Crossing Anthology

As the Ever Free Forest burned behind us, no pony even glanced back. I wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the others, the smoke and ash then began to blind me, and my armor visor was covered in soot. All I could see was black, nothing but pure black. I ran in to tree after tree, trying to find the ponies. The smoke was overwhelming; it came to the point where the smoke was poisoning me. This slowed my movements and made me start to faint and I fell to the ground and I passed out.

Another mental image came to me, this time of a strange silhouette organizing what appeared to be prescription pills and other medications, even a few syringes. He then devoured the pills, bottle after bottle, and injected himself with a strange bright colored substance. The person doing this then looked to me and told me,

“Go into the other room Méso, I don’t want you to see me doing this...”

He called me ‘Méso’ why? Was this my original name?! Before I could really think about it, I was slapped awake by Rainbow Dash. My visor was then rubbed clean of soot by Rarity. My sight was restored,

“Thank you, Rarity.”

“Well I couldn’t simply let you wonder around the rest of the way with all that horrid ash all over you.”

The other ponies looked at Rarity with a blank disappointed stare. Then Rarity replied the look with,

“Oh, and your sight of course!”

“Hey! What about me? I’m the one who flew in to that smoke and dragged you out!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Thank you to, Rainbow Dash.”

I observed the forest fire; a large portion of it was completely gone from the fire. But it appeared that the Pegasus ponies were pushing rainclouds over it to drown the fire. I turned to Rainbow Dash and asked,

“Do Pegasus ponies have the ability to manipulate weather?”

“Yeah, looks like they’re gonna rain the fire down. It’ll be alright, there’s still a whole other section of the forest remaining. We do a pretty good job don't we, huh?”

I ignored her boasting, and replied,

“That’s good.”

I turned to Twilight and gave some advice,

“Twilight, since this fire was so massive, I imagine if the pony who took Spike has fled if she was here from the start.”

“You’re probably right, we should move on to Manehattan.”

Suddenly a rumble came from Applejack’s stomach.

“Boy, I’m mighty hungry, y’all wanna stop ‘n have some lunch before we move on out?”

The other ponies agreed, as did I. Nothing like breathing in ash and smoke from a burning forest to make you hungry. Applejack opened her saddle bag, and displayed bagged sandwiches, caramel apples, bottles of apple cider, and apples.  I sat down, escaped my armor and began to dine on some apples. The other ponies looked at me, besides Twilight, because she already knew what I looked like outside the armor. I looked back and stated,

“Yeah, this is what I look like.”

“Golly, you Atevian folk sure look different compared to anything I’ve ever seen.”

“Thinking about it now though, I don’t think I’m really an Atevian.”

“Whatcha mean?”

“I think I was born here, on Equestria.”

The ponies all looked surprised. I then continued,

“It’s a strong possibility, all these images and voices I receive point to it. They also point to me having an encounter with Princess Celestia at one point. I don’t even believe ‘Lemmour’ is my real name! What was I? Am I supposed to be someone else?!”

My frustration concerned the others, Rarity trotted over to me and placed her hoof on my shoulder and said,

“Lemmour, a matter of months ago, Spike had the same questions and wonders. But he learned, that you don’t have to follow the path others expect, you can move on and continue the life you already lead.”

I let out a sigh, what Rarity said, was helping.

“And from what I’ve seen, you’ve adapted fashionably to our way of life, why try to differentiate from it?”

Applejack trotted closer and stated,

“We’re more than happy to welcome ya to it partner!”

I smiled at Applejack and Rarity, and nodded my head,

“Yeah, you’re right. I think I was meant to be different. But still all the voices, the images, they make me more and more curious.”

Rainbow flew over and said,

“Well tell those voices to take a hike! Let ‘em know you wouldn’t stray from your new friends!”

There was silence on my part.

“I’ll try to ignore them; I won’t let them keep me from helping you find your friend. Thank you all for your concern and support.”

Pinkie pounced to me and said,

“That’s what friends are for, Lemmour! Now let’s have our lunch!”

Pinkie grabbed a cupcake out of her saddle bag and thrusted it into my mouth. It was poppy-seed… It was tasty.