Reaching for the Sky

Samuel

Finally reaching the mouth of the cave, I silently berated myself. I should have known... Idiot! But no, I had been too busy worrying that I might get the willies if we stuck around in that cave much longer. Chiefly for my own sake, I had pushed us both to leave sooner rather than later, and she had not been ready.

How long had she gone without sunlight? Just the sight of a few shimmering rays had her paralyzed with grief, awe, or some perverse combination of the two. It tore up my insides to listen to those sobs. It was just unsteady breathing, really. Hyperventilating breaths that finally started hitching in her throat, making little strangled noises. I didn't have to see her eyes to know how they looked; wide, trembling and crying. I saw the two silvery lines run down her cheeks and the more cynical part of me wondered, is she going to get permanent tearstains in her coat?

Hating myself for having allowed the thought, I tried my best not to get dragged down along with her. One of us needed to stay functional at all times, to protect the other. I only had the strength to kneel by her side and she burried her face in my good shoulder, trembling as the almost-silent sobs racked her body. This whole place looked weird without my infrared enabled.

...

Hold that thought. I wasn't wearing the visor, duh! Why the hell would I have infrared? I sat there, letting the silent mare pour it all out as I went over my own behaviour. Again and again, I kept reaching out to SAM with my mind, but with the Pegasus Frame this badly depleted, I had noted that I couldn't even get the leg frames to assist my walk, which is something that took up less power than the act of walking could generate by harvesting the kinetic energy.

Anyway, point is, I was going to go, SAM, run a mental health diagnostic, I think I might be going bonkers. Again. But yeah, SAM wasn't there anymore to inform me how batshit insane I currently was acting. I had to review my own actions. Damn, I knew I had luxury problems, but really? Forgetting to assess my own behaviour entirely?

So yeah, reviewing everything, I had most recently tried to enable my Head's-Up-Display without wearing my mask. Hell, I was looking at my new girlfr- the silent mare (I really needed to come up with a name for her), looking at her wearing what was left of the HUD. I should know instinctively not to try and enable nightvision or do a mineral repository scan.

Incidently, I could sneak-peak at her screen, watching her limited interactions with what was left of SAM with less than 2% juice left in the Pegasus Frame. It wasn't much. Normally, SAM takes up a significant portion of the energy reserves to power his quantom processor and fully utilize his intellect, but if need demands it, he can shut down his higher cognitive processes, regressing to the point where he becomes just a few lines of code in the HUD. He was currently in that state and the mare had typed just a single word so far.

Euphoria. Right, filing that away for later use, because I really needed to get a fucking grip. I was trying to perform my own version of a mental health diagnostic, and I kept getting sidetracked. So, I'd tried to use my HUD even as I was watching the mare using it. I had tried to call out to SAM even as I'd watched him power down. I sighed with exasperation at my own behaviour, idly shifting my left hoof so it wouldn't fall asleep.

...

Okay, this shit was starting to worry me. I was losing my grip on reality, or my self-perception at least. Fuck! Helloooo, genius! Who disabled the reality filter?! That's right, me! Quick, somebody award me a medal! I've figured it all out, you guys!

Yeah, not my brightest moment. I actually felt a migraine coming on, I was that furious with self-loathing. There is a reason why I always try to stop SAM's attempts to override the reality filter and this time, I'd helped him tear it down. So yeah, I was losing my ability to tell the artificial components apart from my own body. Trying to use vision modes, trying to talk to SAM in spite of staring at overwhelming amounts of evidence that he wouldn't be making an appearance anytime soon.

Hell, I'd just peeked at the HUD with my mind. Yes, I can do that. The DNI can feed images directly into my visual cortex, eliminating the need for a screen. The only downside is that it takes up a lot of cognitive processes for my real flesh brain to handle that kind of sci-fi acrobatics, and here I was doing it with the reality filter offline like a fucking moron!

I broke away from the silent mare, clutching my head with my one good hand. Yeah, I was definately feeling the pounding sensation inside my head that came with mentally over-exerting myself.

The Mare

She wasn't sure she could take much more. Over the last few days (she assumed it had been days), she had been through so many ups and downs, she was weary beyond weary. If she never had to shed another tear, it would be too soon. No, that wasn't true. In fact, it was the opposite of true. Even her misery was euphoria to her, now that she was finally free to express it. Seeing the light of Celestia's sun again had brought on a powerful sob-session and dutifully, her stallion had held her, comforting her through it. She wasn't sure he was still doing that now though. She hadn't heard his voice or felt his hand in her mane for a few minutes. Well, any crying-jack has to end sometime, no matter how well you're doing, pushing out those fat tears. She was certain her face looked disheveled from the moist tears. She didn't care.

With some effort, she managed to steady her breathing and raise her head. Throug the visor, she now saw the red glyphs dancing in thin air as the screen had otherwise cleared, becoming a glass pane to let her view the world unobstructed. Narrowing her eyes against the glare of the sun's rays, she noted the Simulated Artificial Mind once again perceived her discomfort, dimming the lens until she was able to look through the glare.

She saw her stallion doubled over, holding his head with his gloved hand as if he were in agonizing pain. Rushing to him, she pawed feebly at his arm, trying to make eyecontact in spite of the stupid visor and her hair blocking any view of either of her eyes. What had he done to calm her when she had been so lost?

Blushing, she used her forehooves to brush away his arm, gently pinning him to the ground as she climbed on top of him and kissed him deeply. He grew still underneath her and his features softened. She saw her long mane cascading down the side of his face, the strands laying over top of his black mane. She leaned down to kiss him again, this time doing it just for the sake of it, as his mind seemed to have cleared.

Therapeutic kissing. She could set up a new business, maybe? Her customer base would be small. Currently she knew only herself and Samuel who both had a habit of collapsing with mental distress. Not the most comforting of thoughts, really.

Samuel

Waves upon waves of agony and self-loathing besieged me as I took a trip to lala-land. Then suddenly all my senses were keenly focused on the soft lips locked with mine and I felt an agressive, soft tongue exploring my mouth. Letting out a soft breath, I seemed to unwind completely. I realised I was on my back, having a makeout session with the mare that I had been busy comforting only moments before. I brushed the mane from her face so I could see her right eye. The motion also revealed her broken horn, but she didn't seem to mind and I needed to look at her expressive eyes, one of them at least.

We were both breathless from our heated kissing and I began to laugh softly. She was laughing just as exuberantly, albeit silently. Her shoulders shook with laughter and she was smiling wider than I had ever seen before, so there we lay, laughing together. It was beautiful.

"Some team we make, huh?" I commented, and she laughed some more. I went on, "well, as long as we keep fixing each other, I think we might make it out of here yet. I have a cottage nearby and we need some of the stuff I keep stored there."

She seemed intrigued, her expressive blue eye radiating barely contained curiousity as she silently questioned me with a look, as if to say 'you have a home and you want to take me there?' I don't know, I might've been reading too much into that unspoken question, but I blushed and nodded. She kept smiling and I never wanted her to stop doing that, so I got to my feet, running my gloved fingers through her mane. She leaned into the gesture lovingly and after a while, we both turned our attention to the exit.

According to unspoken agreement, we both set out, matching our strides with my bipedal shuffling echoed by her soft hoofbeats. She was walking more steadily than I was, which was impressive considering she was hauling half the weight of the Pegasus Frame. She voiced no complaints, even silent ones.

We both came to a halt in front of the skeletal remains of the armor-clad pony who had wielded the halberd. She saw his self-made epitaph and I was worried she was going to cry again. I wasn't far off, myself, but instead she simply nosed around the bones, not even flinching when they collapsed. Realising what she was doing, I knelt besides her and helped gather his remains, piling them into her saddlebags, adding to her burden, but she wasn't going to leave him behind.

Our first task as we made it out into the woods was to bury the remains. I won't go into details, I haven't got much right to speak for the dead, after all. We held a respectful minute of silence, looking at the mound of freshly turned soil where we had burried him in a meadow. The afternoon sun beat down on us with its rays, but here in Equestria, the heat wasn't so stifling. For all I knew, this sun had no harmful radiation, or the ponies maintained the ozone layer with much greater care than we did back on Earth. Shoving those depressing thoughts aside, I turned to the silent mare.

"I couldn't have done it without his sacrifice. I wish I knew his name, but I suspect that might just make it more painful," I sighed.

She looked like the last part of my sentense echoed her thoughts so strongly, she was getting choked up all over again. I kissed her tenderly, but briefly and then rose to my feet unsteadily. She brushed up against my thigh, steadying me. I combed my fingers through her mane, letting her guide me onto the narrow trail we had abandoned to set up this little funeral.

Guided by the visor, she had better chances of trailing a straight path back to Ponyville, following the rough directions I gave her. I'm sure SAM's mapping data was available to her as well, albeit in a compressed 2D minimap version. When you're used to the luxuries of 3D imaging and nigh-infinate databanks, that's actually pretty rudimentary.

Making the trek back, we encountered little resistance, but without the Pegasus Frame operational, the animals seemed lured in my my shuffling gait, sensing a vulnerable animal. A lone timberwolf, wrought entirely from branches and vines, suddenly stepped onto the path straight ahead of me. My hand wanted to clutch the mare's mane, to make certain she was close by, but I closed my fingers on empty air.

Swallowing my worst fears, I hoped she had simply thought to hide. Now, I realise you've probably seen Applejack make short work of a whole pack of these things and they're ludicrously fragile in the show, if you're an Earth Pony.

These things are no joke, especially not when your skin is just a thin, pink membrane that can't even conceal the flow of blood through your veins, highlighting the arteries to make it easier for the fucker to know where to bite in order to bleed you to death in one lunge. This creature could according to legends piece itself together like the friggin' T-1000 and I wasn't feeling very Schwartzenegger-like just then.

With its foul breath, it reminded me of the cursed dragon I had just slain and I wanted to see if my enchanted halberd could kill this thing off for good, but my arm just wasn't strong enough with the deadweight of the armguard and my banged up state. I reminded myself that my insides were probably still torn up by my ribs and they needed to heal. The timberwolf growled and readied its lunge, but then wheeled about in an instant when it heard the audible snap of a twig somewhere behind it.

The silent mare, guided by her visor, had trailed a path through the underbrush getting behind the timberwolf, and very deliberately, she had brought her hoof down on the dry twig, taunting the beast. It was all the distraction I needed to unholster my weapon (it actually took a good half second) and with a dull roar of gunpowder, I shattered the timberwolf's body with a gelround.

The mare did not look frightened by the noise and I suspect she was hoping I would do just what I had done. She gave me a nod as if to say, 'nice one.' I smiled at the compliment and stepped over the already stirring remains of the timberwolf, scattering a few twigs with my boots to slow its recovery as we both began to jog back towards town, trying to put as much distance between ourselves and our pursuer.

Luckily, we had just reached the edge of the Everfree and we broke through the forestline just as the wolf howled somewhere behind us. To her credit, Twilight had indeed thought to gather the Mane 6 and they were ready to defend us, should the timber wolves decide to pursue the two of us into the edges of civilization.

The silent mare had shaken her mane loose to once again make a curtain, obscuring her right eye and broken horn. She had thought to put the visor back in the saddlebag and now she simply resembled a skinny Earth Pony. Still, we both looked like we had just been through hell and Rarity shrieked when she saw me. Fluttershy nearly fainted, but Twilight called out to them, getting them in line, ordering a sweep of the area to ensure the timberwolves wouldn't make an attack. Rainbow Dash saluted and took off, the rest formed up a defensive wall of pony, standing between Ponyville and the possible threat. Fluttershy broke off from the group, walking with us until we reached my cabin.

I was too tired to answer her inquiries and obviously, my companion wasn't going to talk back. I don't think Fluttershy noticed the scar on her throat, though. It was easy to fashion a little scarf for her to hide that detail. So, without a word, we made it past the threshold of my door and I recall shutting it before collapsing to unconsciousness.

...

Safe.