Friendship is Recovering

Chapter 20

Everyone was silent while I cried. I heard no one say a single word as my tears fell on Midnight Song's body. I did not even care about the fact that I never cried in years, well until I came here. I made myself so hard hearted ever since my friend's betrayal years ago. I could only think about how I failed to save her and the memories of us together.

"John..." I heard Dusk say, but I did not give him an indication that I ever heard him.

"Damn it all, why did it have to end this way...?” I said in a soft voice.

"I'm sorry for your loss," I heard someone say, and I turned around in fury.

"Sorry?! I failed to save her, and all you can say is sorry?!" I shouted.

"John calm down!" I heard Pyro say.

"No, Hell no! You don't know how I feel right now, this is no dream right now, even if it was, it hurts too much to be one! So you don't know how the hell it feels like to lose someone you love, other than a sibling!” I looked at Dusk, “Or an uncle!” I looked at Pyro, “I just lost someone close to me, and all you ever do is just give me condolences!" I shouted at them, tears in my eyes again. I was angry once again, so I pulled out a knife from my bag.

"John!" Dusk shouted at me, concerned about how I was acting. But I didn't care about him anymore.

"No, just shut the hell up!" I shouted, pointing the knife at him.

"Leave him alone!" Twilight shouted at me with her horn glowing, I knew she was going to try to cast a spell at me, so I threw the knife at her instead. In his surprise, Dusk managed catch my knife before it even touched her. I pulled out another knife, ready to attack again.

"John, please listen to me!" Dusk pleaded. I only looked back at him with the intent to throw a knife at him

"Unless you kill me, I'm not going to stop trying to kill you!" I shouted at him, and threw the knife. Pyro managed to react quickly enough to catch the knife at the hilt while it was in mid-air.

"Just listen to him!" He shouted at me the air getting hot, like the inside of a volcano. But I pulled yet another knife out of my bag and charged at him.

"Please don't hurt him too badly," Dusk said to Pyro.

"I will try not to," Pyro said in a confidant tone, and easily sidestepped my swing.  I tried to swing at him once again, but he took a page from my book a week ago, and hit me in the leg. The burning feeling in my leg would cause me to drop my knife. I glared at him again, with the intent to tackle him.

"So much for not hurting me..." I taunted at him, holding my leg where he touched it.

"I had to do that, it was the only way I could think of to disarm you. I did like how you saved me from that drunk a week ago, so I wanted you to train me in doing things similar to that," He said.

"I don't need all four of my legs to fight you!" I shouted, ignoring what he said, and attempted to brute tackle him. It failed because Twilight managed to use her magic to pin me to the floor before I even reached him.

"John, don't ever think that we don't care about you!" She shouted at me, mostly out of concern for me instead of anger.

I only glared at her, and reached into my bag to pull out another knife with my good leg. Instead of a knife, I pulled out the glass artifact that I found in the temple. I stopped myself from trying to throw it to gaze at it in surprise. I felt a strange power radiating from it, like if it were asking me to make a choice.

"What is that?" Rainbow Dash asks me in confusion.

"The artifact..." I said, and wondered why it would show up now. I then realized what the choice was.

"Twilight… can you please let me up again?" I asked her, with a sad excitement showing in my voice.

"Will you Pinkie Promise to not attacking any pony here?" She said, worried that I was still wanting to attack them. I sighed.

"I'm done... Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake... in my eye," I said, hesitating on the last part. Twilight then released her magical hold over me, and I looked back to where Midnight laid. I walked to the alter carefully with thoughts running through my head.

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I am tired of suffering, tired of suffering from my past, from the present. I have the chance to save the one who saved me. Now it is my turn to save her, for everything that we have gone through, for every time that we have been hurt or hurt each other, and for all of the memories that we made together. Now it's time for me to make one last promise in this world.

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"I Pinkie Promise you... I will return again," I whispered into her ear. I knew she may not be able to hear me, but I wanted to say it. I then set the glass statue onto the floor and raised one of my good legs up.

"What are you doing?!" I heard Dusk ask.

"I am saving her!" I shouted, and stomped on the statue hard enough to make it shatter. As it shattered, a light would shine over Midnight like the sun.

"What is happening?" I heard him ask.

"I will tell you... I am bringing Midnight back to life, but at a cost," I said, sorrow showing in my eyes.

"What cost... John, what's happening?" I heard Pyro ask.

"The cost is that... I go back to Earth," I said. The ponies in the room were shocked at what I did, at my noble deed.

"Will… You ever remember us?" Dusk asked me, knowing that I wanted to do this, for Midnight.

"I hope I do... and I promise you all... no, I Pinkie Promise you all, that I will find a way back, no matter what it takes," I said, and I slowly started to fade.

"I wish you never needed to go... I still want to learn from you," Pyro said, trying not to cry, but failing miserably. But instead of tears, his eyes began to steam.

"If I return... I will train you, I swear it to myself... now I want you to tell Midnight one thing when she wakes up," I said, smiling as I was almost gone.

"What is it?" Blitz asked me, being close to tears about me leaving.

"Tell her... that I'm sorry... and that I love her..." I said, and vanished from the world of Equestria. All I could see was darkness.

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I opened my eyes to see that I was laying face down on the floor. I groaned, and pushed myself up off of the floor. I looked at myself to find that I was human again, but I felt a deep sorrow instead of happiness. Was that a dream? I wondered to myself. I took a look at where the statue was, only to see that it was gone. I frowned and checked my robe to see if I still had everything. When I looked in one of the pockets, I pulled out a yellow feather. It did not come from any bird I know of, and then I started to hold my head in pain. I remembered everything that happened in that world. When the pain faded away, I moved my hands away from my head and looked at the feather again. It never was a dream... it was real! I thought in excitement, before calming down in sorrow. I first had to get out of this old temple before I could work on finding a way back. I will never give up until I find my way to my real home. I thought, and I walked up the steps.

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As soon as I stepped outside, I had to use my hand to block out the bright sunlight that shone down. My eyes adjusted fairly quickly to the light, and as I removed my hand from my forehead, I saw a man walk towards me.

"John! By god you are alive! I finally found you!" He exclaimed in a weird glee.

"Who... are you?" I asked him in confusion. I was a bit disoriented from stepping outside again.

"My name is Chris, remember the detective from years ago?" He asked me. I shook my head and he sighed.

"Figured, it was years ago... I want to tell you a few things though now that you are listening," He said.

"Speak, I have something to do," I told him, crossing my arms. It took me a few tries to remember how to use my arms, but I relearned it again.

"First off, I need to tell you that your best friend never did betray you, he was blackmailed and forced to kill your wife," he said plainly.

"That was years ago... how do I know you’re not lying to me?" I asked him with suspicion.

"Good point... I still have the letter if you want to read it," He said, and pulled out the letter.

"I believe you..." I said, causing the detective to be surprised.

"But you didn't even read the letter," He said, being surprised at how fast I said that.

"I don't need to... something tells me that you are not one to lie to me," I said, giving him a confidant smirk.

"You are right, I would never lie to my own family... not even to my own brother," He said, giving me the same smirk.

"I don't recall ever having a brother..." I said in confusion.

"I did not know either, until I found out that my real parents have died on the day that you disappeared. I lived in a foster home for many years; I became a detective to try to help others who needed it.

"I don't want to suffer from the past anymore, I just want to find something right now," I said, giving him a smile that told him that I still believed him, despite how odd it would seem. I was only not surprised because of that memory I had after I retrieved the gemstone, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"What is it that you are looking for now?" He asked me in confusion.

"A way back to where I know I belong," I said, and for once, I smiled genuinely.

"And where would that be?" He asks me, wondering about why I would be smiling.

"Equestria," I said, and started to walk towards the dock. As I passed him, he looked at me like he thought I was crazy, but he followed me anyways.

I promise you, I will return. I thought, remembering the promise I made to them. I then kneeled to untie my boat.

"I don't know what happened, but you have changed," he said, getting in the boat that I was untying.

"For the better," I said, and looked out towards the sea. I saw the sun setting at the water's level.

"I thought you were going to hold people at a very icy distance," he said in wonder.

"I was, until I met a group that made me change my mind about it," I said, getting into the boat myself.

"What group?" He asked me in curiosity. I looked at him again, and smiled as I remembered the time I spent with them.

"Why are you smiling?" He asks, being worried about my sanity because of the smile.

"Because I want to tell you a story... A story that I am pretty sure you will never believe," I said, and pushed off from the dock.