Forgotten People

Chapter 2 – Crossing Worlds

Everyone was able to see it. Rainbow Dash was out of her house and getting on with her usual weather duties, but her speedy and dashing personality was gone, and replaced by this sad and slow hollow. For her own reputation’ sake, no-one knew why she was so sad. But her close friends knew why, and they hadn’t mentioned why to anyone but themselves.

Right now Twilight was trotting round Ponyville looking for Rainbow Dash, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“Applejack, have you seen Rainbow anywhere?” she asked just as AJ was trotting past.

“Sorry Twi, but ah haven’t. Gosh, she must be upset.”

“I know, I knew she was upset because Alec left, but by looking at the past, she must have loved him so much that it’s gonna be hard for her to get over it.” AJ’s face went a little annoyed.

“Twi, y’all don’t just ‘get over it’. You know how mah parents are in a better place now? Ah may seem cheerful, but ah haven’t got over it. Some things, sure, y’all forget about ‘em. But for loved ones, you never let go. Y’all know what ah mean?” Twilight nodded in understanding.

“Yes AJ, I do. I’ll just have to keep looking for her.” With that said, they both went their separate ways. She trotted round for what seemed like hours, but at last she found Dash on top of the hill next to the ruins. Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash; she just sat there, staring at the ruins as if she could see through it into Alec’s universe.

“Rainbow? Are you okay?” Twilight asked. Dash turned her head to her slowly towards Twilight, her cheeks mildly tear-stricken.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She obviously lied. Twilight sat next to her and put a hoof around her shoulders as Dash cradled herself into Twilight’s side.

“It’s okay Rainbow, I know you’re upset. Just let it out if you have to.” With the conformation given, Dash buried her face into Twilight’s chest and started to cry again. Twilight, being a good friend, hugged her for comfort.

“Why did Celestia have to make him go?” He was perfectly fine here!” she cried, her tears wetting her face and Twilight’s body.

“I know it’s hard Rainbow, he was a really nice person, but…” she stopped, unsure of whether to say what she was about to. Dash lifted up her head.

“But what?” she asked innocently. Twilight bit the inside of her lip.

“I’m not sure if I should finish what I was saying. It may hurt you more.” She replied worriedly. For the first time in a while, sitting up so she was next to her, Dash smiled.

“Twilight, you’re one of my closest friends. Of course I won’t get mad.” Dash smiled, putting her hoof round her shoulder. Twilight reconsidered her thought. Rainbow Dash was the Element of Loyalty after all.

“What I was going to say was…well...I know he was perfectly fine here, but he didn’t belong here, just like you don’t belong in his world.” She shut her eyes tightly and waited for a possible hit from Rainbow Dash.

But it never came.

Instead Dash nodded in understanding.

“I know what you mean Twilight, and I appreciate your honesty, but I wish I could see him one more time. Just to see if he was alright.” The purple unicorn had many thoughts winding through her head, some more confusing than others.

“She wants to see Alec one more time. Well…if I wanted to, I could always open the portal again…No! That’s a dumb idea, she doesn’t belong in his world! But…what if it was me in this situation? If someone went back to their world and I wanted to see them, I’d be able to in a heartbeat. Now Rainbow Dash in this situation, she doesn’t possess the magic in order to let herself go…What should I do? Let her go?” This thought went round her head many times. But at the same time, Rainbow Dash was having a similar thought,

“Couldn’t I just ask Twilight to open up the portal again? No, after the first time it took out all of her strength. But I need to see him again…I guess I only have one decision to make.” Standing up, Dash looked Twilight in the eye and said, “Could you do it again?”

“Rainbow, I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because it’ll drain my energy again.”

“Twilight, please!”

“Rainbow,I can’t, I’m sorry.”

“What if it was you in this situation, huh?” she snapped at the unicorn. Twilight’s mouth gaped open in disbelief.

“Rainbow, don’t start getting personal…”

“Well, what would you do?”

“I’d go and see my friend if I got the chance!”

“Exactly! So why are you restricting me?!” Rainbow Dash’s face was beginning to be lined with tears again. Knowing when she was beaten, Twilight breathed a sigh of relief and spoke again.

“Okay then Rainbow, you win. I’ll open up the portal again. But please, help me if I faint.” Dash smiled and nodded in promise. Twilight’s horn began to spark as she aimed and shot a bolt of red magic at the ruin’s main device. For the third time a blue spiralling portal began to form, getting bigger and bigger very slowly. Drips of sweat trickled from Twilight’s forehead as she concentrated on opening up the portal. All of a sudden, a ringing occurred and the portal was fully opened. Twilight began to struggle to stand up, and fell over. Rainbow Dash rushed to her side and held her on her lap.

“You okay Twilight?” she asked in worry. Twilight’s face looked tired.

“Just don’t screw up when you go Rainbow.” Dash giggled, putting Twilight onto her back and flew to her house.

***

Flying back to the portal, another pony was waiting in front of it. It was Princess Luna, who had heard Rainbow Dash flying back.

“So you convinced Twilight?” she asked. Dash nodded. Luna gave a sigh.

“Do we know how their world is right now? I mean, it could be good or bad…” Dash stopped her talking.

“Your Majesty, we both know that we desperately want to see them, regardless of their state.”

“I’m still not sure…” she was stopped by Rainbow Dash shoving her into the portal; Luna shrieked as she went through.

“Less talkin’, more jumpin’!” Dash squealed in delight, jumping in at the same time.

They had both made a terrible mistake.

***

“Come on guys, get the door open! Alec’s coming back!” Cami shouted through the house. Sure enough, Alec was running down the drive with a bag full of stuff. But he wasn’t alone. Behind him was a load of those creatures chasing him down to the door.

“Come on guys! HELP ME!” he shouted. Max, Oliver and Josh both got their rifles and shot as many of the creatures as they could while Alec helplessly banged on the door. A few seconds later it swung open with Hamish standing behind.

Get in!” he shouted at Point Blanc. Alec rushed in and slammed the door, flicking a switch at the Fuse Box in the process.

The lights shut off.

All of a sudden the creatures stopped. They stumbled around finding their way, but they couldn’t see the boys.

“Don’t…make…a…sound.” Max whispered to the other two on the roof. A few minutes later the creatures stumbled away into the darkness leaving the house alone. Max and the other two climbed down from the roof into the house to see the results of Alec’s scavenge. Hamish flicked the lights back on.

“What did you get?” Oliver asked. Alec took the bag off his shoulder and opened it up so everyone could see. Everyone awed in delight.

“That’s a lot of food and water, you do know how to scavenge!” Josh praised.

“And you got some pellets and extra ammo, that’ll be good.” Hamish said. Alec closed the bag and put it on the table. Cami then signalled his little sister.

“Kenzie, sort out that stuff please.” Kenzie nodded and took the bag out of the room.

A hand shot out and grabbed her collar as Jamie dragged her back in to get the bag.

“Hey! Leave her alone!” Cami shouted. Jamie ignored him and opened the bag violently, shaking out the contents. He spat in disgust.

“You got no medicine. How can this be perfect?” he yelled, throwing the bag at Alec’s face. His face contorted in shock.

“Jamie, I didn’t have time to get everything. I was heading for the pharmacy and a couple of them got the jump on me.” He replied truthfully. The others nodded in trust, but Jamie didn’t believe him.

“Is that so? Well you obviously had time to run back didn’t you? Or you had time to get bitten!” he shouted pointing at Alec’s old wound now bandaged up.

“Not this again…” Kenzie murmured.

“It’s an old wound Jamie, lay off it!” Hamish backed up.

“I don’t think you’ve been fully truthful Alec. You got food and water? Fine. You got ammo? Fine. But medicine? It’s like you don’t care about us!”

“First off Jamie, we don’t know the cure to this disease yet, so what good is advanced medicine at the moment? And second, if I had got medicine, I wouldn’t give it to the likes of you! You may be the oldest here, but you don’t know how to lead a group.” The others nodded in agreement.

“Just lay off him Jamie.” Cami ordered.

“You couldn’t have done any better.” Hamish shouted.

“Leave him alone!” Max ordered.

“We took you in Jamie, we have the authority to kick you out.” Josh snapped. Jamie opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly shut it. Kenzie and Oliver helped pick up all the supplies and carried them out of the kitchen to sort them. The room remained silent for some time.

FLASH!

Outside a blue flash occurred and two equines were thrown out of it. Nobody knew who they were, except Alec and Hamish, who both stood mouths agape.

“What’s that?” Max asked in confusion. The two equines picked themselves up and spoke to each other.

“Well, that was a bumpy ride.” Dash said, brushing down herself.

“You didn’t get pushed inside that thing, did you?” Luna complained, using the Royal Canterlot Voice. They looked around to see their surroundings. It was dark, and the smell of smoke was in the air. They could both thell that this world wasn’t in the best shape right now. The house stood in front of them. But just as they were trotting up to the door, groans and moans could be heard in the background.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Rainbow Dash whispered. Luna nodded in agreement. Suddenly the creatures had come back, snarling and spitting as the two equines were in their sight. Inside Alec and Hamish rushed to the door.

“What are you doing?” Oliver shouted. Hamish turned his head.

“What does it look like? We can’t let them die!” Hamish shouted back. Jamie spoke again.

“If you go out there, both of you, you won’t come back in!” Alec stuck his middle finger up at Jamie as they ran out the door to help them. Both the equines looked around in terror.

“We’re gonna die!” Dash whimpered in terror. They were both so paralyzed with fear that they couldn’t fly away. But suddenly a familiar shout could be heard outside the horde.

“Don’t worry! We’re gonna help you!” the voice shouted. Alec turned on his torch and threw it over the horde of creatures. Catching sight of it they ran after it and began clawing it till the battery leaked acid. Two hands grabbed the equines and pulled them into the safety of the house. Hamish shut off the lights for extra measures. But he had done something wrong.

“Oh shit! Alec’s still out there!” Opening the door again he saw Alec run out of the horde and into the house as Hamish quietly closed the door again. Alec whimpered in pain, obvious bleeding coming down his arm.

“You okay?” Hamish asked. Alec nodded. The two equines all of a sudden knew who their saviours were.

“Alec?”

“Dash?”

“Hamish?”

“Luna?”

In happiness and thankfulness, both pairs embraced each other in tears, glad that they were all alright.

“I missed you…” The equines said.

“Me too…” The humans replied. But a dripping could be heard on the floor. Entering the kitchen again, the attention of everyone wasn’t drawn to the Pegasus and Alicorn, it was drawn to Alec’s arm.

He had been bitten again.

Several times.