Chapter Ten: End of Second Arc

It's Sunday, time for you to go home. As you sit on the train with a group of chattering girls, you mull over some things.

One, Rainbow. In the few weeks that you've been in this relationship, you've learned so much about the rather hard-headed pegasus. It's strange, even now, to see so much emotion from a pony who makes herself out to be the toughest, most competitive mare in Ponyville.

Two, sunburns. They do exist here. In fact, the aforementioned 'emotional' pegasus keeps poking at your light-pink shoulder.

You just had to wear a muscle shirt today...

"Stop touching me!" you swipe at Rainbow's hoof. She pulls it back faster than you can blink, and giggles.

You groan, bracing yourself for the next wave of harassment from her. Hoof-poking aside, you're really quite grateful. The sunburns are light, and that's a lot coming from someone who's half-Polish, half-Irish and completely white.

Still, it annoys you to look over and see Rainbow going at it once again. She seems transfixed on the way your skin changes color every time she lifts her hoof.

"Hey. Did you know humans were called the 'sentient chameleons' on Earth?"

A look of interest comes across her face as she sits back and listens.

You smile. "You see, certain races of humans were able to change color to fit in with their surroundings. It was kind of like a survival mechanism, since our environments are much harsher than the ones you have here."

Her eyes widen. "Really? Can you show me?"

"Well, you already saw," you chuckle. Is she really this gullible?

"Well, can you turn any other colors? Like blue, or purple?"

"I think I can turn blue," you say, scratching your chin, "but I need to be touching something of the color."

"Here," she holds out her hoof to you. You shake your head.

"No, it needs to be a little more than that. Here," you place your palm on her chest. Her wing twitches, and she watches your hand with interest.

"Hm. Maybe that's not enough. Maybe if I..." you wrap your arms around her body and pull her into you.

After a moment, "I don't think it's working," she says skeptically.

You grin. "I know. I just wanted a hug."

She shoves you off of her, and punches you in your sunburned shoulder. You laugh as she blushes, just realizing that everyone in the car has been watching.

"Hey Dash," you chuckle, wiping a tear from your eye, "Is it me, or do we have a new chameleon on the train?"

She punches you again, much harder this time. You play it off, managing to maintain your grinning composure, but in actuality she gave you a dead arm.

"Oh, come now. Who wouldn't want a hug from our dear Ivan?" She giggles, winking playfully at you.

You flash her a wink in return. You open your mouth to say something, but a high-pitched Sweetie voice pierces the air.

"Hey! We're stopping! Look!"

Everyone looks out their designated windows. Sure enough, the speed of the passing dirt and underbrush is beginning to slow.

A voice comes over the intercom. "Hello, this is your conductor speaking. I am quite sorry to inform you that, unfortunately, there has been a slight delay."

Everyone in the car groans. The squeaking of the brakes resounds through the train.

"We will be stopping in Dogwood Forest momentarily. Estimated time of delay is..." he seems hesitant, "...approximately two to three hours."

An even louder groan resounds from the train's occupants. As if trying to appeal to this, the conductor's voice comes onto the intercom again, "All passengers will be allowed to temporarily exit the train during the wait period. Please do not stray too far from the train, as we will be calling passengers back fifteen minutes before departing. Thank you for your patience, and once again, we are very sorry for the inconvenience."

You sit outside the train, digging through your backpack before pulling out two jagged rocks. "Ah-hah!"

Rainbow cocks her head. "And why do you have two rocks in there, again?"

"I told you before," you slide them together, causing a few sparks to fly off. "They make fire."

"Oh," she rolls her eyes, "And you didn't think of using them when we were all looking for matches a few nights ago?"

You shake your head. "No, because I didn't bring my survival backpack to the beach. It just didn't seem necessary at the time."

She blows her bangs out of her eyes.

"The other reason, is that starting a fire with flint and steel is a lot harder than it looks."

"I'll bet I could do it."

You chuckle. "That's what they all say..."

"Come on, Ivan."

You look at her for a moment. You're surprised she didn't lash out with an insult or something like she usually does.

You roll your eyes. "Alright. Just remember to use something really thread-like, like some dead grass, then slowly work your way up to the heavy stuff. Fire's an art, something that can't be rushed. Alright?"

You're not even done talking, and already she's started showering a sparks onto a pile of twigs.

You shake your head. "I'm gonna go get some berries. I'll be back in fifteen."

She replies, but doesn't look up from her fire-making. "Fifteen minutes? It takes that long to get some snacks from Rarity's bag?"

"No, I'm going into the forest."

She looks at you worriedly. After a moment, she lets out a breath. "Fifteen minutes, alright?"

You nod, zipping up your backpack. Before you enter the brush, you turn and wave.

"You better not come back with a dead rabbit or somethin'," Rainbow jokes.

"Rabbits need cooking. I don't see a fire anywhere," you counter. She sticks her tongue out at you, then waves back.

The forest is alive today. Birds, hidden from view, call from the trees, while the frogs in the grass and bushes croak from their moist spots.

A smell hangs in the air. It reminds you of the scent wood has after being left outside in the rain.

As you scan for edible berries, or maybe even a flower that Rainbow would enjoy, something glints, catching your eye. You stop and take a few steps back.

There it is again. You turn towards the source of the light, and find what looks like a piece of metal. Or at least, it looks like that from a distance.

As you come closer to the mysterious object, it becomes clear to you that you've found a hatchet.

It has a clip-on, as if to put on a belt. Even from where you stand, you can see that the handle is rounded, and rather wide. It strikes you as odd, since the handles on most hatchets belonging to ponies are thinner and squared to fit into ponies' mouths.

In fact, it looks a lot like a human axe.

You pick it up, and inspect a little closer. The blade looks like it was dipped in a bucket of blood, as well as part of the handle. You find a name burned in near the base of the blade. You recognize the burning. As you read the name, you begin to shake.

I. Walczyk

"Hey, Clay. Take this, will ya?"

You hand Clayton the old, but reliable hatchet. He looks at your outstretched hand for a moment, hesitant to take the axe.

Your little brother sighs. "Why should I carry it? It's your hatchet."

You roll your eyes, trying to recall how many times you've had to tell him this. "For one, Clayton, I'm a year older than you, making me in charge. Two, since I'm leading the way into the cave, I'm more likely to trip or fall, so I really shouldn't be holding an axe. Three, you have the utility belt. You'll still have two free hands if you just clip the axe on, while I have to hold the flashlight."

He groans. "Just put the axe in your damn backpack then..."

You point a convicting finger at him. "Hey! Watch your fucking language. You wanted to go into this cave, right? Well, this is the only way."

He takes the hatchet, but shakes his head. "I don't really want to go in anymore."

"Fine." You throw your hands up. "Don't, then. But now I want to, so stay right here 'til I come back, alright?"

He just glares at you. You take that as a silent agreement. Taking off your guitar in its case, which you brought with you for some inexplicable reason, you begin to make your way down into the hole. You flick on your flashlight. The rather large circle of light almost blinds you for a second in contrast to the pitch black of the cave, but it's all for the better, you think to yourself.

A few minutes in, and you feel wind. It's strange, because the wind is much stronger than it should be this deep into a cave. Also opposed to common knowledge, it seems to be leading away from the entrance you came through.

Maybe there's another entrance somewhere else?

You check to make sure you still have enough rope to continue the trail you're making. As it seems, you only have enough for another forty feet.

You walk about ten yards, turning a corner to follow the wind, when you think you see light that isn't your own. You turn off your flashlight, and sure as day, there's an easy exit not too far away. Hurriedly, and quite carelessly, you drop the rope and make your way down the steep slope towards your destination.

Apparently, the light streaming in from the cave entrance wasn't enough to illuminate everything in your path. Your shin hits a rock, causing you to curse out in pain as you trip and begin to slide on your belly down the hill. You swing your feet over out in front of you, putting the sliding friction on your backpack and desperately trying to stop with your boots.

The momentum becomes too much to handle, as the comparatively gradual slope steepens into a near-vertical drop. You roll head over heels, frantically clutching at the whatever you could at first until giving up and just tucking your head in.

Eyes closed, you're shocked by a body of cold, unforgiving water. You suck the liquid into your throat, panicking upon feeling the cold, yet somehow burning sensation of your lungs being filled with water.

When you open your eyes, you can't tell which way is up or down. You kick and flail about, frantically trying to undo the straps that hold your heavy backpack to you. You feel as if, maybe, if you can get your backpack off, you can swim back up to the surface of this swirling hell.

You don't have time to do that, however, as you feel yourself smash into something hard. You push against it with your hands, and find yourself above the water.

You gasp, simultaneously coughing up water and realizing that you've hit a sandy shore. You hear the beating of your heart in your chest, as well as the relentless crash and swirl of a fast river.

Weakly, you climb further onto shore. You feel sick; you must've swallowed at least a liter of water. You lurch, throwing up a diluted mixture of the aforementioned fluid and whatever you ate for lunch that day. You sit there on all fours, knuckles white, a burning sensation filling your nostrils as the nasty solution runs out of your nose. You wipe it off on your sleeve, and turn onto your back to rest your weary limbs.

You look up into the sky. It's still the same deep blue it was fifteen minutes ago. For some reason, it strikes you as odd. Nevertheless, you turn your head to look at your surroundings.

And that's when it strikes you. There's no cave in sight, and the river forks off two different ways upstream. You could've come from either way. You really have no idea where you are.

Since then, you haven't seen the river, nor the cave. Other than what you came with, and your guitar that somehow washed up farther downstream, you haven't seen anything even remotely relating to your world.

But now, you have your hatchet...

...which was in your younger brother's hand the last time you saw it.

"Clayton!" you scream at the top of your lungs. You begin to run; you don't know exactly where, but you feel like you're running towards Clayton.

"Clay! It's Ivan! Where are you?" After a minute of running, you stop. Panting and out of breath, you make one last measly attempt to call your brother.

"Please, Clay! Come out! I know you're out there!"

You drop to your knees. Letting go of the axe, you bring your hands to your face, and despair.

You eventually find yourself near the train again. An agitated looking Rainbow looks up from her attempted fire with your flint and stone, and glares at you.

"Where have you been?" she asks in an accusing tone. "You said you would be back in fifteen minutes. It's been half an hour."

"It's not like the train's leaving anytime soon, is it?" you mutter. This makes her frown furrow deeper.

"Yeah, but I was starting get worried about- Hey! Don't ignore me!" She flies up to you, getting in your face, but you just give her an icy stare.

"Leave. Me. The fuck. Alone. Got that?"

She looks shocked. Her shock turns to anger again, but she does as you say.

The ride home is rather silent. All the ponies you're with sense your mood, and just keep to themselves.

When you finally get off the train, you say your goodbyes, and somberly walk home with Rainbow.

At this point, you're kind of wanting her to say something. Anything at all, really, just to break the tension. Unfortunately, your actions earlier hadn't put her in the most forgiving of moods.

You eventually make your way to the door. Sighing, you pull out your keys. As you turn the lock, you feel a soft nudging at your hand.

You look down. To your surprise, Rainbow is smiling at you. She says nothing, but her look says everything. I'm ready to forgive if you are.

A smile etches itself across your face as well. You scratch her behind the ear, and open the door for her. She steps in, a light trot to her step, and you follow after her.

You're up bright and early the next morning. Shovel in hand, you look rather proudly, but somewhat sadly, at the large hole in your yard.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, it belongs to you, and it's one of the few things you still have from your home."

You smile at your concerned marefriend, nodding. You lean down, unzipping the backpack that's on the ground. You see the wood engraved with your name, the shine of the metallic blade, and pull the axe out of your backpack. You take one last look at it, and throw it into the hole.

With Rainbow's help, refilling the crater doesn't take long. With a pat of your foot, you look down at what looks like completely normal ground.

The two of you sit in silence for a moment. Then, Rainbow speaks. "Sorry for being a jerk to you the other day. I had no idea what was going on, and really should have been more concerned about you acting that way."

You kneel down, and give her a peck on the lips. "Don't worry about it. We both said things we shouldn't have."

You head back inside, taking off your hat and leaning the shovel on the wall next to the back door. Thoughts, deep and somber, come and go.

"Hey." You feel a tug on your pant leg. You look down at Rainbow, who looks you straight in the eye. "You gonna be okay?"

You take a deep breath, letting go all pangs of sadness with a final exhale. "Yeah, I think so. I mean, I have you, right?"

She smiles, fluttering up to kiss you on the cheek. After a close moment together, she flies back into the kitchen to make breakfast for the two of you.

You don't know what happened to your brother. You have no idea if he's dead, if that blood was his; or if he's alive, roaming about somewhere else in Equestria, or maybe even another nation. But you've been battling with yourself for far too long over this; for now, you bury the hatchet.

Author's Note

Thanks for 200 upvotes :3 you guys are awesome!

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