It Is Always Best Forgotten

Illuminous awoke from his peaceful slumber, removing sleep from his eyes. As his vision focused, he studied the room around him. As he tried to move, the aching commenced. He lied back down, watching the ceiling. He healed fast, but not fast enough to let him be useful. He looked over his shoulder to notice that the yellow Pegasi was missing. He was ultimately grateful to Fluttershy, for saving his life and taking care of him. She was kind, honest, caring. He smiled as the word 'cute' arose in his mind. He sighed, still completely unsure of anything. This was all too brand new to him.

'Tending to me wouldn't be all she has to do' he thought as he wondered what she might have been doing. Why the question even became apparent in his mind, he had no clue.

After a few minutes of thought, he became desperate, he wasn't used to just lying in bed doing nothing. The colt tried endlessly to get his body to move. Slowly the aching subsided to small bruises and he began walking, taking baby steps. He lowered the upper part of his body, arching downwards as if ready to run, and jolted his tail high. Stretching felt good, since he hadn't done anything for what felt like 2 days. As he started to gallop in place, he must have wondered how foolish it would be to do so in front of someone else, but it was his own special way of getting rid of exhaustion.

He walked down stairs, still no sign of the yellow Pegasus. He slowly crept outside, surveying his surroundings. Just a bunch of chicken coops, a road that lead to Celestia-knows where, and a big tower with a giant watch on it. He remembered his dad said something about those, it was a clock-tower, it tells time for everypony to see. Curiously, Illuminous had the urge to go at it, but not wanting to stray far from where he was, in fear of losing his way and not seeing Fluttershy again, he ultimately decided on keeping his distance to the house.

He started to gallop around a big circle of the house, after half a lap; he noticed the edge of the Everfree forest. Illuminous stopped to think. He wasn't ready... Not after what happened. He wanted to become stronger. He wanted everything to save his sister. There was no telling what that.... thing.... did to Rosy. And he was more than sure he wasn't near close to being ready to face that thing. He kept on running, pacing himself, building stamina as he went. Last time, he wasn't able to run fast enough to catch his sister. With determination in mind, nothing would stop him.

Hours passed by, and not a single break did he take, his legs surprisingly didn't feel exhausted nor did he. Slowly he sped up, every lap becoming faster and faster. He wasn't much for the long run, but his father always told him he had speed and grace. And it was true, he loved the wind against his face, although work at the house required little running, he would practice on his own sometimes, when he wasn't busy apple-bucking or plowing. His father would tell him tales of an annual event called "The Running of The Leaves". Most of his stories though never told of where it took place, but he had the out-most confidence that it was real, his father had never lied to them before, or so he thought. All of his stories seemed wonderful. Since a young pony, Illuminous started his very own private running of the leaves at his forest; coming fall, he and his father would gallop together making the leaves fall. Usually the leaves would fall naturally, but it was a quicker way of getting things over with.

As he neared towards the front of the house, he heard a shouting. The tone of a mare's calling out to someone. As he approached it more and more, the words being called out were much clearly comprehensible.

"Fluttershy! Hey Fluttershy are you there?" the voice rang out.

As he came into view of the source of the voice, it was another Pegasus, this one with a light blue coat and a rainbow mane, strikingly awesome. The Pegasus spot him and looked at him as he came galloping in front of her. He did a quick stop, stopping with his two front legs, panting slightly; he puffed his chest out to ease his breathing efforts, his mane coated in sweat, shimmering in the daylight. He looked back at the Pegasus, whose expression was more of an awed and astonished one.

"Oh uhm.... Hi." Illuminous said trying to regain his breath, wondering what this Pegasus was calling Fluttershy for.

The Pegasus tried to speak but failed, muttering unintelligible words. As she regained herself, she finally spoke more clearly.

"Oh uh, I'm sorry I was just... well uhm... I was wondering, what were you doing anyways running around like that?" she asked, coming to the ground after a few beats from her wings, her voice cracking ever so often.

"I was just stretching my legs a bit." he said in a low voice, embarrassed that she had been noticing him.

"Well that was pretty fast for just 'Stretching your legs a bit' you were pretty fast." The Pegasus said, galloping in place to imitate his running. He found it funny and cute too.

He shook his head thinking about it and became instantly relieved seeing as another pony does the same.

"What's wrong?" The Pegasus asked curiously noticing him even more closely.

"Oh it's nothing..." Illuminous said even more shy.

"You remind me of someone... oh wait yeah! I came to talk to Fluttershy." The Pegasus said coming to the realization of her true intentions. "What were you doing running around Fluttershy's house anyways?"

He had an idea it was her house, but the question never arose in his mind. "Oh well I uh..."

"I was taking care of him since he was injured." the gentle, warm, and soothing voice of Fluttershy came from a distance, he felt more at ease. She looked at him with a warm bright smile, and all he could think of was just that. "You started running today?" she wondered in awe and curiosity.

The two Pegasi looked closely at him. The pressure was totally on.

"I felt impatient; laying down all the time is exhausting. So I've been warming up and running this whole time, since the morning." he said, his voice very low and shy, as the two Pegasi mares listened in.

"Wow you do heal fast, you really are special." Fluttershy said with admiration.

"What do you mean Fluttershy? What happened or what? Does anyone care to explain to me?" The sky-blue mare said impatiently.

"He was very and badly injured when I found him in the Everfree forest, not far from Ponyville."

Clearing another question from his mind, Illuminous concluded he was at a place known as Ponyville.

"I've been taking care of him for 4 days, he didn't wake up until a day ago." she kept explaining.

Wow, 4 days? He must have been gone for quite a while, no wonder his muscled felt so tense.

"Oh! Now I remember, Fluttershy I came to find you, you were gone for quite a while, we thought you'd vanish or something. Twilight wants us to go meet her, she said that all of us have to be there, I wouldn't know why though." she said, spinning in the air, as if it was a common thing to be so active when having a normal conversation. She turned to Illuminous, "I'm Rainbow Dash by the way, and you are?"

"Illuminous" The colt said.

Rainbow Dash smiled at him warmly, shaking his hoof. He shakes his head again, what was it with him? All he could do was smile apathetically back at her. He could find a little disappointment in Rainbow Dash's expression.

"Oh, Illuminous, now that you can walk again, I was going to ask that maybe if you could..." Fluttershy hoofed at the ground shyly. (For future reference: Pawed at the ground) "I was wondering if you could help me with my last chore, I also care for the woodland creatures and I have to go check on an Ursa Minor's health, the poor thing has been sick for a while, and her mother is nowhere to be found, so would you come with me?" she asked sheepishly.

He nodded in response to that, and smiled warmly at her, which made Fluttershy blush a bit. In turn making him blush, Rainbow Dash curiously looked at both of them.

"Can I go too?" Rainbow Dash unexpectedly called out.

"Okay then" Fluttershy replied. "It's in the Everfree forest, I hope you don't mind Illuminous..." she asked before heading forth.

Illuminous simply shook his head, in reply of not minding.

The three ponies made their way towards the Everfree forest, memories Illuminous wished he could keep forever and at the same time forget, rose from the ground beneath him like scorched earth. They we're painful, but he wouldn't let it bother him. He walked next to Fluttershy, glancing ever so often at her, wishing some things to be true. Rainbow Dash talked about herself when Illuminous asked her what kind of things she does and did. She told him about the time when they saved their new friend Twilight, a smart, and egghead Unicorn pony from falling down a cliff. Flipping her body in circles as she explained.

He wanted to know about Unicorns, since he has never seen one, let alone what they do. But he kept quiet, hearing all sorts of crazy tales. Like how she won Best Young Flier's competition and saved the Wonderbolts and her friend Rarity by going at insane speeds, ones that could only be reached by doing a Rainboom. Naturally, Illuminous ended up asking her what both of those people were.

"You don't know about the Wonderbolts? They're the best Arial team in ALL of Equestria, they are famous ponies known for the speed and cool moves. Do you live under a rock or something?" Rainbow Dash asked, irritated by his lack of knowledge.

"I've never seen or heard of any pony other than my dad and sister, he told me Tales of the Princesses but that's as far as I know of any other pony. I used to live in a quiet and isolated forest, far from anypony else. So I'm sorry if I don't know them" he explained.

"Oh" Rainbow Dash said with an expression of like how she just discovered something that was pretty obvious before."Used to?" Rainbow Dash asked curiously.

"Yeah..." Illuminous said quietly, pain clearly visible in his eyes. And everything turned silent. No one spoke for a while.

"I knew Fluttershy when she was a filly." Rainbow Dash said, breaking the ice between them.

"It's true; she even stood up for me when some mean bullies were making fun of me." Fluttershy replied, sensing Illuminous' downfall to depression, trying to lighten up the mood. (I'd be lying if I said he didn't)

"I beat those 3 easy, I went so fast that I did the first ever Rainboom! And that's how I got my cutie mark." Rainbow Dash stated proudly as she showed the small rainbow colored thunder at her flank.

Although a bit embarrassing for Illuminous, but in the end he viewed at it curiously.

"A Cutie Mark?" Illuminous stood dumbfounded and confused.

"You don't have one?" she asked, taking Fluttershy's attention too.

Illuminous looked at his flank. Seemingly blank. He knew of these, her little sister had bouquet of different flowers as a cutie mark (her love of flowers), and his dad had a crested sword and shield (Celestia's Ex Royal Guard), and for some reason, he had nothing. His face reddened when he turned back at the two Pegasi who were now speculating his flank.

"That's strange..." Rainbow Dash said curiously.

"A cutie mark is when a pony finds his or her calling in life. Everyone's is different. The strange thing is that you don't have one." Rainbow Dash explained.

Embarrassed, Illuminous shy fully walked in a manner that hid his flank.
"Sometimes it just takes time, don't worry, it just means you can be good at anything!" Fluttershy tried cheering him up

He smiled warmly and appreciatively at Fluttershy. "Thank you" He said quietly, slowly getting out of his shyness over his blank flank.

Minutes later they arrived near the edge of two cliffs forming something similar to a crevasse; there was a large gap between the two sides.

"Oh my, Illuminous won't be able to get past this; I didn't realize it since I just fly over it. I'm sorry Illy." she said, first time stating his pet name.

He blushed, momentarily ignoring the question, and then he finally answered. "It's okay, I can wait here while you two go on ahead." he reassured them

"Oh well okay, we won't take long." she said as she hugged him in her way of saying goodbye, even if it was for a little while.

He blushed again and the two Pegasi flew off into the thick fog that surrounded the forest.
Truthfully, Illuminous was scared of being alone, he didn't know what lay behind the fog, it was thick and no pony could view clearly 5 feet away from themselves. He lay down on the ground, and rested his eyes, waiting for the time to pass by.
A while passed by, Illuminous started feeling a sense of worry. And then another, his head by then was racing with questions, each with a possibility of something bad. And then another, by then, Illuminous was sure there was something wrong, he searched the crevasse like pitfall for a way to jump across or walk over.

None.

His worry grew ever deeper, and suddenly, he heard the crackling scream similar to that of Rainbow Dash's voice. Illuminous had good ears, he could hear anything from anywhere, so it was no surprise when he heard Fluttershy's small and quite shriek. Something inside Illuminous surged in him. Both Panic and confusion is what he felt. He had to do something! Anything, he didn't want to lose them. Neither of them. Even if he just met Rainbow Dash, he wished endlessly to see her safe, especially Fluttershy. A sudden light forced his eyes shut, blinding and powerful, it overwhelmed him, and he could see it clearly, even with his eye lids close!

A sudden realization occurred to him. This light, he knew now he was the cause of it. He opened his eyes, quickly, they adjusted to the intense radiation and power of it, His coat and mane were literally glowing! The light itself was harmless after getting adjusted to it, but power surged through him, immense power. He felt stronger, faster, lighter, and more powerful. It seemed all of his senses were heightened, he could see very far beyond the thick abnormal fog that the Everfree forest emitted, his hearing was clear perfect, he heard a thud and Fluttershy's small terrified voice, pleading for something to stop.... the Ursa Minor.

Without thinking twice, he dashed straight for the giant crevasse and powerfully jumped across, sending rocks flying behind him, and crushing the earth beneath him as he landed. He ran faster than anything, faster than what Rainbow Dash claimed to be the speeds of a Rainboom.

This time however, a clear and visible thought came into his head.

Never Again

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(Author's Note: Oh I can already sense it, so much fun I'll have from this. Its not obligatory to write these stories, especially for me. But I find it fun as hell. :D SO MANY IDEAS.)