedy never fails.”

Gingerly, unwilling to risk further injury, I let my head slip to the side. She picked the towel back up, and as my mouth came into contact with the steam, she draped it over both my muzzle and the bowl. I began breathing in deeply, trying to fill my lungs with the stuff. As I did, I became aware of a tightness in my chest. Still grateful for the numbing effect of the earlier brew, I let the steam bathe my throat in moisture. It tasted of mint and medicine, but it was very soothing. And also effective, as I soon found, the tightness in my throat rapidly loosening.

Suddenly I coughed roughly, as something came loose in my esophagus. Hacking, I managed to clear the blockage, feeling several chunks of whatever it was coming to rest on my tongue... and light it on fire! I felt my face contort wildly as my taste-buds burned in agony, as if they were covered in liquid flame. The sensations were indescribable, as one moment it was the most sour thing I had ever tasted, and the next instant it was the sweetest, before then shifting to spicy. I managed to spit it out before it overcame me. It bounced out from under the towel and came to rest on the floor.

It was instantly recognizable – solidified rainbow. As the sensations faded, I breathed a sigh of relief: It ended on the hottest sensation I had ever felt; so hot that the only description could be that it was unbelievably SPICY! Without about ten exclamation marks! The sweat faded from my brow as I looked up at this unusual pony, thinking over what she had said again. Hadn’t she said that she had found me afloat, and that I had swallowed rainbow goo? That was strange. How would I have come across that in the middle of the Everfree? Most rainbows are made in the Cloudsdale weather factory. I concentrated, thinking back. It was hard to remember the last moments of my fall, as it seemed shrouded in darkness and insufferable agony, but I did recall trees around me transforming into strange things.

Then it came to me, picturing the beautiful image of ice crystals merging with liquid rainbow in the last rays of the setting sun. Had I somehow done that? I chuckled internally. Nah, it couldn't have been me. I knew of no such spell. I had long since stopped pursuing any form of magic back when I started working in accounting. The only thing my stupid magic was good for was getting around town. In the back of my mind though, I began to have doubt. Sure, all the math and studying had helped me in my job... but I couldn't help but wonder what might have been. What if did have some kind of crazy magical ability? I snorted. No, my cutie mark was to do with weather, that I have magic is just a mistake. I was meant to be a pegasus after all, just like my parents. My being born a unicorn was just an unfortunate accident.

Now that the obstruction in my throat was clear, the steam really seemed to be doing its job: my voice no longer felt quite so raw. I decided to give it another try, since all the questions piling up in my head were beginning to drive me nuts. Clearing my throat, I took a deep breath and asked the first question that popped into my head

“How... *squeak* ...survive...”

Most of the query did not make it past my lips as more than a squeal, but she seemed to understand. She shifted position, and as she did, now that my head was sideways, I got a glimpse of the room past her on the far side of the main area. For just a split second, I saw an alcove in the wall outlined by vines. In this other room, I saw a bed with a leopard print blanket. There seemed to be a form in the bed, and just as she shifted back, I swore I saw something pink. I suddenly had another question I urgently needed to ask, but it was just then that she answered me.

“I saw you land; this much is true. And I have no qualms in telling you. But I would request that we delay, other ponies are coming today. They will also want to hear, as the other pony is one they hold dear.”

My eyes widened, and I hurriedly cleared my throat again. “*croak* ...yellow pony OK?” More of my sentence made it through this time, and I awaited her response with baited breath. My heart skipped a beat as her smile faded with a sigh.

Her eyes closed as she spoke. “She insisted on helping carry you here; though exhausted herself, she did persevere. She then helped me tend to your injuries. Truthfully, I did not know she had such abilities. Once we had done all we could do, she collapsed; it was up to you. I carried her then into my bed, then I sat down and rested my head. Of severe injuries, she had none; bruised and sore, her strength outdone. She needed rest, I let her sleep: The sun was rising, I had herbs to steep. For early this morning a comrade came for tea, she saw her friend there and to town she did flee. I have no doubt she is gathering her friends...” She suddenly looked up, behind me, as if noticing sudden movement. “Apologies, for now, this is where my tale ends.”

SLAM

The front door swung open with such force that it nearly flew off its hinges. Bottles rattled all over the room from the impact with the wall. The towel fell from my face as I turned my head to see five multicolored mares glaring at me.

I swallowed heavily, another lump in my throat; this did not bode well at all.

One Step Forwards, Two Steps Back

The deadly stares did not falter as the group attempted to enter the room. A chill ran down my spine as flashbacks of deadened eyes began to surface, unbidden. I shook off the memory; I had more current problems. Fortunately for me, the door was not wide enough for them all to enter at once, and provided a brief respite from their fury, as they turned their attention to getting inside, bumping and shuffling against each other. I breathed a sigh of relief, which was cut short as a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane took off and flew over the others. She darted into the room and immediately shoved her face into mine, fury personified.

“What did you do to Fluttershy, you jerk?” she yelled. “Nopony hurts my friend and gets away with it!” Her face pressed my head back as I tried unsuccessfully to shrink away. It was futile of course: I was still tied down, utterly immobile except for my head.

Before she could do anything however, she was pulled back by an orange earth pony in a cowboy hat who had yanked her tail. It was no reprieve though, as her freckled face immediately replaced the rainbow-maned one's. “Stand aside Rainbow, Ah'm goin' first.” She glared at me ferociously. “Ah'm gonna buck this bronco into next week!”

The rainbow one turned her attention to the blond cowpony, returning the dirty trick and also pulling her back via a quick tug on her tail. “No way, I got here first!” she complained angrily, keeping a hoof firmly planted, trapping her. Their argument continued as they began to butt heads against each other. I cringed, still unable to defend myself: These restraints were going to get me killed! As I weakly struggled against my bonds, I almost didn't hear a faint voice in the background. Even though I did, it was soon overshadowed by a white unicorn with a styled purple mane stepping in front of the two arguing ponies.

“... um... girls?"

The new pony gave me a disapproving glance before turning to the purple unicorn that was still by the door. “Twilight, you and I both know that if we let Applejack and Rainbow Dash go first, those ruffians will leave nothing for us ladies. Don't you agree that we should... how do you say it... get the first crack at him?” Even though she was turned away from me, I could see her give this Twilight a demure smile, fluttering her eyelashes beseechingly at her. Immediately afterwards however, she turned back to face me, a deadly glint in her eyes. Even scared out of my mind, I could still just make out a voice in the background trying to make itself heard, but again, it was overtaken.

“Girls, if you could just... ”

The purple mare near the door lifted her hooves over her head and yelled out over the volume of the other ponies in the room. “Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow! Calm down and listen!” Plopping back down, she continued. “Now, if we attack this pony, we’ll be no better than he is. What we need to do is take him before the Princess and let her decide what to do with him." She smiled, but it was an unsettling look: too wide, and with a hint of crazy. "I'm sure any punishment she gives out will be far worse than... ” Trailing off, she became distracted by the antics of the pink pony; the only one who had not tried to barge into the room. She was singing quietly to herself as she strung streamers along the back wall. The purple pony... Twilight from what I had gathered, looked as confused as I was. “Pinkie, what are you doing?”

The pink one... Pinkie?, stopped what she was doing and dangled upside-down from the ceiling. Confetti and streamers seemed to fall slowly from her mane, and several balloons seemed to have tangled in her tail. For the life of me, I couldn't tell what was holding her to the roof. Smiling happily, she twisted her head around to look towards the door. “Yes, Twilight?” she asked, innocently.

Twilight's look of confusion changed to frustration. “Ugh, Pinkie, just get down from there. We’re trying to deal with a serious matter here!”

Pinkie giggled at this and fell to the ground, immediately bouncing up and over to land in the middle of the others. “Oh Twilight, I can't hang my decorations for the “Get Well Soon” party if I stay on the ground. Besides, I think Fluttershy’s been trying to get your attention.”

Just then, the quiet voice, obviously fed up with being ignored, burst through the sudden awkward silence which had followed Pinkie's comment.

GIRLS!

All eyes in the room turned to the back alcove, where a very annoyed yellow pegasus stood, wings flared. As she found herself the center of attention, her wings quickly folded and she shrank back a bit before shaking her head and recovering her poise. “Oh um... right. Please stop threatening the nice pony, he didn't do anything wrong... well, not really anyways... it was kinda my fault... sorta... ” Her confidence seemed to fade as she trailed off into a squeak, tucking her face behind her long pink mane. I started to relax. She was okay! What did they call her? Fluttershy? It really suited her. I felt a sense of satisfaction: I had finally managed to learn her name!

The white unicorn... Rarity?, trotted quickly over to Fluttershy and put her forelegs around her, hugging her tightly. “Fluttershy! You're alright! I was so worried!” Pulling back, she looked into her eyes. “But whatever do you mean, darling? Twilight told us that some rogue stallion had attacked you out here in this nasty forest. She said that the brute had hurt you so badly you were bed-ridden! We all rushed over as soon as we heard!”

Fluttershy peeked out from behind her hair. “Oh... I uh, see. But girls, wherever did you get that idea? That isn't what happened at all!”

All eyes in the room turned to Twilight, who backed away, looking nervous. “What? But when I came over for tea early this morning, Zecora told me that this strange unicorn had hurt Fluttershy.” She pointed a hoof at me and I flinched back in shame.

The focus of all the ponies in the room then shifted to Zecora, who had been ignored by the brash entrance of the group. She was sitting at her table on the other side of the room, sipping quietly from a cup. As the volume finally lowered, and silence came over the group, she placed the cup back on its saucer, now able to speak up.

“Twilight, I said no such thing, your conclusions were your own to bring. What I said was quite exact, if you take time to think back." Shaking her head and letting out a sigh, she leaned forward and locked eyes with Twilight. "If you would, please listen carefully this time. I know it can be hard to do with rhyme.” She cleared her throat and closed her eyes. “Fluttershy has taken quite a fall, this stallion, it appears, was the cause of it all.” Her eyes opened as she affixed a stern look upon the purple mare. “My statement was brief and lacked much detail, no more was given before you turned tail. A lesson forgotten from when we met, a reminder perhaps that you should get. 'Maybe next time you will take a second look, and not judge the cover of the book. ' “

Twilight's cheeks blushed pink and she sat down, hard. “Oh my gosh... I'm so sorry. I jumped to conclusions when I saw that Fluttershy was hurt, and I raced back to town to get everypony without taking the time to be sure of what happened.” Tears formed in her eyes and she raised a hoof to wipe them away. “I'm sorry I wasted your time.” She turned to me. “And I'm truly very sorry we all threatened you.”

All of the mares expressions, filled with anger only moments ago, shifted to embarrassment, as they each found themselves coming to terms with the things they had said. Applejack trotted over to Twilight and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Nuts, Twilight; Ah'dve done the same thing, Ah reckon. Emotions run high when friends are involved. Don't think nothin’ of it. We forgive you.” Applejack then turned to Zecora. “So if this here stallion didn't muss her up, then what did? Ah reckon something still needs a good bucking.”

Zecora leaned forward and stood up, walking softly back over to me, and lifted the fallen towel back onto my face. I wanted to say that I didn't need it, but my throat decided to betray me and squeak again. My eyes were drawn back to the chunk of rainbow on the ground as I began to breathe in the steam once again. What really kept bothering me though was that I still didn't understand how liquid rainbow had gotten out into the middle of the Everfree forest. As the thought crossed my mind again, my eyes shifted to the rainbow-haired pegasus now hovering in the middle of the room. She looked disappointed, forehooves crossed, as if she still wanted to beat something. I studied her and noticed that not only did she have a rainbow mane, but her cutie mark involved rainbows as well. I found myself wondering if she was somehow linked to the rainbow pools out here in the middle of nowhere. Frowning, I put a stop to this train of thought: this was no time to start trying to pin blame. There had been no other ponies around; this was the Everfree after all. There had to be some other explanation.

But wait, then why was Fluttershy there?

I coughed roughly again, feeling more of the gunk in my throat come free. This time I was smart, and swallowed the hard chunks. Let the seeds take care of it: I never wanted to taste the rainbow ever again.

My hacking did not go unnoticed. Zecora looked back at Applejack “The full story is his, but his throat needs more time. I will tell you what I saw, if you can tolerate the rhyme.”

Applejack sighed deeply. “If'n Ah have to, Ah guess Ah can, but you know sometimes Ah have a heap a’ trouble keeping up. But okay, Zecora, go ahead, Ah’ll try an’ follow along.”

Zecora smiled, and took a seat next to me. This time I paid close attention, for I had no idea what had happened after my vision blacked out mid-fall. All eyes turned to her as she began her tale. “I was out for a walk at dusk you see, gathering plants for a new herbal remedy. When up above I heard a loud cry, and a bright purple glow then lit up the sky. Lightning flashed and trees were struck, that I was not hit, I can only thank luck. Surrounding me then was a loud violent storm, on the ground I saw ice and rainbow pools form. Some trees turned to ice, of which a few did explode, others became of rainbow, as liquid they flowed. As colors and crystals merged high in the air... never before have I seen such a sight, I do swear.”

She paused here for a moment, taking a drink from her teacup, allowing time for the shocked mouths of the ponies in the room to close, including mine. My mind raced: everything she said matched up with what I could remember, but that meant that it was true: I was the source of the rainbow juice! I was dumbstruck: I had such magic? All I had used in my job was telekinesis, and since I had no need for anything else, that was all I had ever bothered to learn. Well, that and the childish tricks I had learned in my youth. I had never seen anything like this before, never even heard of this kind of magic. All the pegasus ponies I had worked with had always had to make rainbows by hoof!

Before I could think on this further, she started up again. “Almost as soon as it started it ended; I found myself shocked, as pea soup thick fog surrounded me: my vision nearly blocked. Right away though above, I heard Fluttershy cry: she tumbled, wings closed, as she fell from the sky. The fog bank did save her, it cushioned her fall, she did not come close to the ground then at all. This pony, however was not so lucky, his fall to the earth was cut short by a tree. He broke through the branches, and hit the tree trunk: a sickening sound, a deep fleshy thunk. He bounced off that tree, and into the cloud, I lost sight of him there, but the impact was loud. I raced to the site, only seconds away, in a pool of rainbow, face down did he lay. I did not believe he could survive such a fall, but when freed he was breathing, a very close call! Fluttershy soon did appear, shaking like a leaf, when she saw that he lived, she was in disbelief. She insisted on helping him here to my dwelling, we tended his wounds, and we lowered the swelling. I still do not know how he pulled himself through, that part of the story he will have to tell you.”

She let this sink in: I saw shame grow on the faces of the ponies in the room as they realized that they almost attacked a helpless, injured pony. The first to speak was the white unicorn with the manicured look... Rarity, I believe they called her. She came over to me and looked directly at me. “I think I speak for all of us, dear, when I say we are truly sorry for what we said earlier. When it comes to Fluttershy, I think we all just might be a teensy weensy bit overprotective. I sincerely hope you can accept our most heartfelt apologies.” Her apology was echoed by the other ponies in the room, though the two she had called ruffians did not seem all that enthusiastic about it. I nodded slowly, still unsure of how badly injured I was: I did not want to make myself worse. If I had in fact hit a tree and then the ground as she said, then I could be paralyzed from the neck down for all I knew.

I desperately wanted then to try and ask about my injuries, but Applejack spoke up again before I could make the attempt. “Thank ya kindly, Zecora, that's all well and good, an’ a very interestin’ end a’ the story... But it sure as hay don't tell us how Fluttershy got hurt in the first place. You said she landed in the fog safely, but jus’ you look at her! She looks like Ah do after a week-long rodeo with no sleep. What in tarnation happened?”

Zecora finished her tea and put down the cup. “I do not know, Applejack, I am very sorry. I have not been told that part of the story. This stallion has not been able to speak, and Fluttershy here has been deep asleep. But she is awake now, and for that I give thanks: Perhaps now she can help us fill in some of the blanks?”

As soon as I heard Applejack's concern, I took a closer look at Fluttershy. Wincing, I saw that all was not in fact well, as I had first hoped. Her feathers were in disarray, wings hanging low at her sides. Her hair was still disheveled, and she looked and moved as if she was in pain. Small bags under her eyes emphasized how much this ordeal had drained her physically: Even after sleeping, she still looked exhausted. Tears began to form in my eyes again. I had never wanted to hurt her; I hadn’t wanted to hurt anypony! Why did they care? I wasn’t worth helping. I wasn't worth any of this! Turning my head away, I stifled the tears, unable to look at what I had done. I could not shut out their voices, however, as Fluttershy once again spoke.

“Um... I guess I could... if you really want to know... ” I heard her walk over slowly and take a seat next to Zecora. I then heard the sound of liquid being poured into a cup. “Oh, thank you Zecora. Your tea is always delicious.” The room went quiet enough for me to hear her take a sip. The silence lasted just long enough for it to begin to feel awkward before she piped up again. “Oh, right. Um, well, it all started when I was in that field that borders on the Everfree forest. I was visiting some of the cute little animals that live out there. There are the bunnies, and the ferrets, mice and the birds... Oh! And this sweet little squirrel who likes to pick me flowers. He's just soooo cute... ”

Applejack interjected by clearing her throat. “Eh-hem, you were saying?” Having forced back my tears, and curious about her story, I turned my head back around to face her just in time to see her her cheeks flush at this. I smiled: forget the squirrel, she was the cutest thing I had ever seen when she blushed! My heart began to swell, but I quashed it. I had hurt this pony! I needed to get out of her life as soon as possible.

She started up again. “Oops, sorry... but, um, yes, I was in the field tending to the bunnies when a flash of purple flew overhead. It was moving so fast I couldn't tell what it was. I flew up and followed it to the very edge of the Everfree, but it had flown so high that I couldn't see it anymore. I turned back to go home when I heard the strangest noise from the direction where it had disappeared. It sounded like the wounded cry of some poor creature. I knew right away that I couldn't abandon the poor thing, whatever it was, so I carefully entered the forest." She got strange looks from several of the ponies at this statement, and she smiled awkwardly back at them. "Okay... well... I actually flew well over the Everfree. Really, really, REALLY high above the Everfree. I really didn't want to have to go into it if I didn't have to, and the higher I was, the safer I felt..." Her face flushed red, but she continued. " Well, um, the sound faded, but I kept flying towards where I had last heard it. Off in the distance, I finally saw something, way up above me. It was something purplish falling from the sky. At first I thought it was a purple pelican... Oh, I've always wanted to see one of those! They have the most adorable little pink chicks... ”

This time it was the one called Twilight that coughed. Fluttershy got back on track right away “Right! I flew to it as fast as I could, intending to catch the poor thing, but as I got closer, I could tell that it wasn't a pelican at all! It was a pony! And um... that’s when I... kinda... well... panicked.” She meeped and hid her face behind her hair again, peeking out at the other ponies in the room.

Rainbow Dash, the cyan mare, sighed and gave Fluttershy a stern look. “Ugh, that's your answer to everything! I would've zoomed right in there and saved him, sonic rainboom style.” I had no idea what she meant by that, but I smirked as she posed in midair, attempting to look cool, but instead accidentally knocked a hanging bottle into her face, causing her to lose wing co-ordination. She fell with a thump, landing face-first next to the pink pony, who was stuffing her face with popcorn that she had somehow procured out of thin air.

Fluttershy smiled at this and came out from behind her mane. “Oh yes, that was what I TRIED to do, once I stopped panicking. There wasn't much time, so I thought, ‘What would Rainbow Dash do?’ That's when I knew I had to be brave and I charged right in. He wasn't moving for some reason, so I wrapped my forehooves around his chest and pulled up as hard as I could.” My face began to blush bright red: Oh please tell me she's not going to tell them everything! I wanted to bury myself in a hole.

Thankfully, she didn't, but what she said next made me feel even worse. She lay down at this point, placing her head on her hooves and sighing deeply before continuing. “But... it didn't make any difference. I'm not strong like you, Rainbow Dash. I don't think I even slowed him down. He tried to help me, got me to change our direction to try and land in a lake instead of pulling straight up, b-but I couldn't even do that right!” She started sniffling, and I felt tears come into my own eyes as well. Oh Celestia, I did not want to relive this part. I wanted to cover my ears, I wanted to run away, but of course, I still couldn't do anything. I was as useless now as I had been then. My cheeks felt wet as tears began to roll down my cheeks. I had no choice but to keep listening.

“A-and then, when we were almost in the trees, he tried to get me to let go. To let him die! I wouldn't do it, I couldn't do it, so he tricked me and broke himself free!”

Tears were openly dripping down my face at this point. I couldn't see anymore, but I had the feeling that she was crying too. Suddenly, her voice changed, turning cold and angry. I couldn't see her face through the tears, but even so, I found myself wincing involuntarily, recalling the last time she had sounded like that, and the look she had given me.

“And then my stupid wings locked up! I was so weak that I couldn't even get them back open to just glide down!

Everyone startled at this outburst, but her anger seemed to fade as quickly as it had appeared, her voice returning to normal. “I... I looked at him then, and that's when everything erupted into a bright purple light. It blinded me, I couldn't see anything at all. The next thing I knew, I was crashing into a cloud that wasn't there a moment ago that went all the way from above the trees down to the forest floor. I hit so hard I had to dig myself out, and by the time I did, he had already...” She faltered, but managed to continue, her voice nearly inaudible with emotion. “Already h-hit the ground!”

I managed to blink my eyes free of tears at this point, but now I felt sick to my stomach. As my vision cleared, I saw her wipe away her own before sighing and continuing. “I... I'm sorry. I’ll try and finish now... but um... the rest you kinda already know. Somehow, I managed to help Zecora get him here and then I used every healing trick I know to try and help. But healing a pony is different from helping my little animal friends. I just... I had to try. He somehow didn't appear to have any broken bones, just some major swelling around his head where Zecora said he hit the tree, and bruises and cuts all over his body from what I think are from the branches and hitting the ground. But... um... now he's okay... I guess. We bandaged up all the cuts, anyway. He survived, but I still I don't know how.”

“I know why.”

Everypony turned to face me. My voice had returned, however weakly. It all made a crazy sort of sense now. The things I had seen, the noises I’d heard, combined with the stories I had just listened to, all helped me to piece together my final moments before impact. I knew that it was time to speak up. Now or never.

I cleared my throat, hoping it wouldn't give out. “Before I explain, I have two small requests. You've said I have no injured bones, so could you please let me loose? I'd really like to be upright for this, and not tied down anymore.” The assorted ponies looked at each other, and Fluttershy nodded hesitantly. Zecora got up and untied the other towels with her mouth, pulling each away and laying them on the floor. Once she nodded at me, I rolled over slowly onto my stomach. It groaned and complained, but oh, did it felt good to be upright again!

After giving myself a once-over, and noting all the bandages, I found that I had been tied down onto a wooden bench with some large, colorful towels. Go figure. I turned my attention back to the sea of eyes in front of me. This time, however, the eyes were not filled with anger, or hate, but with curiosity. I knew they must have many questions for me, but that would have to wait until after. I coughed and swallowed a much smaller chunk of rainbow before making my second request. “Secondly, I need you to agree to let me keep this brief for now. I have something very pressing I must attend to, and I promise I will answer all your questions afterwards. Deal?”

All eyes turned to the one called Twilight. I suppose she was the decision-maker of the group. After only a moment, she nodded. “Well... okay, I guess that's fine, but I'm going hold you to that. And I have a lot of questions.” She grinned, and her tone somehow left me feeling dread. What had I just gotten myself into?

Closing my eyes for just a moment, I gathered my thoughts before speaking. “According to you, I hit a tree, then ricocheted into the fog bank before coming to rest in a pool of rainbow juice that had turned to goo because it had mixed with ice. Did I get all that right?” Once again, Zecora and Fluttershy looked at each other and nodded. I smiled. “That’s how I survived. My collision with the tree knocked me into the fog, and the fog slowed me down enough so that I didn't die when I hit the ground, or in this case, that horrible pool of goo.”

Everypony in the room gave me a funny look, and almost immediately, Twilight spoke out. “I'm sorry, but I don't follow. You say the cloud slowed you down? How can that be? Everypony knows that clouds aren't solid to us earthbound ponies. Only pegasus ponies are able to interact with them." Pausing, she looked thoughtful. "Well, I mean, there is that cloud-walking spell, but I only know about that due to extensive research!" Still looking at me with disbelief, she continued. "Besides, even if that was the case, that still that doesn't explain how you got so high above the Everfree Forest.” She had a smug look on her face, secure in her knowledge, and seemingly proud that she had caught me in a falsity. I smiled again; this was not the first time somepony had thought I was lying.

I opened my mouth again to explain, but to my surprise, Fluttershy beat me to it. “Um, Twilight? Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to let you know that that isn't quite completely true. Not if he was a pony who was born with a rare... um... ability, which allows them to interact with clouds like a pegasus.”

Shocked, all eyes turned to Fluttershy, including mine. I was the first to speak. “How in Equestria did you know that?”

Startled by the sudden attention, she covered her head with her hooves and let out a squeak. Before I could apologize and try to ask again more nicely, Twilight interjected. “Sorry again... you'll have to forgive me, but I've never heard of this strange condition before in any of my studies. Could you please elaborate for me?” Inching closer, she had a look in her eyes, as if thirsty for knowledge. I glanced towards Fluttershy, who was still hiding away. I sighed: So many questions were building up in my head again, like what the heck cloud-walking was all about, and how Fluttershy knew about my "condition"... but they would have to wait. I shook my head slowly and cleared my throat again before responding.

Before I continued, however, I raised a hoof in the air. “I can, but you promised I could keep this brief. I swear I will answer all your questions as soon as my urgent matters are attended to.” Seeing her nod, I took a deep breath and began to explain something I had gone over so very many times before.

“Right, well, simply put, I was born a unicorn, but both my mother and father were pegasi. From what I understand, my great-great-great-grandmare was a unicorn, or something like that. When I was born, I was quite a surprise. I was the first unicorn child born in my family.” I looked down at Twilight, who apparently had found quill, ink, and parchment, and was writing this down. I rolled my eyes and continued. "Guess they forgot about whatever ancestor it had been that was a unicorn. Anyway, while I was lucky enough to have strong enough pegasus ancestry to retain the full ability to walk on clouds and touch them as if they were solid, I was not lucky enough to get the lighter bones that pegasi have as well. I'm as heavy as the next unicorn, or so they tell me, since to be honest, I had never met another unicorn before you two today.” I tilted my head towards the white and purple unicorns in turn. “But yes, there you go, that's it in a nutshell. There isn't any real name for it, at least, not that I know of. Most ponies just say that I have 'Pegasus ancestry'.”

She nodded and turned back to the parchment, writing that down. I started to turn back to Fluttershy, only to have Twilight interrupt again. “Not to be a bother, as I know we did promise to keep this short, but since this is the first time I've heard of this, would you mind proving it? I still find it hard to believe. I mean, I know about being able to be born different than your parents, but I didn't see any non-pegasi in Cloudsdale when we all went to the Best Young Fliers competition.”

It crossed my mind again to ask more about how these earth-bound ponies had visited Cloudsdale, but before I could, Applejack interjected. “Um, Twi, not to be a bother, but Ah just wanna mention that Ah kinda saw a unicorn when we were sitting in the stands that day. She was a ways away, but she caught my eye 'cause she was bouncing up and down and looked just like Lyra from back here in Ponyville. Ah didn't say nothin' since Ah just figured she had the cloud-walking spell too, but now Ah cant help but wonder. How would she have gotten up there anyhow? Ah sure as hay didn't see any other balloons around.”

With mouth half full, Rainbow Dash took this time to chime in, having long since sat down and nabbed some of Pinkie's popcorn. “Oh yeah! Can’t believe I forgot! I remember meeting a pony like that when I was just a little filly." She swallowed before continuing. "She was a cool little pink earth pony. Her parents had brought her to Cloudsdale to see family, but she snuck off to watch me race. I bet she was glad she did; that was when I pulled off my first ever sonic rainboom! Aw yeah!” A look of concern suddenly crossed her face. "Huh. Actually, I remember seeing her as I flew by during the race. She was on an awfully small cloud. Hope nothing happened to her."

Twilight gave Rainbow a glare. "Rainbow! I can't believe you! You were the one who almost had a heart attack when Pinkie jumped out of the balloon! And you knew all along!?"

Rainbow shrugged. "I forgot, alright? Its not like you see anything other than pegasi in Cloudsdale, you know." She turned to me. "No offense."

I nodded. "None taken. Honestly, I didn't get out much."

Twilight rolled her eyes and looked back to me. “Okay, apparently it really is true. Any chance I could still get that demonstration though?” She looked up at me pleadingly. I really didn't want to, I was starting to feel worse. But that look... those eyes...

I sighed and caved “Okay, fine, but just a little tiny one. I'm still really not feeling strong, and that's even with this crazy numbing potion. Please remember that I've just been through a lot.” She squealed and clapped her hooves together, and, even annoyed, I couldn't help but smile a little.

Of course, now I had to come up with an example. I still felt drained, so I needed something easy. I looked down at the bowl of water next to me, no longer steaming after being out for so long. Ah! Perfect!

I concentrated, and felt the magic in my horn start to glow. I had already started the spell before Zecora noticed, crying out in dismay.

“No, pony, no! Do not use your magic! The results could very easily be tragic! Right now your horn is weak and brittle; You should not use it, even a little!”

Startled, my spell was interrupted, and only about half the water in the bowl evaporated. Instead of a pony-sized cloud, all that appeared was a little puffball, about the size of a head. Frightened, I looked up cross-eyed at my horn, trying to see what was wrong. I was horrified by what I saw. My horn was nearly white, and criss-crossed with tiny cracks. My mouth dropped open in horror; it looked like it was going to fall off! Why had nopony said anything! Distracted, I didn't notice Zecora come up to me until she plopped a giant glob of green goo onto my horn. Freezing in terror as it started to ooze down my face, I started trying to shake it off, until I felt a warm hoof on my shoulder.

Softly, she reassured me. “Calm now, pony, this potion will help; the substance is made primarily of kelp. It can mend cracks, and will increase its strength, supposedly it will also increase its length." She paused and winked at me, and I found myself blushing, though I wasn’t quite sure why.

"It has properties that can make any bone heal. Now please partake of another light meal.” Taking a deep breath and relaxing, I sighed in relief, and smiled at her. She nodded and walked back over the the cauldron and startled ladling more broth into a bowl. I found myself drooling; I was still starving, even though my stomach felt oddly full now.

That smile faded quickly as my stomach let out another groan. My eyes widened and darted around wildly as I heaved myself to my hooves, getting up off the bench. I stumbled, but caught myself; I was still pretty numb and it was harder than I thought it would be to keep my balance. Oh how I was glad to be numb, I couldn't imagine how painful moving would be if I was still burning alive like I was when I woke up!

Fluttershy gasped and jumped up to block me. “What are you doing! You shouldn't be up! Lay back down right now, mister!”

I grimaced “Normally I'd agree, but I have pressing matters. Also, remember, you all promised.”

She used her head to push me back towards the bench. “What could be more important than getting better?!”

I smiled at her and put my hoof on her shoulder, stepping aside, and almost tripping over my own hooves in the process. “I swear that is the next thing on my to-do list, but right now, I really need to go.”

She gaped at me, shocked. “You can't go, you aren't well enough!”

I groaned loudly in frustration. “I promise that, contrary to your belief, if you let me go, I will probably get better faster once this urgent matter is taken care of. Isn't that right, Zecora?” Putting the emphasis on her name and giving her a pleading look, I began shifting impatiently from side to side.

She laughed and nodded, then pointed to another small alcove, way in the back that I hadn't noticed before. I gathered myself up, wobbling quickly over to the room and slammed the door behind me. As I did, I heard her speak to the others. “Apologies ladies, I gave him too many seeds, and it appears he has finally given in to his needs. Many warnings were given, all seem inadequate, I gave him plenty of notice for his coming need to evacuate.”

I groaned, my face turning bright red, and for more than one reason. Those rhymes were going to kill me!

Interlude: The Quest for Soap

Zecora hadn't been kidding: Those seeds really did have some kick to them! After it was all over, I sat there blushing, madly hoping that none of the ponies in the next room had heard anything. The washroom was a good ways back from the main area... One could hope, right? Right?!?

I was feeling a lot better as I got up, trotting over to the sink. Then I did a double-take. Sink? How did she have a sink in the middle of the forest? Or for that matter, a running-water toilet? Curious, I looked out the small carved bathroom window to see where the water was coming from. What I saw amazed me: She had somehow managed to rig up what appeared to be wooden pipes and had run them from a nearby stream, right to this room. Ingenious. Amazed, I shrugged and turned the wooden spigot, running the water to wash my hooves. As I did, the absurdity of my previous thoughts caught up with me. Of all the things to worry about after a day like today, I was nervous about embarrassing myself in front of a group of pretty mares? Almost all of whom had wanted to beat me senseless just minutes ago? I chuckled softly to myself and shook my head; I was definitely a stallion, alright.

Looking for the soap, I thought about those fillies... wait, no. Those mares... gah! I was still at that age where girls were... well, both I guess. They were just so confusing! It also didn't help that I had trouble figuring out which term each pony preferred. Unless their age was obvious, I had decided ages ago to just base it on how they acted, unless corrected. Who would ask a pony their age or which term they preferred in normal circumstances anyway?

I began thinking about the group I had just met, starting with Zecora. Such a strange and exotic-looking pony... though to be honest, I was still not completely sure she even was a pony. While she was shaped like one, and has a cutie mark, that hair, and that coloring... Hrm. Well, either way, she was definitely a mare, no doubt about that. She not only seemed older and more mature than the rest, but her medicinal skills and motherly manner made it easy to tell. The fact that she spoke in rhyme stumped me though. I had never heard of such a thing, but I shrugged it off as a quirk, or some unknown medical condition.

Reflecting on the other ponies I’d met today, I found it harder to classify them, perhaps because they all seemed to be about my age, where they were still transitioning from their teenage years to adulthood. I knew I would probably continue to have trouble with that unless I got to know them better, and as I realized that, I tried to clear my head. I knew that I wasn't planning on that!

Returning to my search, I realized that no soap was obviously available at the sink for some reason. Not wanting to leave with dirty hooves, I started looking around the bathroom, my idle mind slipping back to my previous thoughts. The first unicorn I had ever met came to mind. The purple one, Twilight. Bookish, seemed full of knowledge... perhaps too full? She had seemed kinda smug when she thought she was right, but at least she apologized and admitted when she was wrong. All in all, she seemed nice. She also seemed to be sort of the leader of the group, though I had the feeling that if asked, she would say they were all equals. Despite this, the others seemed to look to her for guidance. Mare.

Rarity. Another unicorn. I’d gone my whole life without meeting one, and then... BAM. Two at once. Of course, then, they had wanted to beat the stuffing out of me. I sighed, still looking around the room. Oh well. She was too easy. Based on the way she spoke and moved, and her highly styled mane, perfectly groomed coat, and shining, unblemished hooves, she obviously tried to act the most ladylike, most proper. Her speech patterns almost took it too far, like she was trying to pretend to be upper class, or royalty. If that was the case, that could easily drive away other, more normal ponies, especially if she lost her head and came to believe that she really was somehow better than them.

Shaking my head, I chuckled. But that couldn’t be right. All these ponies seemed to be her friends, and some of them were right down to earth. She must walk some crazy line between high class and average pony. Either way, there was no doubt about it. Definitely mare.

Now, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. What a pair. What had Rarity called them? Ruffians? That might be a bit much, but they sure were fiery. Applejack seemed quite down to earth, and her accent had me leaning towards some kind of country living, so probably a farmer of some kind. Based on her cutie mark and name, I could probably bet bits on apple farmer and win big. Though that was a little weird... I frowned, pausing. None of the other ponies seemed from the country, and she was the only pony who spoke that way. Wonder why...

I rolled my eyes, now trying to read the labels I’d spotted on some bottles that were around the bathtub. Another mystery. Good job, Indigo. Even more questions. But back to the topic at hand. She was lean and muscular, but not overly so. Charming when she wants to be, or deadly when the situation calls for it. Mature, I'd say. So probably another mare.

Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, seemed lively and flamboyant. There was absolutely no way that her mane was natural. I mean, I’d seen manes with two, maybe three colors, but she was just off the scale with six. I also tried not to be offended that she was missing my color, indigo... now that would be silly... and petty. Harumph.

Anyways, even though she had not spoken too much, what little she had and the way she acted made her seem very rough and tumble, especially when she had failed that pose and knocked herself silly. I still didn't know what a sonic rainboom was supposed to be, but she sounded overly proud about it, and herself. First impressions? She still has some growing up to do, and I think she would probably take kinder to the term filly, if anyone ever dared to addressed that way.

Growing frustrated by my fruitless search, having still not found anything that resembled soap, I started rummaging through the bottles under the sink. Where was that accursed thing? It wouldn’t make sense for someone like Zecora to not have some! Not in the middle of a filthy forest, anyway. Picking up a pink bottle reminded me of the last pony to arrive, the one called Pinkie. Pink mane, pink coat, makes sense, I guess. Not the most original name, but who was I to talk! Her name was about the only thing about her that did, though. Bouncing instead of walking, hanging from the ceiling, seemingly able to produce snacks and party supplies from thin air... it was almost as if she had magic. But that would be silly, she was an earth pony. I’m sure that if stuck around and took the time, I'd find logical explanations for everything... right? I put the bottle back down, bemused. Hyperactive and crazy, this one was definitely still a silly filly.

Sighing, I gave up my search and lay my head down on the edge of the sink. Turning my attention to the water I had accidentally left running while I searched, dejectedly I dipped my mouth into the half-full basin and took a long slow drink. Having avoided it as much as I possibly could have, my thoughts finally turned to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy. Now here was a girl I couldn't pin down. One moment she seemed to be brave and courageous, the next timid and... well... shy. Not to mention more cute than any filly had a right to be. It didn't even seem intentional! And if she gets angry, wow, watch out. A shiver ran down my spine again as I remembered the look she had given me... that icy stare of doom.

The feeling passed and I found a smile growing on my face as I remembered the first time I had seen her though, wings spread, forehooves wrapped around me, a look of purpose and determination on her face. And those eyes, those deep, caring eyes... I sighed, happily this time. I never thought I'd ever be cared about again. I’d honestly given up on everything as I fell, but caring? I had lost hope of ever feeling that again a very long time ago.

A splash of water from the faucet went up my nose and I snorted, reality setting back in. My smile was instantly replaced by a scowl as I placed my hooves on the edge of the sink, picking myself back up. What the hay was I thinking? Dangit Indigo, you almost killed that filly, and all you can think about is how she “cares”? Zecora seems to “care” too, but who knows, they could all have some kind of ulterior motive, or just feel like they are obligated to for some reason. You thought your friends cared too, and look what happened.

Betrayal.

Abandonment.

I would not let it happen again.

I slammed my hoof down in anger, both at myself, and my so-called friends. Said hoof happened to land neatly on a pink leaf prominently placed next to the sink, which promptly slipped aside with a squeak. Suddenly unsupported, my head came crashing down to hit the edge of the sink, promptly knocking me silly. Once my ears stopped ringing, I groaned, picking the leaf up off the floor. Rubbing it between my hooves, a liquid began seeping from the pores, lathering up quite nicely.

Ah. Of course. This was Zecora's house after all, why wouldn’t she use something natural? Despite it all, a small smile returned to my lips.

As I stood there, finally scrubbing my hooves under the cool running water, I found the quiet and solitude lent itself to helping my mind continue to wander, now over the circumstances I now found myself in. Losing my job, being abandoned by my friends... and then some crazy explosion which left me high above the Everfree forest. My smile faded again; I still had only rough memories of what had happened then, and none of them were good.

The last thing I remembered with any clarity at all was those horrible jocks making fun of me, and revealing how my entire life up to that point had just been a big joke to everypony. Everypony but me. After that? Everything went sideways. All I had to go on was some disjointed images and smells. Faces lying on the clouds before my hooves. The sight and smell of burning furniture and paper in the place that had been my home for so many years. Rows of dead, staring eyes, pushing me away from them, away from the only place I had ever known.

I shuddered, closing my eyes and trying to skip those, to focus on the later scenes. More broken images, but I concentrated on the one that was the most clear: An image of myself as I flew over a lake. I tried to repress my emotions as I studied my reflection. My mouth, open wide, silently screaming to a world that didn't care, my black mane and tail streaming back, pushed by the invisible wind, my eyes, open impossibly wide, glowing as tears streamed from them, causing ripples in the lake as they hit, far behind me...

My eyes shot open in surprise. Wait, glowing? Realization set in as I re-closed my eyes and focused on that image again. Glowing eyes, body surrounded by a faint haze of shimmering purple. No visible bright bolts of lightning, but it would have been going on for quite some time at this point. There was no mistaking it, it had to be the same surge of power I had managed to tap into as I fell into the trees.

Confusion set in. What was it? Where had it come from? Why had I never seen it before? What had it done to me? Questions raced through my mind, and I had answers for none of them. I tried to piece it together. Something had... happened there, in Cloudsdale. Something that Hoops, or maybe Dumbbell had said, had triggered... something... deep inside. Something... primal. Something I can't define.

I hit the wall with my hoof in frustration; I didn't understand any of this! Was this something normal for unicorns? Had I hit some kind of puberty growth spurt? I thought I was passed all that. I gritted my teeth, anger bubbling to the surface again. If I had been raised by unicorns, would this have never happened? Would I at least know what was going on, or how to stop it? Was my accursed ancestry somehow to blame?

Almost unwillingly, I found my head turning around to look over at my smooth, wingless back, my anger dissipating, leaving a feeling of overwhelming sadness. Of course it was. It always was. If I had been born a pegasus, like I should have, like my parents probably wanted, then none of this would have happened. I would have grown up, gone to flight camp, joined the Junior Speedsters, gotten my cutie mark (probably something to do with flying or weather), and eventually gone to join my parents working at the weather factory. Not as a stupid accountant, but as somepony who could actually work with the elements!

Tears filled my eyes as I thought of my parents again. The last time I had seen them, as they put on their work smocks and hard hats before cantering out our front door. Dad turning to wave goodbye; Mom promising she'd bake me a cake when she got home to celebrate my cutie mark... And then they both flew away, and I never saw them again.

Weeping silently, I cursed my life. If I had just been born a pegasus, I would have probably gotten my cutie mark on a different day, and they wouldn't have been late to work. They wouldn't have been in the wrong place at the wrong time when the rainbow juice somehow got poured into the cloud machines; they were scheduled to be working in the snowflake room that day. They would have been safe, in the only area of the factory that was unaffected by the explosion.

My head slumped to the floor, tears pooling around it. I had made them late. I was the reason they had been walking through the cloud-making room when the shock wave hit. It was my fault they were there, that the resulting storm... explosion... rainbow thing took them from me. I was to blame for it all. And it was all because I had been born... different.

I punched the wall again with my hoof. Why me? Why did I have to be different? Was I destined to be outcast forever? And if this is my destiny, then why does everything in my life have to go wrong? What possible purpose could that serve?! Tears continued to silently roll down my face as I hit the wall again and again, unable to feel anything, the numbness betraying me as I punched it harder and harder until...

A sudden voice brought me back, as somepony knocked on the door. “Um... Hi... uh... sorry to intrude... but are you okay in there? I, uh, thought I heard some banging noises... unless I was imagining things...” I heard shuffling, as if she was nervously shifting back and forth. “Oh my, I'm sorry: am I interrupting? I’m so sorry.. um... Ill just... I'll just let you finish... sorry... squeak!”

My eyes snapped open. No! I couldn't let her, of all ponies see me like this. I scrambled back to my hooves, wiping my eyes clear with a forehoof as I turned to face the door. For a moment I was glad my throat was still sore; coughing for a moment, I was able to give myself time to get back in control.

After taking a few deep breaths, I managed to reply calmly. “No... Sorry, I’ll be out in a moment. Everything is fine.” Internally I winced. I didn't like lying, especially not to her. Everything was NOT fine, but she didn’t need to worry about me. As soon as I could, I was going to get out of her life, out of everypony's life. Even if she really did care, and didn't have some ulterior motive like everypony does, I couldn't stay around her, or any of them. I'd just ruin their lives as well.

Everypony I had ever cared about had either been the victim of something or had abandoned me, and I just knew it all was somehow all my fault. I would not let that happen to her too. Even ponies who I didn't like, those bullies, and maybe others I couldn't remember, had been hurt by me somehow. I wouldn't risk that happening again. Not to her. Not to anypony.

I heard another squeak from the other side of the door. Despite myself, I felt my lips stretch slowly into a smile as I pictured her standing there, hiding beneath her mane, probably blushing due to standing outside a bathroom, talking to the pony inside. A few more incomprehensible squeaks secured that image in my mind, as I heard her hoofsteps quietly fade as she walked back towards the main room.

Taking a deep sigh of relief, my smile quickly turned into a frown. No! What was I doing? I can't let myself care for her, she’s already gone through enough thanks to me. I slapped myself with my hoof, hard. Look what you’ve already done to her! She almost died because of you! In fact, she would have if you hadn't managed to do something crazy that you didn't even know you could do!

I dunked my head under the water, hoping to clear my mind. The sudden shock of the cold water did the trick, as thoughts of the cute yellow filly were replaced by the dull roar of running water. For a moment, I relaxed, my mind clearing. Then, of course, the sound brought back thoughts of the earlier purple haze. All my memories were tainted, obscured by a similar noise.

Now that I had regained control of my emotions, I found myself thinking deeper about that haze, comparing the one I had managed to trigger somehow myself with the bits and pieces I remembered of the first one. There hadn’t any pain when the purple haze first took hold, in Cloudsdale. Had something been different that time? Listening to the white noise of the water, I compared the situations. The first time had been triggered by... something... I had seen things in my mind after all they had said to me, as I broke down... but what was it? What had I seen? Heard? Felt?

Concentrating, I scrunched my eyes shut, wondering why it seemed hard to remember...

FLASH

I jumped and banged my head on the waterspout as the blocked scene flashed momentarily in my mind. I had to shove a hoof in my mouth to stop from crying out, as the flash of images and sound made me want to scream incoherently. My head rang as the sound of horrible, demonic laughter faded. I took the hoof out of my mouth and cradled my head, now aching as I came quickly to the obvious conclusion: some things are best left forgotten, especially if they can cause... that. After all that had already happened, I really didn't want to lose my mind. My sanity was really all I had left.

I rubbed my head where I had felt the impact of the faucet. Despite still not feeling any pain, I turned my attention to the mirror to make sure I hadn't broken the skin. More bruises would go unnoticed, but bleeding, on the other hoof, would not. As my eyes focused on the face in the mirror, I froze instantly. My jaw dropped open in shock, and I fell onto my rear, hard, as I scooted backwards away from the mirror. I found my mouth moving, but no words came forth.

My pupils shrank in fear and I began to tremble as a monster stared back at me from the other side.

Resistance

Once my heart stopped trying to explode, I slowly inched back over to the sink, where the water was still running. From my seat on the floor, I reached up and turned off the faucet with a trembling push. Still shaking slightly, I placed my hooves on the edge of the sink and raised myself up, back into the range of the mirror. The creature stared back, and I found that I was looking at myself. Other than its bright yellow eyes though, the thing in the mirror looked nothing like me.

The pony that stared back at me was disheveled, coat filthy and ungroomed. In fact his purplish-blue coat was still discolored by swirls of rainbow goo, giving the majority of his body a muddy brownish-grey tinge, with areas of bright random colors. As I looked myself over, I saw that I must have been completely submerged in it at some point. The colors were smudged and faded however, as if somepony had tried to sponge me off a bit, but years of working at the weather factory told me that it would take a much more thorough cleaning than that to get my coat to look even close to normal. In fact, it would probably take days of scrubbing for my coat to return to its vibrant hue again after taking a dunk in rainbow juice... along with whatever else had mixed in from the forest floor.

My mane, for the most part, was as bad as I expected. Matted and tangled, filthy, but still black, at least for the most part. Seems that the rainbow juice had a harder time soaking into that, or it had been easier to wash out. What made my jaw drop again was that narrow swaths of it had somehow gone grey. Not just regular grey, but a bright shining grey, more of a silver, really, than anything. And not just a little at the roots or tips, but each strand had changed completely from top to bottom. As I reached down and pulled my tail into view, I found it was the same; messy, and streaked with silver. As I looked closer at it, the silver hairs seemed to shine in the light, almost as if it was made of some metal. Still in shock, I poked and prodded at them. They were definitely still hair, though I had never seen anything like it before. Another mystery that I wanted answers for.

What concerned me the most, though, as I examined myself, was that I found myself suddenly thin, to the point of looking malnourished, even emaciated! I had always been a bit pudgy, so this change was completely out of the blue. How long had I been up there! I studied my reflection, swallowing a sudden lump in my throat. My eyes were sunken yet swollen, my skin pulled tight all over my body, outlining every muscle I could see. Around my chest, it had gotten to the point where my ribs were obviously visible. Large sections of my torso had blossomed into deep, discolored bruises. No wonder Zecora had been so insistent on getting food into me right away; I looked like some kind of horrible zombie pony, about to keel over at any second, or maybe even about to eat somepony. My stomach rumbled again, reminding me that she had more food ready for me once I was finally ready to leave the washroom and face them again. And sweet Celestia, did I need it apparently!

While all these thoughts passed through my mind, it was the startling change to my body that caused me the most panic. I found myself almost hyperventilating at the sight, and before I knew it, I was trembling again. Before I could get a hold of myself, I was already running for the exit. I pulled the bathroom door open and bolted out... finding myself face to face with a bright pink pony who had pressed herself right up against it. With absolutely no space to stop, I barged right into her. We tumbled into the main room, a jumble of hooves and mane. I wound up flat on my back as the pink one, seemingly unfazed by the impact, stood over me with a big goofy grin on her face.

Before I could even catch my breath, her mouth popped open and words started pouring out everywhere. “Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie! I heard you moving around back there and so I figured you were about to come out, so I stood by the door because I wanted to finally meet you because I haven't met you before and if I haven't met you before you must be new here and if you're new then you must not have any friends yet and so I thought that must be lonely so I decided since I was already throwing Fluttershy a ‘Get Well Soon’ party that this could also be your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party and we could have snacks and games and there would be balloons and streamers and then maybe you wouldn't be lonely anymore and you would get better faster since I want you to get better faster, even though I've never met you before and the ‘Get Well Soon’ party was for Fluttershy but she doesn't seem that hurt but wow you look like Twilight did after all those things fell out of the delivery wagon on her! But I think that maybe the party already helped and you are feeling better already because you charged out of the washroom like Whoosh! and I was there and it was all Zoom! Bang! Crash! And then we landed on the floor and I was on top of you and then I said Hi!!!”

After what seemed like an impossibly long time, she finally paused and started to take a deep gasping breath. As she did, my eyes finally stopped rolling around my skull long enough to shake my head clear and look up at her. When I did, my jaw dropped so far that I think it hit my chest. Her face was only millimeters away, her wide open mouth almost touching mine as her poofy mane brushed against my forehead. She was bouncing up and down on all four hooves which, since they were all around me, had pinned me to the floor. Each time she landed her chest softly squished against mine: though thankfully she was not putting any real weight on me. Her eyes were closed, so I don't think she even realized what she was doing. Blushing involuntarily, I weakly tried to pull myself out from under her. I had no idea what to do, how to react. This was completely out of my comfort zone.

Before she could start up again, I was miraculously saved. I heard a loud gasp and then from out of nowhere Fluttershy tackled Pinkie Pie, pulling her off of me and landing in another pony pile back in the alcove with the leopard print blanket.

Everypony in the room stared at the spectacle: This was obviously not something that this shy pony does often. As suddenly as she had appeared, she pulled herself up and backed away from Pinkie, her cheeks glowing as she forced herself to speak out. “Oh my, I'm so sorry Pinkie. I um... don't know what came over me, but this really isn't the time to jump on the poor dear. He was in a lot of pain before Zecora gave him that medicine, and where there's pain, there’s injury, even if we can't see it. At least, I think so... maybe?”

She started to shrink back, but her eyes filled with determination and she stood tall again for a moment and finished. "But um, neither Zecora or I have enough medical training to tell just how badly he might be hurt inside. So if I could just ask, you know, um, for everypony to try not to touch him, that would just be perfect. Um... pretty please?”

Her courage finally faltering, she once again withdrew behind her mane with a squeak. It was obvious to anypony that she did not feel comfortable speaking out in public and drawing attention to herself, but for some reason she was making the attempt. Despite not really knowing her, I was glad to see she was trying to overcome her shortfalls, but it made me wonder how she had gotten this way in the first place, or if this was just somehow normal for her.

Pinkie Pie rolled out of the blanket and hopped up nonchalantly. Cantering over to Fluttershy, she put a reassuring forehoof over her cowering form. “Aw, it’s OK Fluttershy, I guess I just got a little overexcited. I promise I'll keep my hooves to myself... at least for today. You know how I get when I meet new ponies.”

Fluttershy peeked out from behind her bangs. “Will you Pinkie promise?” She asked timidly.

Pinkie looked a little surprised, but shrugged and took a seat on the ground. “Well, sure, if it means that much to you." She coughed into her hoof. "Ahem. I, Pinkie Pie, promise to be careful and keep my hooves off of... um... ” She trailed off, her eyes widening as her gaze passed over the others before coming to rest on me. “Oh my gosh! We never asked you what your name was!”

An awkward silence filled the room. I had managed to roll over at this point and had just put my hooves back on the ground. Rarity swept gracefully over to me and extended me a courtesy hoof to help me up. As I took it gratefully, she spoke. “So sorry, my dear! How very rude of us to interfere with your healing and not at least inquire into such an important thing as the name of the pony we nearly accosted! May we please ask for your forgiveness and your name?”

Still partially dazed from the recent impacts to my head, I responded without thinking. “Uh, it’s Indigo. Indigo Flash. Of Cloudsdale.” As my thoughts began to focus again, however, I cursed myself inwardly. They didn't need to know that. The less they knew, the better, and the sooner you can get out of their manes. Besides, you already told them you were from Cloudsdale, you idiot! Hurriedly, I added “Don't worry about all that other stuff though, I'm fine.” Taking a step gingerly, I found myself tipping and began to fall over.

Instantly I found a white flank propping me up. “You most certainly are not! No offense dear, but you look absolutely horrid. You need rest, food, and time to heal. I'm sure a closer look from Nurse Redheart back in town is also called for. No offense intended Fluttershy, dearie, but while your veterinary skills are unmatched, I think a proper checkup is in order.” Fluttershy nodded at this, not seeming to mind at all.

Rarity paused, then turned to Pinkie. “Um, Pinkie my dear, did you say something about a party?” she asked, giving her a curious look that seemed to have a tinge of apprehension.

Pinkie clopped her hooves together. “Oh right! Just lemme finish this first.” Clearing her throat loudly, she restarted her promise. “I promise to help Indigo get better and not hurt him anymore.” Waving her hooves in a choreographed movement that she had obviously used many times, she swore: “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Finishing her routine, she shoved her hoof into her eye. I winced. Didn't that hurt at all?

Smiling sheepishly, she looked to Fluttershy. “That good?”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled, coming out from behind her mane as she stood up. “Yes.”

Pinkie jumped for joy. “Okie dokie lokie! Its time for a party!”

Twilight put a hoof to her forehead and groaned. “Please don't tell me you're going to run back to Ponyville to set up a big party, like you did when I was the new pony in town. Even after all this time, I still sometimes have trouble tasting things properly, thanks to that hot sauce debacle.” Sticking her tongue out and shuddering, she then smiled cheerfully. She was obviously in a much better mood now than she had been earlier, as she turned to face the pink pony.

Laughing, Pinkie Pie skipped towards her. “Nah, I'm all good. We're gonna have a party right now!” Raising a hoof, she pointed behind the other ponies, to where she had been sitting earlier. After having finally regained my balance and getting all four hooves under me again, I looked over to where she was gesturing. As all eyes focused on the area, everypony in the room seemed to simultaneously realize that she had somehow produced and laid out several plates of treats, mostly what appeared to be cupcakes with different colored frostings. Next to the platters I could make out the distinctive shape of soda bottles. Also, at some point, she had finished hanging the all those decorations she’d begun upon arrival, as streamers and balloons now littered the ceiling. A big banner was strung across the back wall, reading “Get Well Soon!”. Underneath the printed text, it appeared somepony had hastily scrawled “and Welcome to Ponyville!” in what appeared to be purple frosting.

Twilight spun back around towards Pinkie, a look of incredulity on her face. “What? But... but... when did you manage to finish setting all this up? I saw you stop and sit down!”

Pinkie Pie stopped, and covered her mouth, giggling. Waving her hoof as if dismissing the question, she replied. “Oh, I finished all that while he talking about that whole pegasus ancestry stuff. I already knew all about that from when I used to visit my great aunt Surprise, way back when I was just a little Twinkie Pinkie!”

Twilight's look of confusion only deepened. “Huh? What? Then why didn't you say anything earlier?”

Pinkie grinned mischeviously and sang out in a sing song voice: “You didn't aaaa-aaask!”

Twilight groaned as Pinkie continued, shrugging. “Besides, it's not like its a secret or anything. Great auntie Surprise was a pegasus too, so I got the talk when I was still just a little filly, no bigger than Applebloom.” Her normal bounciness seemed to fade a bit as she walked slowly over to the window where the puny little cloud I had created had ended up after being neglected and left to drift. Looking straight at Twilight, she lifted a hoof and shoved it right into the cloud. It went right through, a few small puffs coming out the other side. "Too bad I wasn't as lucky as him though." She said, pointing at me with her other hoof. "I'd love to jump on clouds like Rainbow! It was super fun when we went to Cloudsdale!"

Everypony's mouth hit the floor at this revelation: She had a bit of pegasus ancestry? Obviously, she couldn't really touch the cloud, but still: she had some? Pinkie continued, nonplussed, as if this was normal. “I remember lots of things from way back then. Let's see... like um... oh! I could tell you what he meant earlier, when he said 'Full ability to walk on clouds.' "

Pinkie shook her hoof, easily escaping the cloud as it slowly drifted up towards Rainbow Dash, who swooped down and caught it. Once free, Pinkie put the same hoof to her mouth and tapped her chin, adopting a thoughtful expression. "How did it go again?" She paused, rubbing her temples forcefully with both hooves. Suddenly, she popped up, eyes open wide, glinting in the candlelight. "Oh yeah! Basically, it goes something like this. You can get different special stuff if you have a pegasus in your family. Like if your mother, or your uncle, or your great grandmare twice removed was a pegasus, and you weren't you might still get some cool abilities. Auntie Surprise told me that the most common one is light bones. She said that they can be anywhere from as heavy as an earth pony’s, to as light as Rainbow Dash's!"

Rainbow, who was still hovering near the ceiling, appeared to take offense at this. Swooping down a bit, she gave Pinkie a glare from close range. "Hey! Who are you calling a lightweight?!"

Pinkie just giggled and jumped, wrapping her forehooves around Rainbow's outstretched neck and pulling her to the ground with a crash. Rainbow groaned at the impact, her eyes spinning as Pinkie ruffled her hair playfully. "You are, silly! Well, your bones are, anyway. Light bones make it so you fly faster, and higher, and crazier! If you aren't born a pegasus though, you usually have stupid, normal, heavy bones."

She released the cyan pony and jumped back to her hooves. Standing up on her hindlegs, she began clopping her hooves together in glee. Rainbow Dash, having recovered at this point, leapt into the air and tackled Pinkie. I couldn't tell whether the expression on her face was playful or annoyed, but they collided with the back wall with a thud, knocking loose several masks. Zecora frowned, but Pinkie didn't seem to mind though, as she started laughing. "Ha! Gotcha!" Rainbow exclaimed, grinning mischievously as she got to her hooves, standing over her.

As she backed away, her victorious look faded into confusion as Rainbow Dash glanced sideways at Pinkie. "But uh, Pinkie? How do you know all that stuff about Indigo anyways?"

Pinkie stopped laughing abruptly and gave Rainbow a strange look. "Huh? What do you mean, silly? Weren't you listening earlier? He told us all about that before he had to run off to take care of his 'urgent business'." She smirked, and I felt my face grow red, but I refrained from saying anything. She rolled over from her back to her stomach and continued. "Besides, I can tell! He ran into me, remember? He's a heavy boy!"

Rainbow Dash looked taken aback for an instant, but quickly regained her composure. "Uh, yeah! I didn't forget, I was just... uh... testing you. Right! Yeah! Good job!" Bracing herself, she flapped her wings and took back to the air, returning to the rafters, where she took a seat on my tiny cloud, which barely held her. The shadows in the roof darkened her face, but not enough to hide the look of embarrassment as her face reddened.

Pinkie got back to her hooves and shook her head, before smiling and looking back towards me. "Aaaanyways... where was I?" She paused, thinking. "Oh yeah! Auntie Surprise also mentioned something about a pegasus who couldn't touch clouds, and an earth filly who could. She said they were probably just old mares’ tales, but if Rainbow met one..." Pinkie’s eyes twinkled and she nearly vibrated in glee. "EEEEE! I can’t wait to tell her at the next family reunion!"

Twilight's mouth hung wide open, stunned by all this information. Suddenly she shook her head, the look of confusion replaced by one of frustration. “Pinkie, we've known each other for a long time now. Why didn’t you tell us about this before?”

Surprisingly, Pinkie's expression shifted into a frown at this comment, something I had begun to think I would never see on her face. Her mane seemed to lose a little more of its puffiness as she looked down, scuffing her hoof on the floor. "Well, like I said, you didn’t ask. And... I... I don't really talk much about weird things like that. At least, not anymore, ever since that whole Parasprite thingy. I know you all think that I'm hyper and crazy and... how did you put it, Applejack? A few apples short of a bushel?"

Across the room, I saw Applejack, who had been nonchalantly leaning against a wall, startle at this. Losing her composure, her hat fell from her head, landing upside-down on the floor. Cheeks rosy and chuckling awkwardly, she stuttered. "Oh... um... wow... hoo boy, Ah'm mighty sorry Pinkie... Ah didn't mean to, uh... oh, horseapples." Trailing off as her face grew more and more red, she picked up her cowpony hat and replaced it, tilting it steeply to hide her rosy face.

Pinkie didn't seem to notice, and continued softly. "So since then, I try and keep the craziest stuff to myself if it isn't super important. Besides, you don't need to know all the random things I know, just like how I don't need to know all that magic stuff you know, right Twilight?” Suddenly perking up, the frown disappeared, replaced by another big smile. “Anyways, because of my great aunt, I've got the light bones too! It's awesome, cause I can fly around with balloons whenever I want and I can run really really fast!”

While all this had been going on, Twilight had levitated her quill and parchment again and had been scribbling furiously. At Pinkie's admission, however, her magic cut off abruptly, causing the writing materials to fall to the floor with a clatter. She rushed over to Pinkie and hugged her tightly. “Pinkie, I know we said some hurtful things during the Parasprite swarm; we were all stressed out of our minds and... well... we all went a little crazy. But I know I speak for all of us when I say that we meant it when we said we were sorry, and that we should have listened to you.” She pulled away, holding her hooves. “We all love you for who you are, and you don't need to try and hide anything about yourself to make us happy.”

The other girls took this moment to all gather around and give their own apologies. All traces of sadness were gone from her eyes as Pinkie stretched her arms around the group and squeezed them tightly. My eyes widened at this feat, as did all of theirs; she looked to be hugging them so tightly that I could've sworn I heard spines cracking. Gleefully, she laughed, “Oh girls, I love you too, and I know you didn't mean all those Meany McMeanyPants things you said. I forgave you forever ago!” Releasing them from her death grip, she started hopping around the room again happily.

Rainbow took to flying again after taking a few deep breaths, obviously desperate for air after that bear hug. Swirling around Pinkie, she ruffled her bouncy pink mane and laughed. “Yeah, I remember the last time you thought we didn't like you anymore. I really hope you got all that crazy out of your system.” A look of curiosity came over her face. “Hey Pinkie, what did you do with all of that weird stuff you had in your room that day anyway?”

Pinkie paused looking thoughtful. “Hmm, let’s see... Rocky's at the bottom of a lake, I buried Mr. Turnip in the back of Carrot Top's garden... hehe, she was so surprised when she dug him up!” Her eyes crossed, concentrating. “Um, I dunno what happened to Sir Lintsalot; I think Gummy probably ate him when I wasn't looking... Oh! And I cut open Madame LeFlour and turned her into cupcakes! Lots and lots of delicious cupcakes!” Pinkie salivated, licking her lips as she remembered. “I made her into so many that after I ate a ton I had a tummy ache for hours! Even then I still had some left over, so I had a cupcake sale at Sugarcube Corner. Remember that day, Zecora? It was a super extra special day because you came to town, so I gave everypony one for free! Hehe, I guess I could say you all ate a bit of her!”

Rainbow Dash landed with a thump, laughing. “Nice one, Pinkie! That must've been an awesome prank on Carrot Top. Wish I had seen it!”

Pinkie giggled. “It was! But you were busy with weather patrol when she finally got to that part of her garden, so I watched her myself. It was hilarious!”

The rest of the ponies, myself included, were flabbergasted by this confession. Zecora was the first to recover, and voiced what I'm sure we were all thinking. “Buried, drowned, cooked and consumed. Creatures with names, or so I have assumed. But this cannot be true; it does not make any sense. The Pinkie we know would not even kill in defense. So without judging, I will sit here and wait, and pray you do not tell us it is a pony we ate.” By this point, Zecora was positively green, and Rarity looked absolutely horrified, visibly gagging.

Before I had a chance to look at the others, Pinkie gasped loudly and reared up, pawing at the air in a panic. “Oh, no no no no no!!! I would NEVER do anything like that! They were just... things! Things that were lying around Sugarcube Corner. When I thought my friends hated me, I went a little loco in the coco, and decided I needed to make new friends: and so I did. Literally!" She shrugged. "Seemed to make sense at the time. A pile of rocks, a bucket of turnips, a ball of lint and dust... and a big bag of flour.” Regaining her composure, if you can call it that, she gave the ponies a look of disbelief. “You actually thought I killed and cooked up a pony? And then fed it to everypony in town? That's just disgusting! Where would you even get such an idea?”

Though she was turned towards the others, for some reason I saw her right eye, the one that faced me, shift, as if she was looking sideways, out the window. Her eye had a look to it, as if she was watching, or recognizing something out there, and the look she was giving was of disapproval. I turned to look, and saw a flash of light, but it was just a torch flickering outside and the forest beyond. By the time I looked back, her eye had returned to normal, aimed back towards Zecora. I shrugged it off; must have just been a trick of the candlelight in here.

Rainbow Dash walked over and put a foreleg over Pinkie. “Well, that'd probably be my fault. I decided not to tell them about the um... party... you were throwing when I found you, remember? I figured, you know, my gal pal Pinkie Pie here had a bit of a breakdown and probably wouldn't want it spread around.” She shivered a little, and smiled awkwardly. “I mean that place was seriously creepy-town, Pinkie. I don't even like thinking about it.” Rainbow looked a little embarrassed and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “But yeah, didn't think that decision would come back to bite me in the rear. I know I should've spoken up, but I guess I just forgot that I hadn't told you guys. So yeah, sorry!”

Pinkie gave Rainbow a hug. “Aw, thanks Dashie. That’s sweet of you, but it's okay. I'm not gonna hide anything from you girls ever again. I'm an open book... like half of Twilight’s library on a daily basis.” She giggled loudly as Twilight blushed at this. “But enough of this sappy stuff, it’s time to PARTY!”

Disappearing in a flash of confetti and streamers, Pinkie reappeared from outside the house with a small phonograph clutched in her teeth. Placing it on a table near the sweets, she spun, giving it a bump with her hip. The needle bounced smoothly onto the record and lively party music began to play.

While all this had been going on, I had just been standing there, in various stages of befuddlement both from all the references to things I didn't understand, and the interactions between these ponies. My mind boggled, unable to make sense of what was going on. A party? For me? Here? Now? After what had just happened? Why? How? Where was she getting all this stuff? As the logic center in my brain started to break down, I found myself swaying, losing my balance again while Pinkie skipped past me to nudge Zecora, who was the only one who looked surprised at this turn of events, over to the others. They had now begun to circle the snacks, bouncing to the beat, as if this was somehow normal.

Spontaneously, mid skip, she froze, somehow balancing on one hoof. Turning her head to me, she grinned. “Ooooh, by the way, I really like your mane! Those streaks are WILD!” Resuming mid stride, she continued over to the others, humming happily to herself.

Dumbfounded, wobbling erratically, my brain still processing at the speed of molasses, I attempted to reply. “My mane? What do you...” Suddenly, sense kicked back in, and I involuntarily cried out. “Oh my gosh, my mane!”

Mentally, I snapped back into clarity as my earlier train of thought crashed back onto the tracks, and I remembered my current state. Regaining stability, I slammed my right forehoof into the ground to draw attention to myself. Unfortunately, this worked far too well, for as soon as I put my full weight onto the hoof, it collapsed under me. Pain flared through the numbness, as it sent me face first into the ground with a loud thump.

I didn't lose consciousness, thankfully, but everything went fuzzy, and appeared in wavering triplicate. Laying dumbly on the ground for a moment, I found myself wondering where the music went as a loud ringing filled my ears. Several big yellowish blobs appeared in front of me, making some kind of noise that I couldn't make out. I tried to shake my head clear, but it didn't seem to help; In fact, it seemed to make things even more blurry, so I closed my eyes instead, waiting for my head to clear.

As I lay there, I felt something brushing up against my newest injury, causing me to wince. I wanted to see what it was, but my head hurt so much I decided not to open my eyes. That was when it hit me: I was able to feel things again! The numbness had started to fade! I quickly realized that earlier I had felt Pinkie squishing my chest, and wow, could I feel the pain in my hoof, and oh... oh my head. I cursed myself as I came to the obvious conclusion: that I had just injured myself further, right as the medicine was wearing off. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

The ringing slowly started to subside, as did the sharp throbbing that pounded my skull. Gingerly, I cracked open my eyes. Clear sight returned slowly, as the three images merged into one, and what I saw was Fluttershy holding my hoof between hers, carefully using her mouth to wrap gauze around what appeared to be a splint. She was using what looked to be kindling from the nearby wood pile. Embarrassed, I tried to pull my hoof away, but she held on tightly, and gave me a disapproving look. Despite it not being malicious, I still quailed at the thought, and stopped resisting.

Finishing the splint, she dropped the remaining gauze, turning her head demurely to the side and coughing and rubbing her tongue with her hoof. Involuntarily, I cracked a smile: obviously gauze was not very tasty. She turned back and spoke... or at least I think she did. I found myself watching her mouth move, but still unable to hear anything. Using my left hoof I wiggled my ear, tilting it forward. She moved in closer and repeated herself. This time I thought I heard something, but it still wasn't understandable. Before I realized what I was doing, I found myself calling out, but far too loudly.

“What?!?”

Fluttershy must've jumped several feet in the air, and when she landed, she scrambled backwards, blushing furiously. I realized that I had just embarrassed her in front of all of her friends, and immediately felt horrible. Quickly, I tried to apologize, but unfortunately, only ended up making a fool of myself as well in the process.

“Sorry! I didn't mean to be so loud! I can't hear anything!”

I flopped my left ear back and forth with my good hoof, trying to stop the ringing. As the others gathered around me, I shook my head furiously, wanting to hear what was being said, but all I could hear over the noise was a dull mumble, completely unintelligible.

I opened my mouth to speak again, but before I could say anything, I found a light purple hoof blocking my mouth. I looked up at Twilight, who shook her head: No. I nodded, comprehending, and she took her hoof away from my face. Under the watchful gaze of the seven mares, I closed my eyes, and waited.

Laying there patiently, I had time to really gather my thoughts. Inwardly, I sighed: What a mess. As my thoughts calmed and slowed, I found myself coming to an abrupt decision. Given this opportunity, after putting all the craziness aside, I realized that none of this mattered. Not my mane, not my body's current condition, not my hunger, or the questions I had begun to stockpile... nothing at all. The ponies here, while they all seemed so nice, obviously had their own lives to get back to, and I wasn't a part of it. I couldn’t, wouldn’t be a part of it. Whether or not their kindness and interest in me was sincere, I had to get out of here. Right now. Before anything else happened to me... or to them.

My eyes opened quickly, hardened with determination as I struggled to my hooves. Even though I still couldn't hear them clearly, their expressions made their feelings clear: Sit back down! It was just as obvious to me, as I felt my bones creaking in protest. I really should’nt be moving. Shaking, I regained my balance on three hooves and stood firm, putting on a brave face to hide my discomfort. Solemnly, I nodded towards Fluttershy and Zecora, and spoke, making sure to force out a normal volume level. “Thank you for your hospitality, but I really must be going now. You all have things to get back to, I'm sure, and I need to get out of here as soon as possible. Since I can still walk, that means now, before anything else happens.” I limped towards the door, pushing past the stunned ponies. Turning my head back to towards them, I continued. “I promise I will find some way to pay you back for the services you provided in healing me, some day. So thank you again, and goodbye.”

I had almost made it to the door when the orange pony jumped in front of me, blocking the way. I stopped suddenly, not wanting to bump into her. Noticing I was still swaying slightly, I focused and stopped it before I spoke. “Please don't try and stop me. Trust me when I say this is for the best.” She stood firm, shaking her head negatively. Growing annoyed, I was curt. “Look, you really don't want me around! Bad things happen to me and those around me lately, so please just let me go! I'm sure I can make it on my own from here out.” I really wasn't sure, but what I was sure of was that the longer I spent here, the more likely it was that something would happen to them, just like what happened to the jocks... or to Fluttershy. I quashed my feelings harshly. Dangit, I just wanted to be alone right now!

Applejack looked angry and stood her ground. Her mouth opened wide and I strained to comprehend the sounds that come forth.

“~~~ need kelp!”

I blinked at this. Kelp? Why in Equestria would I need... wait. Where had I heard that today... Oh right! That green goop Zecora had put on my horn was made with kelp. I looked up crosseyed at my horn, and realized that I had accidentally washed off the potion when I stuck my head under the sink. Ah. One mystery solved. Oh well.

I forced a smile at Applejack. “Oh sorry, you mean the goo for my horn. Seems I accidentally washed it off when I was in the washroom. I'm sure it'll heal on its own in time. Now if you could just move out of the way...” Applejack didn't budge, if anything, the expression on her face grew more frustrated. I sighed. “Please, I can't impose on any of you any further!”

Applejack reared up, taking a deep breath. As she landed, she yelled out at the top of her lungs, and this time, I heard her clear as a bell.

“YEW NEED HELP!!!”

The loudness of her outburst cleared the last of the fuzz from my ears and caused me to take a step back. Unfortunately for me, the hoof with which I did that with happened to yet again be the one I had apparently sprained. This time though, I gritted my teeth and pulled the hoof up close to my chest, not allowing myself to fall again. I opened my mouth to refute Applejack's claim, but she marched right up to me and stared me right in the eyes before I could let out more than a squeak.

“Lookie here pardner. Trust me when Ah say Ah know a thing or two about being stubborn, but Ah'm not about to listen to any more of yer fancy-shmancy talk about protectin’ us at yer expense, ya’ hear?” She took a step towards me. “Now you listen and you listen good. Yer a badly injured pony, smack-dab in the middle of the Everfree forest, the most dangerous of the dangerous parts aroun’ here!” Another step. “Yer’ as weak as a newborn kitten: the forest'd eat you alive! Even puttin' that aside, the nearest place ya’ can get to from here is Ponyville, where we all live anyhow. Like you are now, you'd never even make it close ta’ there before you collapsed. So ya’ can just sit yer pretty little behind right back down an’ let Fluttershy an’ Zecora take care a’ you.” Having reached me, she butted her head against mine. “Now do ya’ understan’ me?”

With that light headbutt, my balance was lost and I toppled, managing to brace with my good hoof so my face didn't hit the floor this time. As much as I didn't want to admit it, she was right; I had nowhere to go, and no idea of where I was, other than deep in the Everfree forest. Even so, I knew I wasn't planning on going to this Ponyville place; there would just be more ponies there. No, better off that I just disappear into the forest, and learn to survive in the solitude of the wilderness. I was a smart pony, I knew I could do it if I put my mind to it.

Bolstered by this new life choice (as illogical as it may be in hindsight, having never been on the ground before today), I strove to rise again to my hooves, only to now find the purple mare in my way. Twilight's voice rang out clearly and defiantly as she spoke. “You can't go. You promised me that you'd answer all my questions, and you haven't yet. I told you that I would hold you to that, and now I am. So stay put!”

I winced: I knew that was going to come back to haunt me. Still, a broken promise, as much as I hated to do it, was something I knew I could live with. Ruining their lives, on the other hoof...

I still had no idea what had happened to me back in Cloudsdale. That purple haze, the screaming faces of those jocks, fires roaring, smoke swirling, ponies glaring... I shuddered, shoving the broken memories aside. All I knew was that when it happened I had hurt other ponies as if it was nothing, and that for all I knew, I could do it again. Guilt bore down on my mind, along with fear. Fear of myself... what I was capable of. Even though I’d hated those ponies, they hadn't deserved that! Nopony did! Especially not these girls. They hadn't done anything to deserve... what I could do to them. Tears threatened to form as those screaming faces reappeared in my mind: I had never wanted to hurt anypony! I had to go, now! I strained against gravity, finding it much harder to get up this time, as muscles screamed at the abuse.

Out of the blue, I found my face buried in a pink mane. Fluttershy had quietly snuck up behind me, wrapping her hooves around me and holding me tightly. “Oh please don't go. You're in no condition to be moving around... and um... well... um... you know... I'd really like it if you stayed... so... please?” Her grip tightened, it was almost as if I could feel her concern for me coming off her in waves, making this all the more difficult. I wanted to protect her the most: She had saved me!

Trying to center myself, I took a deep breath, the memories fading again. This may have been a mistake however, as her mane smelled of wild flowers and spring. She seemed to just emit peacefulness, and, against my better judgment, my resolve soon crumbled. Before long, I gave in completely. My muscles relaxed and I slumped into her embrace, letting out a deep sigh.

“Fine.”

The tension in the room seemed to lift. Twilight grinned and clopped her hooves together, delighting in her victory, letting out a happy: "Yay!". Fluttershy loosened her grip as she moved away, smiling joyfully, her eyes twinkling in the faint candlelight. Once I was free, Zecora trotted over and placed another bowl of broth in front of me. Leaning down, I took a deep sip: It was even more delicious than I remembered. Draining the rest of the bowl, I swallowed, took a deep breath, and asked the question I had wanted to know since awakening in this strange place.

“Why?” I asked, in a sullen, monotone voice.

Twilight seemed to think the question was directed directly at her, and responded quickly. “Why what?” she asked, looking at me curiously.

“Why do you all care so much about a pony you don't even know?” I asked coolly, fighting back the anger that was growing at being forced to stay here with these... phonies. “I have nothing left, what could I possibly do for you that makes you want me around enough to force me to stay here?”

The ponies looked back and forth at each other, a puzzled look crossing each of their faces in turn. An awkward silence filled the air, as nopony seemed to know what to say. The quiet crackling of the fire and the sound of the record skipping was all that was heard. Apparently, my face had met the ground with enough force to knock the needle clean off the record: no wonder my head had been ringing.

After many long, quiet moments, the white pony named Rarity spoke, breaking the silence. “Indigo Flash, was it? Sorry for the silence, but then none of us have said anything about wanting anything from you, so you must understand our confusion. All we want is for you to get better. Do we need another reason?”

I snorted in disbelief, my anger surpassing my ability to suppress. “Yeah, right. You’re trying to tell me that nopony in this room wants something from me in return for all this? I mean all you had to do was just let me walk out that door, and then you could all go back to your happy little lives.”

Rarity responded immediately in a huff, obviously offended by my tone. “Of course not! To ask for something for basic care would just be crude and unseemly. I would never!”

Applejack was still adjusting her hat, trying to get it just so. She straightened up her neck, fitting it back in tightly into her headpiece. Crossing her hooves, her face bearing a serious expression, she coolly let out a short and blunt: “Nope.”

Pinkie turned her head sideways and gave me a strange look. “Well duh, I mean you're hurt, we can help, why wouldn't we, silly?”

Rainbow gave me a cold look. "Well, I still don't trust you, and I still think you are at least partly to blame for what happened to Fluttershy, but you did save her, at least. Besides, you got nothing I want, or need, bud."

I sputtered, inanely trying to defend Fluttershy. "It was the other way around, she saved me!"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and flew slowly towards me. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Either way, I'm watching you." She darted towards me, face to face, then smirking, she pitched sideways into a barrel roll and landed over near the snacks, looking over the selection.

Speechless, I looked towards Zecora and Fluttershy, hoping for some sort of support. The former just smiled at me, while the latter squeaked, blushing, and hid behind her mane again. Seems I was all alone here, since even Fluttershy didn't want to stand up for herself.

I knew I didn't deserve this praise: She did! I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her. Before I could open my mouth to try and defend her more sensibly this time, though, the final pony in the room spoke up.

Twilight's cheeks were nearly as rosy as Fluttershy’s at this point, her being the last pony to reply to my earlier query. “Well, I mean, I’m dying to ask you more questions, but I also want you to get better. And since I'd want you to recover whether or not you answer my questions, then I guess I don't need another reason either.” She paused, before meeting my gaze. “Why would you ask that though?”

I looked back and forth, into the faces of all the ponies in the room, still in disbelief. Their eyes shone in the candlelight as I looked deeply into each of them, looking for the deceit that I knew had to be there. Not one of them flinched or looked away, especially not Rainbow, who glared at me... but I just couldn't tell. I’d never believed my old friends were lying to me either. Anger dissipated as tears formed in my eyes. I broke down; how could I ever believe again that anypony could really care, not because they had to, or because I would do something for them if they did; but because they wanted to, because it was the right thing to do... or even because anypony actually truly liked me.

I sniffled as I wiped the tears from my eye with my good hoof. Responding quietly, my voice cracking slightly as I forced it through, still attempting to hold my feelings at bay: “B... because I can't remember a time when anypony else ever really has. C... cared, I mean.”

I choked up at this, as all my memories of happy times for many years had all been destroyed by a single pony who had finally been truthful with me. A truth which was so obvious now, in hindsight, but I had blinded myself to it, choosing instead to believe they liked me, and not just my money. So many years, living a lie. Try as I might, I could no longer remember a time when I was truly happy.

Having managed to squash the tears again. I steeled myself. I would never allow myself to be fooled like that again. Looking up, I saw the others moving towards me, concern plastered all over their faces.

Twilight placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it?” She asked softly. “We're willing to listen, and we've got time.” Applejack cleared her throat. Twilight rolled her eyes “Well, most of us have time.”

Steel shattered and I slumped again. Fake or not, their concern felt good... it felt right. And... ponyfeathers! I did want to talk about it. I had just had the worst day ever, and here was a group of ponies who wanted to hear all about it. It was more than any of my so-called friends had ever offered.

Sniffling again, I wiped my nose with a hoof and nodded silently.

Applejack, who had been leaning against a wall, tilted her hat back. “Welp, Ah better get goin’. Big Macintosh'll be needing help with the harvest. Ah went and ran off in a tizzy when ya’ told me about Fluttershy and Ah feel a might bad about leavin’ him with all the work.” Heaving herself off the wall, she started making for the door.

Rainbow Dash flew overhead, slowing down next to Applejack. “What, after all that commotion at the door you’re not even going to stay to find out why? Are you nuts?” Spinning around in midair, she landed in the doorway, blocking the exit, wings flared wide.

Applejack sighed, trying to shuffle past. “Ah ain't crazy, Rainbow. Ah jus’ happen to have responsibilities to mah farm. Just 'cause Ah wouldn't let an injured pony waltz on out into the Everfree forest on his lonesome, don't mean Ah trust him any more’n you do! Besides, Ah feel just awful leavin’ the farm hangin’ like this.” Stopping and turning to me, she smiled awkwardly. “How ‘bout you give me a quick run-down, sugar, before Ah head out, jus’ enough that Ah can get the gist a’ things?”

I gave her a look of utter confusion. A run-down? What in the world was that? Twilight, seeing my expression, leaned in and whispered in my ear. “She means a summary.”

Applejack rolled her eyes, obviously having very good hearing. “Yes sugarcube, a summary. Real quick like.”

I gulped, at a loss for words. A summary? Right now? With no preparation!? I’d spent most of my life in the middle of bureaucracy. Summarizing was not part of my job description: they expected long-winded documents that nopony would ever read!

Staring at the floor, I dug at it nervously with my good hoof. Swallowing hard, I opened my mouth, brain whirling in a mad panic. In this frenzy, I latched onto the two biggest events in my mind, and the words just fell out haphazardly into the silent room.

“I... uh... exploded... and um then I... exploded again? And then I hit the ground? With a splut?”

I began to curse myself. You foal, that was the worst summary in the history of the world! There’s such a thing as being too brief!

Before I could apologize and try again, I looked up with embarrassment. And then I saw Applejack’s face. She was staring at me, eyes wide, mouth hanging open, moving but not finding words. Finally, she found some, speaking in a flat, shocked tone of voice. “What in tarnation did you jus’ say?”

Pinkie, who had somehow managed to stay quiet up to this point, burst out laughing, pounding the floor with her hooves. “Hehehehehe! You heard him Applejack! He exploded, and then he EXPLODED again!” She leaned forward. "Do you remember? Do ya? Huh? Huh? Huh!? You told Spike that could never ever happen in a million jillion years! Now you have to stay!" Raising her hooves over her head, she fell over backwards, rolling back and forth on the floor in mirth.

Twilight also began giggling, covering her mouth. “Pinkie, I don't think she went quite that far. But you do have a point. You did say that a pony couldn't explode twice, Applejack; She’s got you there.”

Confused, I looked around the room. With no idea what or who they were referring to, I looked to the others for guidance. Their expressions mirrored my own, however; apparently I was not the only one not in on this particular joke.

Applejack's entire face turned bright apple-red. She spun around smartly, marching right back over to me. Looking me dead in the eye, she dropped down onto the ground, smack-dab in front of me before saying a single word. “Hoo boy, Ah don't know how you did it, but you came up with probably the only thing in all of ponydom that would'a made me change mah mind. Ah'm roped into this like a steer at a rodeo, 'less Ah want to eat mah words without knowin' why.” She shrugged. “Ah well. Ah reckon that Ah deserve a day off anyhow after all that buckin'. Mah brother is a big boy, he can handle himself for one day.”

The others moved in close, positioning themselves around me in a rough semi-circle. Twilight and Rarity set themselves down on one side of Applejack, while Pinkie and Rainbow grabbed some snacks from the display she had laid out earlier. Pinkie snagged a big pile of random sugary treats and drinks from the snack table and plopped down on the other side of Applejack. Rainbow grabbed a few things for herself too, but also flew by and dropped a few treats in front of the others. In case they got hungry, I assume. She then hovered over Applejack and Pinkie, nudging her way in between the pair.

Suddenly, something splatted against my forehead. I looked up in surprise as another batch of green goop was slathered gently onto my horn. Moments later, another large bowl of broth was placed in front of me. I took a deep breath, calming myself before I raised my head, smiling gratefully towards Zecora. “Thank you again, for everything.”

She nodded happily. “No need for thanks: potions are my trade; all of these things, for you they were made. However, I hunger and so I will join you. There is plenty of broth: if not, more I will brew.” Dipping another bowl in the cauldron of broth, she lay next to me, and placed it in front of her, before leaning in and taking a sip.

Still recovering from the shock to my face, I nearly jumped when I heard another clunk and felt a warmth against my other side. I quickly turned my head to see Fluttershy pulling away, a bowl in front of her as well. Shyly, she spoke with concern “Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you. Did it hurt? Are you okay?”

I smiled reassuringly at her. “No, it didn't hurt at all. In fact, it felt nice.”

Fluttershy blushed a little at this, and realizing what I’d just said, so did I. Softly, she asked: “Nice?”

I coughed and looked away, into my bowl of soup. “Um, yeah. Yep, nice.”

Moments later, I felt her side brush up gently against mine again. Surprised, I looked over at her. A small smile graced her lips as she looked up at me; apparently I was a little taller than her, at least while resting on the floor. Awkwardly, I smiled back, and took a drink from my bowl.

Looking up, I saw the faces of the others, waiting patiently. Twilight... perhaps not so patient... had her quill and parchment ready. I shivered a little, not used to being in the spotlight, but I felt Fluttershy lean against me a bit and I felt safe. There was a better feeling here than I had ever felt in my office, even if I couldn't really trust it.

Even so, I sighed, disliking having to relive these memories again. The fact that they actually wanted to know, actually seemed to care made it better, though, so I began.

“To get the full story, we have to go way back. I guess you could say my problems started on the day I got my cutie mark...”

Smothered Memories

At first, talking about my past had seemed easy... almost too easy. I had started strongly, and had managed to keep it going for a few minutes, but it didn’t take long before I found myself stumbling over the words, finding them harder and harder to come by. Deep down, I knew I really wanted to open up, but I found myself hesitant, holding back. It didn’t help that I really didn’t know these ponies all that well. We had only just met after all, and not in the best of circumstances. It also didn't help that this was the first time I had ever spoken of my past to anypony. My so-called friends had never bothered to ask, in all the year’s they’d known me.

To top it all off, being the center of attention and talking in front of groups had never been my strong point. Truthfully, I would much rather sit quietly and listen to the others as they chatted with each other, only piping up when I had something useful to say. All that this attention was doing was making me feel exposed and even more unsure of myself. I had butterflies in my stomach and my forelegs felt a little twitchy, as nervousness filled my mind.

Taking a deep breath to try and calm my nerves, I paused to take a sip of soup. It helped to calm me down, while also soothing my throat and helping to fill my still grumbling stomach. Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I took a moment to look around. Instantly I realized the mood in the room had subtly changed. While the atmosphere had always been serious, at least the others had still been smiling.

Once I had started talking, that hadn’t lasted long.

Where whispers, giggling and munching on snacks had been only moments before, there was now only sombre silence. Even Pinkie had stopped eating and had a sorrowful look on her face, though after a second glance that looked like it was due to the fact that she had already completely demolished her pile of treats.

Sighing to myself, I decided I may as well push onward and get this over with. Taking another deep breath, I picked up where I'd left off. I had decided to leave the past as it was: in the past, and just gloss over the details. As therapeutic as it might be to talk about it in depth, I had already relived enough of my life during my fall, and these new ponies did not need to know every little thing about my history.

Already having touched on much of my early past and given the highlights (or rather lowlights), of my life up to the point where the company had taken me in, I was just beginning to speak on the events that had happened at school a few months later. Much to my surprise, as soon as the jocks came up, I felt a shudder against my side.

I nearly startled and spilled my soup: Fluttershy had been so quiet and motionless so far that I had actually forgotten she was leaning up against me. Noticing that my attention had turned to her, she quickly tried to hide a frown behind an obviously fake smile. “Oh! Um. It’s nothing really...” The smile faded and her eyes took on a haunted look. “I just know who you mean...”

My attention was suddenly drawn to Rainbow Dash as she groaned loudly, rolling her eyes. “We ALL know who you mean. We met them again a while back in Cloudsdale, remember? Those jerks haven't changed a bit! They still like harassing and making fun of other ponies. Just... just like they did to us when we were little, Fluttershy.” She paused, her eyes momentarily mirroring Fluttershy’s, but the look disappeared behind a mask. “I’d hoped showing them up time and time again would shut them up, but nothing’s ever worked for those guys.”

Rainbow's face blanched as she looked over at me, realizing she had let down her guard. Quickly, she tried to fix her previous statements. “ I mean, uh, not that they bothered me... Well, they tried, but I never let it get to me!” Striking a pose from her place on the floor, she tried to look confident, but then drooped, placing a hoof across her eyes. Sighing, she continued. “It’s like they try to ruin everything they see. I just don't get colts sometimes.”

Anticipating an apology, I waited for her to amend her comment, seeing as I happened to be a colt. It never came. Returning my expectant look, she just gave me a cold stare, waiting for me to back down. With no need to be confrontational, I did, turning my attention back to the yellow pony next to me. Fluttershy had gone silent again, her eyes lost in thought. She still looked haunted, lost in her memories of the past.

I was actually somewhat taken aback by all this: I’d always thought they had only picked on me. At least, that was how it had always appeared to me. I felt a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach as I suddenly realized that when they weren't tormenting me, they must have been doing it to others. From the sound of it, to my savior at the very least. What were the chances?

Wanting to let Fluttershy know that we were kindred spirits of a sort, and that I felt her pain, I momentarily placed my hoof on hers.

Her eyes, which had gone distant, instantly refocused at my touch, pulling her hoof away with a jerk and a terrified squeak. As she looked at me with with a frightened look in her eyes, I awkwardly replaced my hoof on the ground, trying my best to smile reassuringly. Her eyes softened and she smiled a bit, before leaning down to take a drink from her own bowl of soup.

Before resuming my story, I had decided that Rainbow's comment deserved a response after all, despite her coolness towards me. Coercing a plastic smile from my lips, I forced a chuckle. “If it's any consolation, Rainbow, I don't get them either, and I happen to be a colt myself.” I shrugged sheepishly. “But then again, I don’t really get fillies either. I guess I don't get out much.”

It worked, as she smirked at my self depreciating joke. “Heh, I guess not. Still, one of these days those guys are going to get what's coming to them, and I really hope they get what they deserve!”

Involuntarily, I flinched. After all, I had a vague impression of what had happened to them. Deserving or not, I had never wanted to hurt anypony, and by the looks I had seen on their faces...

FLASH

I winced as the unwelcome memory of that scene tried to bubble back up into the forefront of my mind again. But this time, things were different. Before I could picture it again, my forehead throbbed; a sudden headache pounded against the inside of my skull. My concentration broken, the image never clarified in my mind, fading away into welcome blackness.

FLASH

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it was gone. The throbbing just up and quit, and the pain began to recede. I looked around in a state of confusion, not sure what to make of that. Thinking about the past had never done that before! I shook my head violently: That had hurt! I took care to avoid thinking about it again.

I was still shaking my head to try and throw off the last of the pain when Applejack decided to comment. “Uh, you okay there partner? You’re shakin’ around like you've got a bee in your bonnet or somethin’.”

I stopped suddenly and gave her a sheepish grin. “Oh! Sorry! It's nothing. I'm fine, just had a bit of a sudden headache, that's all.”

She nodded, knowingly. Returning the nod with a smile, I continued. “Now, uh, where was I?”

“You were just telling us all about how those nasty colts kept harassing you, though I’m still not sure why you need to go this far back,” said Rarity with a shudder. “Ugh, I can't believe I ever associated myself with such brutes!”

“Oh, don’t worry, it will make sense soon...’ All thoughts of continuing left my mind as I suddenly found myself at a loss. “Wait, hold up, you knew them too? When were you ever in Cloudsdale?”

She laughed musically. “My dear, as Rainbow said, we've all been to Cloudsdale. Just a few years back we all visited it to watch Rainbow in the Best Young Flier's competition. She won, of course.” Raising an eyebrow curiously, she looked towards me. “Surely you must have seen it! It was a huge event. By how full the stands were, I thought everypony in Cloudsdale attended. I mean, even the Princess was there! Plus, even if you weren’t in the stands, the Sonic Rainboom is hard to miss. You can see it for miles!”

My head drooped, and I stared at the ground for a moment before I said anything, trying to figure out the best way to phrase this. Quietly, I responded. “Um, no, I’ve never actually attended any of the big events. Never had a reason to, or anypony to go with, so I just stayed home. As for seeing it, my room’s near the center of the weather factory. No windows.” I looked up with a sad smile. “Despite the joke, I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't get out much.”

Her smile faded, but she continued. “Oh... I see. Well, I also participated in the contest, foolishly so, since the entire reason I had insisted on coming was to support Rainbow. I got completely swept up in the excitement and ended up attempting to upstage the very friend I had come to help! Even so, in the end, when I fell and nearly died, she was there for me. She saved me by performing her infamous Sonic Rainboom. It was simply fabulous!” She began smiling again as she tilted her head towards Rainbow. “And for that I am forever indebted to her.”

I was instantly confused as to how she had participated, being a unicorn like me, with no discernible ability to fly. Momentarily, I recalled my earlier questions about this so-called cloud-walking. Opening my mouth to ask, I found myself cut off by an embarrassed Rainbow Dash.

“Aw, come on Rarity. It wasn’t a big deal. We've known each other for like, forever, and you've done plenty of cool stuff too. Like uh... Oh! Remember when Discord messed me up and you helped slow me down so Twilight could fix me?”

The expression on Rarity's face changed instantly from a look of gratitude to one of irritation as her cheeks flushed red. Obviously upset, she replied in a huff. “Of all the... why would you bring that one up? I mean, yes, I guess I helped, but it was completely accidental! Couldn't you have found a better example than that?”

Pinkie's head popped up out of a pile of cupcake wrappers. “Oooh! Oooh! I remember that! I helped too!”

Rarity turned and gave Pinkie an icy glare, replying in a flat tone. “Yes, I was referring to you dear, when I mentioned that it was due to an accident. If memory serves, it was your fault we ended up being dragged through the air behind her, yes?”

Pinkie shrugged, seemingly unperturbed by the daggers coming from Rarity’s eyes. “Well it worked, didn't it?” she asked, nonchalantly.

Rarity sputtered. “Well... yes... but...”

Pinkie giggled. “Then we helped, silly!” Spotting an uneaten cupcake in Rainbow's pile, she reached over and snatched it, eliciting a loud protest from the cyan pegasus. It was too little too late though, as the cupcake had already been swallowed whole, wrapper and all.

Rarity groaned, but did not continue protesting. Having realized that her cupcake was a lost cause, Rainbow turned back to the conversation. “Well, what example should I have used? When we faced the dragon up on that mountain?”

Rarity shook her head. “No, that was Fluttershy, Rainbow. I’m sorry to say, my attempt at getting the dragon to leave was most unsuccessful.”

Our of nowhere, Applejack let out a snort. “Well now, if’n mah memory serves, what yer really referrin’ to is your attempt to get him to part with some of his treasure, right?”

Rarity’s cheeks flushed brighter. “Oh... um... right...” She grinned with embarrassment before replying in an overly loud, dramatic tone. “Moving on!”

Rainbow, still trying to find a good example to please Rarity, was deep in thought, tapping on her chin with a hoof. “Um, did you do anything when that giant space bear attacked the town?

Rarity head drooped and she let out a drawn out sigh. “No dear, that was all Twilight. I spent most of the day trying to wash that horrid green color out of my hair, after being utterly humiliated in front of everypony in town.” She slumped to the floor with a look of despair. “Did you know that it took the entire rest of the day and an absolute fortune in hair care products just to get it looking normal again? By the time the Ursa Minor attacked, my hair had just dried. I’m rather embarrassed to admit this, but I think I hesitated joining Twilight for fear of having all my hard work ruined.” She looked over at Twilight and smiled warmly. "I think we all knew you could do it, though. And you did, quite spectacularly, I must say."

By this point, my head was whirling with questions: So many things that I had never heard of before were being mentioned so casually, as if they were nothing! By this point I was completely lost. Giant monsters? Non-pegasi in Cloudsdale? Another unicorn able to fly? Someone named Discord? And of course, whatever this Sonic Rainboom was again. So many topics, flying by without a care.

Not only was I completely lost in the conversation, but the attention of everypony in the room had shifted from me to them. Nopony seemed interested in my story anymore. I raised a hoof to interject, but my voice was drowned out by Rainbow continuing.

“What about when the Diamond Dogs foalnapped you? You definitely took the reins there!”

This time, Rarity’s head perked up a bit. “I did, didn't I? However, that was more of a self-rescue than anything else...”

“How about when...”

They continued bantering back and forth, completely ignoring me as I repeatedly raised my hoof, trying to get a word in edgewise. I quickly found myself growing irritated; They were being so rude! Whatever happened to wanting to hear about my past? I frowned, fuming. Instead they were reliving their own!

Frustration turned surprisingly quickly into anger, so fast I did not even have a chance to restrain it. Out of the blue, I flat out gave up trying to be polite and just shouted out over them. “Whoa, Whoa, WHOA! Girls, please! Not trying to be a jerk or anything, but as interesting as all this is, please remember that I have absolutely no idea whatsoever what any of these things you are talking about are! I don’t know if you noticed, but I haven’t been able to get a word in for a good five minutes!”

My head felt tight as the pain stopped receding and started to grow again. This only fueled the fire, my temper raging unchecked as I continued. “Also, last I checked, I was supposed to be the one trotting down memory lane, not you!” I groaned as the headache, which had never fully gone away, throbbed at my temples. Holding my head in my hooves, I tried to will away the pain, with little success.

Stunned silence filled the room. My sudden outburst had definitely gathered the flagging attention of everypony, though probably in the worst possible way. Despite the look of annoyance that several of them gave me, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction at my success. As the pain began to fade back to manageable levels however, I started to feel a little strange. That outburst was so unlike me! I'd never had a temper before, and definitely hadn’t gotten angry at somepony to their face...

I shrugged it off and pressed on, figuring it was just stress, and that I’d be back to normal soon. “Right, so now that we are back on track, I think I was about to tell you about what happened after those jerks drove me away from the school.” I took a few deep breaths, trying to center myself and calm down. Most of the rest of the story revolved around my office and my work, and I wanted to convey the proper feelings; the peace and solitude of my longtime home. The thought of it comforted me, as I pictured my sanctuary of so many years. The pain continued to recede as I started to relax, finding my happy place. I could see my desk, covered with all my work, where I spent long nights working and studying. I saw my bedroom, with my bookshelf, overflowing with novels and textbooks. I saw my...

FLASH

The image in my mind flickered and warped, fading in and out as I tried to hold on to the memory. Unlike the last one, I did not want to lose it! It soon proved to be futile, however: all my efforts were in vain. After what felt like an eternity of inner struggle, I felt a ripping sensation, and the picture shredded as if by invisible claws, the tatters fading away. What was revealed behind it was a very different image. Instead of peacefulness and quiet, the roar of flames filled the room. Everything was burning! Smouldering books tumbled through the air, and work files disintegrated into swirling tornadoes of black ash. The ash mixed with the smoke that was rising through the ceiling, warping the clouds there and weakening the structure. I could already see into the rooms above, and heard creaking as their furniture threatened to fall through. Many of the clouds that made up the building were evaporating from the heat, and there were holes in the floor where the larger items had already burnt clean through. The desk, bookshelf, and bed were long gone, the voids where they once stood hollow reminders of what had already been lost.

I screamed.

FLASH

Returning to reality, I found myself laying on the floor, writhing in pain. It was so intense this time that it felt as if my head was trying to explode under the pressure. With each throb, the heat of the fire pushed against the backs of my eyes, making them water. I couldn’t feel anything else. Unbidden, my hooves pounded at my temples, trying to stamp out the blaze in my mind.

And then once again, just as quickly as before, the image faded away. This time though, some of the pain remained. The headache stayed stronger, a dull throbbing, rhythmically beating against the inside of my skull.

My cry had not gone unnoticed. As all attention had been on me this time, they all saw the progression of events on my face, from deep concentration to fear, then finally to a look of pure suffering. Everypony moved quickly towards me to help, but it was Fluttershy who arrived first. Since she had been laying up against me, she had noticed that something was wrong before anypony else, long before my outburst. As my hooves continued to pound against my head, she instantly twisted, knocking over her soup bowl in the process. Grabbing my hooves, she managed to hold them back with some effort, stopping me from injuring myself worse.

She stared down at my face, contorted in pain, and gasped. “Oh my goodness! What’s going on? Stop, Indigo! Please stop!”

I barely heard her. Even though the images were gone, indistinct scenes of fire and flame filled my mind. Uncontrollably, broken thoughts began tumbling from my mouth. “Burning... everything gone... destroyed... consumed...” They just kept coming, without pause. “An inferno... nothing left... gone, all gone...”

Twilight was the next to approach and she placed her hooves on my shoulders, forcefully shaking me back and forth. “Indigo, snap out of it!”

Whatever she did worked, and the fires disappeared, snuffed out. As reality finally set all the way back in, I flinched from the shock and nearly fainted. Moaning in pain, I covered my eyes with a foreleg for a moment. It took a minute or two for me to gather myself enough to speak. “What... What just happened?”

“You tell us! You went from talking to screaming in 10 seconds flat!” said Rainbow Dash with an annoyed tone in her voice, hovering in the air nearby.

I shook my head, trying to clear my mind, before replying. “I... I don't know. I was remembering... something, and then suddenly, intense pain. Then it was like everything was on fire.” I grunted, rubbing my sore eyes with my hoof. “Seems to have faded a bit though...” I paused, as an acrid scent suddenly filled my nostrils, causing me to gag. “Yeesh, but what is that horrible smell?”

Zecora, still laying next to me, leaned in and took a deep whiff near my face. She gave me a confused look. “What is this new scent of which you speak? I smell not a thing, neither strong nor weak.”

I coughed, trying to breath through my mouth, but nothing stopped it. It was like it permeated the room. “Ugh, its horrible! You can’t smell that? It’s like something’s burning, right under my nose!”

Everypony started sniffing around, with no success. It would have been a silly sight, if not for the seriousness of the situation. Zecora raised an eyebrow. “I cannot smell it; not even a bit. But we are laying next to my fire pit.” She tilted her head towards the large cauldron that she had been ladling soup out of. “Is this the source of that horrible smell? Nothing has changed, so far as I can tell.”

I leaned over her and inhaled deeply, but could still smell nothing else, nothing different. “I... I just don't know! It seems to be everywhere! But it doesn't smell like burning wood...” As much as it was making me nauseous, I took a moment to try and figure out what it was. “It smells more like... burnt toast?”

The earlier silence returned, this time more awkwardly, as everypony gave me strange looks. Before long though, it was broken by laughter, as Pinkie Pie started to giggle. “Don’t be silly, it’s not time for breakfast!” The expression shifted to a more serious one. “Though I suppose it’s still early enough for a late brunch!” She clopped her hooves together excitedly. “Ooh! Can I have waffles? I love waffles! I think I even have some syrup in my bag!” At this she dashed to the front door and started rummaging through something just out of sight.

Suddenly angry, I snapped at her. “It isn't funny! It smells horrible!” I tried to glare at her, but suddenly found it hard to focus on her. She appeared to be bouncing all over the place. “And stop moving! You're making me dizzy!”

Abruptly, she stopped what she was doing, pulling her head out of what appeared to be a white saddlebag. She looked back at me, a bemused look on her face. “Uh, Indigo? I'm not moving.”

I pressed my hooves against my temples, trying to clear the constant throbbing. “What?”

Before Pinkie could repeat herself, Twilight gasped and grabbed my head in her hooves. I began to complain but she shushed me. “No time to explain. I need you to be quiet and look me right in the eyes. This is important.” Taken aback by her sudden assertiveness, I complied, looking deeply into her violet eyes, which seemed to glimmer in the candlelight. I was surprised to see they were full of concern as they studied mine closely, darting back and forth. I felt a flush growing in my cheeks as I tried to keep my cool. The feeling of her breath against my muzzle brought forth strange feelings. What was with these girls and getting close to me?

After only a few moments, she released my head and backed away nervously. “Oh... this is bad. This is VERY bad!”

Applejack looked over with apprehension. “What are you goin’ on about, sugarcube?”

Twilight had not stopped moving, she kept fidgeting back and forth in a panic, speaking to nopony in particular. “Oh...! We shouldn't have stayed here. As soon as we realized what had happened to him we should have headed for town...”

Applejack went over and put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. “Calm down, Twi, and tell us what’s wrong.”

At Applejack’s reassurance, Twilight slowly began to relax. Taking a deep breath, she abruptly waved her hoof wildly in the air towards me. “He's hurt! A lot worse than we thought. We need to get him to a doctor. Now!”

Zecora quirked an eyebrow and glanced sidelong at me before turning towards the others. “A doctor's care is always well and good, but you have yet to tell us why we should.”

Rarity walked over to me and placed a hoof on my shoulder. “That's right, Twilight. What's wrong with the poor dear? He seems perfectly fine to me.” She paused, and gave me a critical look. “Well, besides the obvious. Like how dreadfully skinny he is. And the horrible colors that have seeped into his coat. And would you look at that mane?” She shuddered. “He's a total disaster.”

Turning back to me, it suddenly dawned on her what she had just said, and she smiled sheepishly at me. “Um, no offense intended, of course...”

I gritted my teeth in irritation and forced the words through them. “None taken...”

She laughed nervously, patting me on the shoulder as she glanced side to side awkwardly. Luckily for her, Twilight took the opportunity to speak her mind.

Twilight's hoof stopped gesticulating wildly and she went cross-eyed for a moment as she had to rein her mind in. “Wh-What?” A short-lived look of confusion crossed her face. “Oh... Um. Right.” Closing her eyes, she concentrated and a pinkish glow of magic lit her horn.

In the hushed silence of the room, I could hear a rustle outside the still-open front door. Another saddlebag, this one a pale blue, which had been previously hidden by the door-frame like the first, fell over and spilt the quills and parchment it contained onto the cold forest floor. A book wriggled its way free of the bag before being levitated into the room. As it flew towards Twilight, it opened, pages flipping so quickly you could hear them whir. Reaching it’s destination, she placed a hoof on the newly opened page and traced a paragraph, her eyes scanning over the text.

“Aha!” she exclaimed, flipping the book around so everypony could see. “Look! Right here! According to my book, Indigo must have cerebral compression due to his concussion. I'm fairly certain this is due to a brain contusion with contrecoup and coup damage!”

An awkward silence filled the room again as everypony just stared at Twilight. I turned to look at Rarity, to see if she understood anything of what had just been said, but she just shrugged, as lost as I was.

Suddenly I heard a snorting noise off to my left. Pinkie Pie held a hoof to her face, eyes twinkling as she began to giggle. “Jeez Louise! That's a lot of C's!”

Twilight's cheeks flushed red as she moved the book off to the side. “Um, yeah... That's because that's as far as I've gotten... But its all true! I swear! The symptoms all fit!” She stomped her hoof in frustration, putting a visible dent in the wooden floor.

Fluttershy stepped timidly forward, looking over the hovering book. "Um, Twilight? What symptoms?"

Rainbow's wings swished through the air slowly as she hovered next to her. “Yeah, what symptoms? He seems fine! He's been kinda snippy and rude, but other than that...” She trailed off, shrugging, flying in slow circles around the others.

Twilight's voice grew more urgent. “That’s just it Rainbow, he's irritable! I know that doesn't seem important, and normally you'd be right. Alone, that could mean anything, but when you add in a headache, blurred vision, ringing in his ears, balance issues, and all the other problems he's been having since we arrived, it’s obvious!” She stamped her hoof on the floor in frustration. “Too obvious! Oh why didn't I see it sooner?!”

Fluttershy came over and softly placed a hoof on my shoulder. I turned to look at her only to find her looking deeply into my eyes, trying to see what Twilight had seen. I felt my face going red again, and quickly looked away, embarassed by all the attention. Balked, Fluttershy trotted back and began reading the book again. “Um, Twilight? I'm sure whatever it is, we've taken care of it. Zecora and I were very thorough when we were going over him, and I don't think we missed anything.”

I felt my face flush even redder. Just what had she mean by that? Had something been done to me while I was out? I felt my anger growing again, but then what Twilight had just said resonated with me. Why was I so angry? Logically, I knew that there had been no innuendo there: Fluttershy meant it exactly as she said it, that she had tended to my injuries. I had no reason to be upset. Yet here I was, about to explode again.

Suddenly concerned, I shoved my irrational anger aside and spoke up. “Fluttershy, I think she's on to something. There's something very wrong here. My temper keeps flaring up out of control. I know you don't know me, so you'll have to take my word on this, but I am not an angry pony.”

Twilight nodded, a serious look on her face. “Exactly! And if I'm right, which I'm sure I am, then we need to get him to a doctor. Quickly.”

Applejack stepped forward, looking around at the others. “Can anypony tell the simple cowpony what in the hay all that fancy-speak is supposed ta mean? Please?”

Before Twilight could try and explain herself, Fluttershy stepped softly in front of her. “Um, she means he hit his head and is hurt really bad inside, where we can't see. And... well... she's right to worry. I mean... Zecora and I can't see whats beneath the surface.” She gave me a worried look. "We did our best..."

Twilight stepped forward, next to Fluttershy, who flinched back a little at the sudden movement. “That's what I said! He has a severe cranial injury!” She paused, and her eyes appeared to flash with inspiration. “Wait! Zecora! You have a potion for everything! You must have something to help with this kind of injury!”

Zecora looked thoughtful for a moment, then frowned. When she finally spoke, it was in a melancholy tone. “I know what is needed and there is a cure that I know, but its vital components were lost long ago. The herbs it would need are very rare, I cannot find them just anywhere. I had brought them with me from far away, knowing I would likely need them some day.” She pointed over the the wall, where several colored bottles were strung on vines. “They hung over there, safe above the ground, from curious critters who might nose around.” She turned back to the others and shook her head sadly. “Then a band of ponies broke down my door, and shattered my bottles all over the floor.”

Twilight gulped. “Wait, you mean... Oh my... Are you saying... we destroyed them, all those years ago, when we first met?”

Zecora nodded silently.

Twilight slumped, falling to a seat on the floor. The facial expressions of the other ponies changed to one of chagrin. Twilight sat quiet for a moment, then spoke quietly. “My gosh, I had forgotten about all that. So much damage, and over a simple misunderstanding...” She looked up at Zecora. “I’m so sorry...”

Zecora walked over and put a hoof on her shoulder, smiling softly. “Fear not Twilight, it is quite alright. The past is the past, and the anger did not last. I will admit, I threw quite a fit, but I do not regret it, not one little bit. For I made some new friends, and am no longer feared. Soon I would have moved on, had you not interfered.”

Twilight smiled hesitantly. “You... you really mean that?

Again Zecora nodded, then turned around and continued her earlier speech. “Many potions were lost on that fateful day, and my rarest ingredients were destroyed in the fray. Most of them I was able to replace, but of the ones we need, there has been no trace. If I had the materials I could mix up a brew, but I do not know where to look...” She paused and turned back to look at the assembled ponies. “Do you?”

The assembled ponies looked around between themselves, and each in turn shook their heads: No. Twilight sighed again, deeply. “We don’t have time for a scavenger hunt...”

Zecora smiled, and tilted her head. “Then what he needs has already been stressed: To see a doctor and get plenty of rest."

Twilight looked up in surprise: That had been her original plan, after all. She jumped up, and looked over at the others with a determined stare. “Well, you heard her! Why are we still standing around! We have to do something!”

And with that, chaos broke loose. Everypony started talking at once, each with their own crazy idea of how to get me to town quickly. I sighed: Not one of them had bothered to ask me if I felt up to making the trip. Instead of getting angry, this time I just felt sad, and slumped tiredly.

As they continued bantering amongst themselves, I began to worry. My hooves were still pressed tightly against my skull as I continued to massage my temples to relieve the pressure. I still had no idea what all those big words that Twilight had said meant, but it sounded serious. The pain in my head had just barely subsided to a tolerable level, and the stench of burnt bread had only just begun to fade. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, trying to center myself and figure out what was going on.

Despite the risk, I tried to think back to what had started this most recent mess. What had I been thinking about when it started? Concentrating, I remembered that Rainbow had brought up the bullies from Cloudsdale. Right! She had said that she hoped they would get what was coming to them. And then I started remembering what had happened to them...

I waited for the memory to surface. Nothing happened.

Frowning, I focused harder. That couldn’t be right. I remembered... something. They had been making fun of me, just like they used to back in school. Then they said... something... I grimaced in frustration: I could see their mouths moving, but no sound came out. And then nothing, as even that scene faded. Why couldn’t I remember? Try as I might, no image appeared. At best, all that came to mind was a purplish glow.

This was strange. I turned my thoughts to the second occurrence. That one I was more sure about. I had been thinking about my office. Sanctuary. Home sweet home for so many years. I started to relax and smile as the image began to form...

An image of my childhood cloud cottage, high in the clouds.

My eyes popped open for a moment before I clenched them shut again. Why had that come to mind when I thought of home? I hadn’t seen that house since I was a foal. In fact, as I recall, they tore it down. Last time I had gone by, there was a store there that was selling high fashion. For the life of me though, I couldn't tell the purpose of the footwear they were selling. Whatever they were, they were definitely not made for hooves. They were shaped completely wrong.

I shook my head, which made me dizzy for a moment. Wrong train of thought. I wanted to think of my current home. As I focused, beads of sweat ran down my forehead. Again, nothing. I could remember all the things I had done there, but I could not for the life of me picture my room.

Growling as my frustration mounted, I tried another tack. I pictured myself standing in the cloud-making room. In my mind I could hear the giant machines rumbling and groaning, a constant white noise that I had grown to enjoy. Walking to the side of the room, I pushed open the door to the employee’s only area, revealing a long white corridor, lined with openings.

Turning to the right, I saw a sealed door. Mine was the first one, easily identifiable by the fact that it actually HAD a door. With a lock! My mind saw the humor in this, an old memory surfacing. The other employees had not been happy at first. The company had converted their old break room into a small apartment for me. The replacement break room was way down at the end of the hallway, and was missing many of the amenities the old one had included. That fact had gotten me many cold looks in the first few years. Yet another grievance against me and my life, I suppose.

Stepping back to reality for a moment, I opened my eyes. Wait, had I lost everything? Reaching into my mane, I searched around for a moment, before touching something cold and hard. Grabbing hold, I pulled out the large gold key I kept stashed there, braided into the hair. Somehow, after all I had been through, it was still there. Instead of happiness at this discovery, I felt another wave of sadness fall over me, and I began to tear up. I’d never get to go home again, would I? Was home even there anymore?

I wiped my eyes clear with my other hoof, replacing the key in my mane. No time for emotions. It was time to find out what was hiding behind that door. Placing my hooves together on the floor, I re-closed my eyes, bringing my mind back to the smooth cloud-formed door in front of me. Mentally, I levitated the key from my mane and pushed it into the lock with a twist. The tumblers spun and it unlocked with a heavy clunk. Taking a deep breath, both mentally and in reality as well, I placed a hoof on the cold, solid door, and gave it a push.

The door creaked open slowly, revealing a black interior. A deep darkness filled the room, which was strange, as it was made of white clouds. Pushing my head in, I felt a resistance in the air, almost as if I was shoving my head into a thick cloud. The further I went in, the harder it got to move forward, but with each step the room seemed to glow brighter, with a faint purplish sheen.

I gritted my teeth and kept pushing, putting one hoof in front of the other. The room got brighter and brighter, and the glow seemed to flicker. It was at this point that I could go no further. It felt as if I was to lift a leg one more time, the pressure against me would send me flying backwards. I could feel my headache growing, pounding, but I ignored it. Straining, I leaned forward, extending my neck. I needed to see what was there. I saw a glimmer of pure white light...

“Hey Fluttershy! What’s that humongous book called anyways?”

I winced, losing my focus as Pinkie's loud voice pierced my ears. A hoof involuntarily lifted, and I felt myself sliding backwards, just as I had feared. Mentally straining with all my might, I forced my head forward, leading with my horn. It nearly reached the light! It felt warm, and as I continued to push, it seemed to get hotter and hotter, until...

“The Competent Caretaker’s Complete Compendium of Cranial Crashes and Cracks?” Pinkie burst out laughing and fell over, rolling back and forth on the floor. “C’s! C’s! A Sea of C’s!”

The light exploded with a flash and I found myself thrown backwards with tremendous force. I tumbled out of the room in my mind, the door slamming shut, the lock disappearing. I got back up and banged on the door, despite the pain in my head. My efforts were once again in vain however: the scene soon blurred as everything faded to black.

My eyes snapped open, and I glared at the indistinct shape on the floor. Unable to restrain myself, I growled and snapped at the laughing pink blob.

“PINKIE PIE!!!”

The shape turned towards me, her eyes coming into view. Despite not being able to make out anything else, I could still see the eyes, plain as day, as they fluttered innocently.

“Yes, Indigo?”

I shook with anger, unable to restrain myself any longer. “You...”

It was then that the rest of the group turned to look at me, my shout having interrupted their discussion. I suddenly realized that it wasn't just her: everything had gone blurry. All I could see was large blobs of color moving towards me. Only one thing seemed to still be clear, and as a wall of eyes turned to face me, it began to involuntarily trigger another memory.

I flinched and shrunk back, shaking for an entirely different reason now. As the eyes drew closer, the pupils seemed to disappear, leaving nothing but cold, blank stares. I scooted backwards, trying to escape, but found my back pressed against something solid. I cried out, and covered my head with my hooves. “No! Go away! I don’t want to remember!” The dead eyes moved in and surrounded me, pressing me into the wall. “No! No!! Leave me alone!!” I began to cry out of sheer terror, unable to see, unable to escape.

Unable to resist any longer, I remembered.

And then promptly forgot, as everything faded to black.

When I opened my eyes again, my eyes instantly focused to crystal clarity, and I was able to see normally once again. What I saw, however, sent a chill down my spine.

I was back above the obsidian dome... or what was left of it anyway.

I slammed my eyes shut. No no no no no. I couldn’t be back, this place wasn’t real. It was just a hallucination of a fevered mind in some kind of coma... right? I tried to convince myself that when I opened my eyes again, I’d be back with the others, safe and sound, in reality.

Nothing changed when I opened them again. I was really back.

I closed my eyes again and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself. ‘Okay,’ I thought internally. “I’ve been here before, I got out before. I’ll be fine as long as I don’t panic.’

Slowly, I opened my eyes again. As they travelled over the broken surface before me, small pieces of the crystal shell continued to crumble and break away. It was quieter than before... no large pieces were breaking free, at least for the moment, so the rumbling and crashing had subsided. Looking down, I found I was seated on the glowing orb I had struggled so hard to reach. No longer giving off a blinding brilliance, its shine had faded to a dull bluish glow. I could see my reflection stretched over its surface, warping and distorting as the lights within swirled.

Suddenly, my reflection rippled and stabilized, it’s eyes shifting to lock with my own. A grin began to stretch across its face, as its pupils shrank to small dots.

‘Welcome back.’

The voice echoed in my skull, and I cringed, knowing what was coming next.

‘That’s right... You didn’t think you had gotten rid of me, did you? After all, our conversation was so rudely interrupted last time. Hopefully now that you’ve put so much effort into returning, we can continue where we left off.’

His smug tone grated on my nerves, but as he started chuckling, I knew I did not want to get into that situation again.

‘I don’t know what you are talking about. I didn't want to return here. I don’t even know where here is. And I definitely did not want to hear your ugly voice again, whatever you are. Jerk,’ I thought angrily at him.

‘Namecalling? Now, really...’ The chuckling faded, replaced by a mocking tone. ‘Oh come come now. You honestly still believe you got here accidentally? Pish posh. You knew that something was wrong, but you decided to probe deeper into the pain, rather than avoiding it. I mean really, what did you expect to happen? Sunshine and lollipops? Flowers and rainbows?’

I heard a mental snort. ‘As for where you are, I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet. I mean, come on, I know what you know, remember? And I’ve been able to figure out what this is for a while now.’ He laughed again, savoring his superiority. ‘This is your mental landscape, or something like that. Is it really that hard to tell?’ The image’s grin twisted and grew impossibly wide. ‘Not a pretty picture, is it? Just because you escaped, doesn’t mean it stopped collapsing. Based on what’s been happening out there, in the real world, you really don’t have much time left. Glad you stopped by for the big finale, though.’

My mouth went dry as I processed this new information. I didn’t know if I should believe him, but it felt right. I watched in stunned silence as another distant chunk fell free into the darkness below and swallowed heavily, a lump in my throat.

The image turned to look out over the scene below and began to chuckle again. ‘Won’t be too much longer now, the support structure’s almost gone. Wonder what’ll happen when it finally gives way?’ A hoof appeared and he tapped his chin thoughtfully. ‘You know, I should thank you. I’ve got a killer view from up here. Gonna be quite the show.’

The face twisted and looked back at me, its features stretching and warping into the face of a monster. ‘So. You just going to stay here and watch? Or are you going to try and do something about it?’

Shrinking back from the frightening image, my thoughts stuttered internally ‘Wh-What can I do? Tell me and I’ll do it!’

His gaping mouth fell open as he roared with laughter. ‘Hahahahaha! I love it when you’re scared! I find it especially amusing when you act so stupid! You really think I know the answer?’ The image seemed to move closer to me, staring me in the face. ‘I’m you, you dolt. If you don’t know, then I don’t know.’ He shrugged nonchalantly. ‘Guess we’re doomed.’

Twisting back to normal, he turned back to face the dome. A bag of popcorn appeared in his hoof and he started eating. ‘Oh well. Not like there’s anything you could do here anyway. It was nice knowin’ ya.’

As my reflection munched nonchalantly on his salty treat, I looked out over the scene below in horror. If what he said was right, then the final collapse of this place would mean the end of me! And of course, once again, I was helpless to prevent it.

I caught myself beginning to sigh and stopped, furrowing my brow. No, I thought to myself. Not this time! I would find an answer! I didn’t give up last time, and I won’t give up now! There has to be something I can do! Slamming a hoof down with determination, I nearly lost my balance as it sank slightly into the sphere.

"Whoa!" I said verbally, regaining my stabilizing myself. I looked down and pulled my hoof out with a sticky sucking noise. It finally popped free, the dent I had made slowly refilling itself, the orb returning it to it’s spherical shape.

It was like a light flashed above my head. I looked toward the twisted image of myself and focused my thoughts. ‘Hey, this glowing ball-thingy was the way out last time. Any ideas on why it’s solid this time?’

He groaned and glanced sideways at me. ‘How many times do I have to tell you, I know what...’ He trailed off, looking thoughtful. ‘Actually, now that you mention it, didn’t that Zecora chick mention something about not being able to wake up again if she gave you that medicine?' He let out a snort of laughter. 'Hah! And then you went and passed out like a wuss. Nice one!’

I waved a hoof at him distractedly. ‘Yeah, yeah, whatever. Thanks.’ Tapping a hoof on my chin, I looked closer at the sphere. I had thought it had dimmed, but upon closer inspection it now looked more as if it had been covered in something. Reaching back down with my hoof, I poked and prodded at it. It felt like some sort of plastic or rubber. As I rubbed the surface with some pressure, it produced a loud squealing noise, which really got the attention of my reflection.

‘Argh! What are you doing? Stop that! It hurts my ears!’ he complained, giving me a nasty look.

I chuckled and stopped. ‘You don’t have any ears, you’re just a hallucination.’

‘What, and that means I can’t have ears?’ A second hoof appeared and he rubbed his temples. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he turned to look directly at me. ‘And what are you laughing about anyway? Laughing’s my job!’

I smiled, the first time I had ever done so in this place. ‘I’m laughing at you. And I’m smiling because I know what to do.’

He shrank back, suddenly unsure of himself. ‘That doesn’t make sense! I don’t have any idea, so how could you?’

I shrugged. ‘Not important, but either way: I’m getting out of here.’

I stood up and started hammering the surface of the orb with my hooves. Dent after dent appeared, some deeper than others. As I pressed deeper, I could feel the surface stretching, becoming weaker. Now it was my face that was grinning.

After a few minutes, my smile started to fade. I was sweating now and I couldn’t seem to press any further. It had distorted and stretched, but had not broken. I began to worry: What if Zecora was right? What if I really was trapped here?

Sensing my imminent failure, my reflection, now bent and contorted around all the impressions I had made in the sphere’s surface, began to snicker. ‘You know what to do. huh? Hah! I’ll give you this, it was a bold attempt, but you never were the sharpest tool in the shed. You would try to break through something stretchy with your hooves. I mean come on!’ Rolling his eyes, he turned away again, losing interest. ‘Eh, whatever. I’m bored. Just tell me when you’re done.’

Sighing, I slowed down, weariness taking over. Just as I was about to stop though, I had another brainstorm. Once again, it was as if a light flashed, but this time, my eyes were open. The flash had come from the orb itself, almost as if it was trying to help me.

Rearing up, I put my forehooves together and slammed them down into the deepest hole. They sunk deep, but beyond that nothing.

I had expected that.

Leaning forward, I put all my weight onto those hooves, keeping the surface from reforming. Then, with a grunt and a heave, I pulled my hooves apart with all my strength. Groaning and squealing, my hooves slid outwards, pulling the material tighter, creating a pocket in-between where the surface was so thin I could see it vibrating.

Eyes focused, I lowered my horn and, with a sudden movement, stabbed it into the opening. Thankfully, as with my mane, I hadn’t been keeping up with my normal routine, and it had grown a bit of a point. With that final thrust, my forehead slammed into the sphere: my horn had punctured the seal!

The relief was momentary: a violent shockwave blasted forth from the hole, knocking me loose. I stumbled backwards, forelegs flailing wildly, stumbling on my rear hooves. My balance lost, I twisted around, and tumbled face-first off the orb. As the swirling darkness below filled my vision, I screamed in terror.

Yank.

Suddenly, I stopped falling. Helplessly, I stared down into the abyss, afraid to move. Glancing down, I could see my back hooves were still on the surface, but somehow I was horizontal, my forelegs dangling like limp noodles. Gravity doesn’t work that way! Slowly, jerkingly, I looked back over my shoulder to see what had caught me.

The orb had erupted with magical fury. A vortex had appeared from the spot I had pierced, glittering energy swirling and sucking in everything in reach... and my overly long tail had been its first victim. Another reason to praise poor hygiene! I sighed in relief, wiping the sweat of my exertion away from my eyes as my muscles relaxed. As they did so, my head slumped forward again. All I could see was blackness below me: a foreboding, inky darkness that looked like it could swallow your soul. Once again, I had been saved... somehow.

And then I felt a tug on my tail.

And then another.

Before I could react, and with no other warning, I was suddenly pulled backwards with tremendous force. Letting out a cry of surprise, I landed rear-first onto the now hoof-sized hole.

I let out another yelp as the suction pulled against my backside, gluing me firmly in place. In shock, I waved my splayed limbs wildly for a moment, but then froze as I heard a squealing noise growing in volume. With a sudden thunk, I sank deeper into the surface.

My eyes briefly widened in fear of something else going wrong, but then I remembered that this was what I wanted. A tingling ran up my spine as I felt the edge of the opening slowly begin to creep outwards. A smile grew on my face and I let out a whoop of joy as a second wave of force drew me in deeper.

It didn’t take long for all this action to garner the attention of my so-called reflection. Unable to hear anything above the roaring white noise the vortex’s energies were putting out, I flinched as his voice once again echoed in my skull.

‘Hey! What are you doing? What’s going on?!’ he cried, his image sliding back into view over the edge of the crater I was now laying in.

I grinned, seeing an opportunity to give back a little of what he had been giving me. ‘Oh nothing much...’ I replied smugly. ‘Just taking your advice. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I am the sharpest thing in this crazy place, in more ways than one!’ Laughing, I pointed up at my horn. Reaching over, I patted the image on his head. ‘It was... nice... seeing you again.’

Growling, his lackadaisical demeanor disappeared in a flash. His eyes darkened as his expression turned into one of unbridled rage. Before I could fully take this in however, I felt myself slipping into the hole.

As my back legs disappeared into the light, and I began to slide downwards, I waved goodbye to my reflection. ‘Whoops, looks like it’s time to go. Bye!’

At this, the face of my reflection contorted in anger, his pupils shrinking into tiny specks. Letting out a piercing shriek, he raised his forelegs above his head and slammed them into his side of the reflection.

And the barrier shattered.

Time seemed to slow down as shards of what looked like broken glass flew around me. My mouth slowly fell open in shock as what appeared to be a horrible caricature of myself came forth from the opening it had created. Leaning out of the broken hole, it wrapped its forelegs around my neck. With one smooth motion, it twisted me around, dragging me back, choking me with unbelievable force.

My forehooves scrambled for purchase on its forelegs, trying to free myself from this death grip, but it was no good. It was like a vice had clamped itself around my neck and was choking the life out of me. In utter shock, I managed to squeak out “How... What ARE you!”

The voice that responded did not enter through my head, but rather through my ears, causing a shiver to run down my spine. This time, it was not my own voice that answered me. Perhaps it still was, but each word dripped with so much malice and hate that it sounded like nothing I had ever heard before. It sounded... evil.

“You know what? I honestly don’t know! I always just assumed I was your reflection, or a hallucination, since that’s what you thought I was. But you know what? Seeing what I just did, I think I’m a lot more than that. A lot more.” He pressed his face up against the side of me head, rubbing his face against mine, making my skin crawl. I could feel his twisted grin continue to grow as he whispered into my ear. “And you know what? I’m NOT going back. And now neither are you.”

My chest shuddered as my lungs spasmed for air. Bloodshot, my eyes began to roll back in my head, forelegs dropping to my sides as I lost the strength to lift them. As everything started going grey, I could still feel the pull increasing, stretching my spine, making the choke-hold even tighter. In desperation, I banged my head weakly against his, trying to get him to let go.

It was useless, he had all the cards. He began to laugh, an evil laugh that chilled me to my core. It wasn't until then that I suddenly realized that he was deadly serious. I was out of options. Either by choking or mental collapse, I was running out of time. As consciousness began slipping away again, I reached out mentally, begging whatever powers that be to save me. I wasn’t ready to die yet, I was never more sure of that then I was now. I wanted to live!

And with that, the orb responded, bursting into an intense bluish-white light that filled the void, much as it had before. My reflection screamed in pain, releasing my neck to clutch at his blinded eyes. That was all that was needed, for as soon as he let go, I fell free and disappeared, pulled into the light.

The last thing that I heard was him cursing loudly as everything faded away. “NO!!! I don’t want to go back! I won’t go back! Argh! Stupid orb! Let me go! Of all the stupid, idiotic...”

As I faded away, those words seemed to bounce around in my head, echoing much as his voice once had.

... stupid, idiotic...

...upid, idio...

...id, id...

...Id... Id...

Id.