Haunting images besieged my mind's eye. A scaled beast, fire, the stench of decay and roiling beneath the surface, a sense of melancholy, of ever-deepening sorrow. A pristine white Unicorn stood frozen in her own personal hell. Anger welled up in me and there was blood. So much blood. I wasn't sure what was real.

Now, I know I've bragged a lot about my ability to sort hallucinations from reality, but I've had a crutch to lean on in such cases; SAM and the reality filter. For whatever reason, I couldn't feel either one of them, and that made the images all the more horrifying. My subconscious was trying to block out certain details, but I knew I needed to remember.

Troughout my troubled visions, I did catch a few glimpses of the outside world but my eyelids felt so heavy. I was being dragged at one point, then I felt a tugging sensation from my chest followed by the chill of cold air against my skin. My system must've been flooded with adrenals, because I was dazed and hardly in any pain. There was a deep ache in my chest though. That held significance, but I couldn't place it. I drifted back into unconsciousness, and blessedly, the haunting images did not return.

I don't know how much time passed, but when I came to, SAM was still silent as the grave. This continued to trouble me, but I also became aware of another presence. My chest no longer felt cold, and while the blazing agony was now only dulled slightly by the drugs, there was also a pleasant sensation rolling around my chest. Managing to pry my eyes open, I was overcome with a plethora of emotion; confusion, sadness, concern, but chiefly among them, relief.

The mare. She was still beautiful, even with her fur matted with cakes of dirt and a few crimsom stains that could only be blood. She was laying on her stomach on top of me and I could identify the soothing sensation; her soft muzzle was roaming my chest. Her snout was amazingly soft and warm, making my skin tingle with sensation. A more analytical part of my mind noted the three white strips of slap-on gauze and off to the side were a few tools from my medkit. That explained the blood stains on her white coat. She'd fixed me, I don't know how, but she'd managed, somehow.

Gratitude surged in me and I stared at the feeble mare now cast in a different light. I could see how slight she was compared to other ponies, how her muscles had weakened with disuse, and from this angle I could take in every detail of her broken horn. The solid bone protruding from her forehead had been snapped in half close to the base, the uneven jagged lines tapering off to one side, leaving maybe half an inch where the horn was shortest and two inches where it was longest, on the right side. It grated on my conscience how the uneven stub seemed to have been left there to clearly show what once was, but no more. It seemed cruel and deliberate.

How callous I must have seemed, making jokes about broken horns and amputated wings right in front of her! Yet here she was, nosing my chest in a clear sign of adoration. Yes, I might have chosen my first words more carefully, but I did destroy her tormentor, her keeper, the one who did this to her. And when the dragon had seemed certain of the fact that it would at least get to drag me kicking and screaming behind it into the depths of hell, this broken mare had intervened. There was no one else who could've performed field surgery on my broken chest. The invasive stench of decay had also receded, meaning she must've dragged me quite some distance.

I felt the darkness about to reclaim me and for a moment, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to show my gratitude. My left arm still wouldn't move and while I hated having to do things with my right hand (you're probably wondering about the glove - I'll get to it in due time), I could at least move that arm. A pity I couldn't feel her mane like this. She froze like a filly caught with her hoof in the cookie jar. I wanted to laugh at the cute display, but I only managed a dopey grin before my world turned black.

Well, it seemed I wasn't going anywhere and no matter how badly my subconscious wanted to deny me a comprehensive playback of recent events, I could make educated guesses. I know the dragon hit me hard enogh to shatter most of the Pegasus Frame and I should've died from my wounds. My chest and left arm had clearly taken the brunt of the impact and it was bad enough to necessitate surgery. That meant broken ribs and they probably ripped up my insides, causing fatal internal bleeding. I also felt cold and last I remembered, the caves had been warm, even up here, closer to the surface. I'd lost some blood, then and had god knows what organs pierced by my splintered ribs. I also recalled the dull ache deep in my chest and mentally, I shuddered as the pieces came together. I'd suffered cardiac arrest - in other words, I'd died. I've already mentioned several inhuman modifications to my body such as the nanites, already hard at work trying to fix my latest screw-up, but I'd never actually thought I would slip up this badly.

As mentioned, SAM and the reality filter were both tasked with keeping me healthy and sensing my vitals giving out completely, he had rerouted the remaining power from the Pegasus Frame, feeding concentrated bursts through these little wires that led directly to my heart. Basically, it's a cybernetic defibrilator. Coupled with a helping of adrenaline kept in reserve for just this kind of scenario, the machine had jump-started my heart, forcing it to resume beating.

The clear downside of this was as mentioned, that the Pegasus Frame and thus SAM and the reality filter by proxy, had been drained of juice. I'd need to recharge it with one of three things, preferably all:

• Body heat. Right, lost a lot of blood, so not much of that.

• Movement. Pretty much bed-ridden, so yeah.

• Solar panels. My wings were busted and I was stuck in a cave.

Perfect. Just perfect... Well, it seemed like I'd have to crawl my way out of here. Assuming I kept recovering like this, it could be days.

...

Why was I complaining again? Hello! Equestria to shit-for-brains! You just killed a dragon and had your sorry ass saved, twice! Alright, maybe things weren't so bad, all things considered. So I'd just lie here for a bit...

Might as well look on the bright side. I did pause to deliver a vaguely ominous message to Twilight Sparkle and if she'd seen my self-destructive behaviour on the upswing, then maybe she wasn't going to trust me to watch over myself for a few days. Maybe she'd search for me. I did tell her 'a few days' but I clearly wasn't going anywhere in a hurry. I didn't even know how much time had already passed. Somehow my helmet had cracked though I did recall looking through the visor just towards the end. Anyway, point is, I couldn't tell the time. I'd just cheated death and slain a dragon, so it couldn't hurt to hold out a prayer for the most magical Unicorn in Equestria to come save the day.

Meanwhile, I got to snuggle with a pony.

...

You're jealous, I know it.

Anyway, I was left to wonder about the silent mare. I was more than a little impressed with her attitude. I could tell she'd been stuck in this hell for a while and yet her spirit hadn't been broken. My left arm was fixed up quite neatly with a splint and without her horn, that must've been nightmarish. I knew enough about Unicorns to safely say that they weren't nearly as good at handling objects with their mouthes and hooves as the Earth Ponies and the Pegasi. Earth Ponies even had prehensile tails and watching AJ's rodeo routine was a little scary, to be honest. The Pegasi also used their wings to grasp objects, freeing up their hooves and mouthes for multitasking. Now, I know from personal experience that even with ten fingers, it's hard to apply bandages like that. Yet she'd kept trying until she succeeded.

Somehow her feeble nature made her seem all the more valliant. It's one thing to succeed when you're pumped full of nanomachines and lent godlike strength by futuristic tehcnology, but it's quite another to lower yourself to fumbling with clumsy hooves in the dark, humiliating yourself with each failure. I'd been around ponies long enough to know that many of them did struggle with certain daily tasks and it was a sore topic for most. Say what you will about the ponies, but they had their pride. To be caught fumbling with formal clothing was embaressing and normally only family and lovers were permitted to be in the room with a pony getting dressed.

The Unicorns were the envy of all when it came to these trivial matters, effortlessly levitating objects with their glowing horns until everything came together. They even seemed to have an easier time than me with my opposable thumbs and yet here was this pale ghost of her former self without a voice, without a Cutie Mark and without even her horn. She had clearly exhausted herself tending to me and she wasn't about to leave me behind if the way she'd curled up on top of me were any indication. Incidently, the shared body heat did help my recovery and before long, I felt comfortable poking around a bit with my right hand, trying to get a feel for how bad the damage to my Pegasus Frame was.

I was careful not to disturb her rest as I took inventory. The helmet, chestguard and left armguard were broken, as was most of the back, including the wings and the spine. That pretty much left just the leggings and the right armguard. Impressively, it seemed that she'd scoured the cave, picking up even smaller pieces of the wings and even my rifle. The more I pieced together, the more I had to give credit to her. She had not only saved my life, but she seemed to treat my worldly possessions with more respect than I could have hoped for. With any luck, the Pegasus Frame could be put fully back together. I lifted my right hand to lazily stroke the mare's back as she rested on top of me. She stirred a little, but then grew still and her breathing slowed as she seemed comforted by the gesture. We stayed like that for a while and eventually, sleep reclaimed me.

The Mare

She had no real need for sleep - she'd slept too long. The urge to move, to pace about, to enjoy her newfound freedom, it warred with her desire to protect her stallion and keep him warm. She had enjoyed it when he'd stroked her back, but he was still very weak, barely able to stay coherent for more than a few minutes at a time. A sudden draft chilled her and she tried unsuccessfully to press herself closer to her sleeping charge. Resolving to do anything she could, she reluctantly slipped out from under his hand, moving shakily on weakened legs. She began to nose about, poking at the different pieces of equipment. She wasn't used to having to touch everything physically to get some feel for the object, but this was still preferable to her eternal cocoon. She shuddered just to think about it, quickly pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind as she began to explore in earnest. She'd learned now that the strange stallion was bipedal and mostly furless. What had looked like shattered wingbones had turned out to be inanimate. If there was any magic involved, she couldn't sense it. She kept nosing around until she found a similar compartment in the leg barding on the opposite side of where she'd first seen his surgical tools. She knew the spectral entity was still not able to speak or act directly. It seemed to live in the suit. Yet somehow it had enough of a presence to know when to reveal the medical equipment and even translated instruction for her, so clearly it was cooperating.

She nosed at the section of armor where a thin line revealed a sealed compartment and then glanced towards the cracked visor. She waited but nothing happened. Beginning to feel foalish for her half-baked attempts at communing with the disembodied voice, she hesitated but brought her muzzle back to the locked compartment, poking it more firmly, even pawing at it with a hoof before turning to face the visor fully, her posture expectant.

She released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding when the screen glowed soft red. She didn't bother to read the instructions as she heard a soft hiss and saw the section of armor slide to the side, revealing another toolbelt similar to the medkit. Using her lips and teeth, she nibbled at the toolbelt, eventually managing to unfold it, revealing a crude survival kit similar to one she'd once seen carried around by an Earth Pony with a compass cutie mark. Quickly she pushed the thought to the back of her mind before the sorrow could cripple her. She was tired of crying.

She nosed through the survival kit, eventually finding what she was looking for; a flint and steel lighter. Such a tool was considered to be a luxury item. Unicorns could ignite a spark with their horns, Pegasi generally shied away from any open flame and any Earth Pony with a bit of practice could master the art of starting a fire using two dry twigs. This particular piece looked more refined than the others she had seen through shop windows. Sleek and cased in silvery steel with engravings and even a hood to protect the flint wheel. It took some effort, but she managed to wedge the lighter between her fronthooves, using her teeth to open the hood. Setting the lighter back down, she rose and took a few unsteady strides back towards the deeper reaches of the cave. Gradually, her shaky legs remembered how to walk at a brisk trot and she was glad her stallion didn't see her stumble a few times. So embaressing.

She soon returned with a few dried twigs, making the trip several times until she had stacked a little bonfire on a bare section of cave floor. Returning her attention to the abandoned lighter, she froze when she saw her stallion had turned his head to the side to look at her. Heat flushed to her face and she hesitated, but something about his expression encouraged her. It was as if he was gazing upon her with adoration, those slightly smaller eyes shimmering from their deep sockets. She swallowed, blushing profusedly as she kneeled over the lighter, picking it up with her teeth, angling her head to the side to strike the flint wheel against the cave floor, flinching when she made a spark, but the flame didn't catch. She tried again, embaressment warring with pride as she felt her stallion's gaze upon her. The third time, the flame did catch, flickering precariously in the cool air. With exaggerated care, she brought the open flame to the dry twigs and soon the bonfire caught light. She spat out the lighter and was relieved to see the flame go out. She pawed at it a few times, trying to get the hood to close, abandoning this task when embaressment finally overcame her. She settled on her haunches on the other side of the fire, reluctant to meet his gaze.

Samuel

In my dreams, I experienced the horrors I had presumably abandoned back on Earth. I ran towards the crowded city, screaming my throat sore, but nobody heard me. They all went about their lives, ignorant of the bright shimmer appearing in the middle of the most densely populated area: a big open plaza fenced in my glittering steel towers and bright glass fronts, the pinacle of our society. The skyscrapers stood tall and defiant, reaching for the skies above and the people crowded the streets below, happy to walk in the shadows of the silent giants. A child had noticed the shimmering light and cried out with glee, pointing and tugging at his mother's skirt. I kept running, trying to warn them but it was too late. The flash suddenly exploded, drowning out the world in blinding white. Somehow I was spared, the light passing through me. As my eyesight recovered, I was stranded, completely alone in a postapocalyptic landscape. The highways and skyscrapers had all collapsed, crushed under the all-powerful bomb. The wind chilled me to the bone and I could only watch as the world had seemingly disappeared before my eyes.

Coming to, I tried to ignore my spur-of-the-moment Sara Conner impersonation as I realised that I was just feeling cold. The soft weight I'd grown accustomed to was absent from my chest and I heard something scuffle about in the cave. Turning my head towards the sound, I was greeted with a heartwarming sight. The white mare, her coat still matted with dirt, was moving to and fro at an unsteady canter and I confess, she looked adorable in her clumsiness. I realised she already had the workings of a bonfire stacked up not five feet from me and she turned to search for something. Following her gaze, I noticed my zippo lighter with its hood open on the cave floor. How did she even- I dismissed the thought, watching her as she frowned cutely, pawing at the lighter with her hoof, but she was unable to pick it up. I had to assume that whatever magic allowed the ponies to grasp things in their hooves was gone along with her horn. She bent down to pick it up with her teeth, wrinking her nose in mild distaste, but then she met my gaze and froze.

Her white coat did little to hide her furious blush and for a moment, I thought she might turn and run. I did not mean to embaress her, truth be told, I was awe-struck by her dedication. Imagine waking up without hands. Would your first thought be to get on your belly and bite the dust, both figuratively and literally, casting aside your pride as you stayed focused on the task at hand? Yeah, this mare had my respect, as I've stated. So I didn't laugh or do anything to betray my pity for her. For a tense moment, we simply held each other's gaze and whatever she saw must have been good enough for her, as she handled the lighter with her mouth, making sure her mane didn't get in the way as she struck it, getting a solid flame on her third try, and soon the fire was lighted. I couldn't help myself though; as she spat out the lighter and pawed at it, trying to get the hood closed, she just looked so adorably frustrated that I couldn't help but smile.

She decided the cold stone floor on the opposite side of the newly lit campfire was the coziest spot after that. Serves me right. Why do I keep being mean to ponies...? Well, she hadn't run out on me yet, so I could still salvage this. I just hope my accent wasn't too thick. Really, even with a supercomputer/AI deciphering the language and injecting it directly into my brain, there was a limit to how quickly I could learn and it had only been a week.

...

Who the fuck was I kidding? Here I was, still belly-aching over an accent when this Unicorn had dragged my ass to safety, performed field surgery with her mouth no less, AND she'd made this awesome campfire without laughing at my overpriced zippo lighter (with zero additional practical uses to show for all that money). Right, time to say something profound.

"Thank you," I croaked. Shit, I hadn't realised how sore my throat would be. Well, maybe I ought to just keep it sweet and simple then.

She blinked, caught off-guard by my words. Her eyes were amazingly blue, almost luminescant like her coat. Her blonde mane hung like a curtain down one side of her face, vaguely reminding me of a picture SAM had shown me once, titled 'Pinkamina.' Whatever, I liked the way her mane looked, even with a few tangles from her earlier struggles. I know it was one of the first things she did, shaking her hair loose from that silly little bun that kept it out of her face. It did a nice job of obscuring her broken horn, which I suspect was the intention all along. She seemed to mole over my words, blushing again as she gave a timid smile and a nod as if to say right back at you.

"No really, thank you, for fixing my mess," I gestured to my broken arm still looking good with the splint she gave me.

She shifted a bit on her haunches, chewing on her lower lip, her blue eyes boring into mine. It was impossible not to get sucked into those deep blue pools, and I realised they were conveying such unending gratitude that they were shimmering, on the verge of tears. Well damn, I was almost getting choked up myself. She had a very expressive face.

I held out my good hand, trying to reach for her. She hesitated before getting up, shakily circling the bonfire until she stood over me. I gently placed my gloved fingers at her jawline and immediately, she leaned into the caress, inhaling suddenly in a soft gasp. Her jaw must've been very sore and she clampered on top of me, closing her eyes as she stretched her neck, rubbing against my massaging fingers. I worked my fingers in tight little circular patterns, inching my way closer to the crook of her neck and as I touched the joint of her delicate jaw, she trembled visibly. Using my thumb and forefinger, I massaged both sides and her lips parted in another gasp as I worked the tension from her muscles. Tears leaked from her tightly shut eyelids and finally, she pressed her lips to mine.

Like I'd felt before when she was nosing my chest, her lips were amazingly soft and warm. Any lingering feelings of wrongness were washed away with that fervent kiss as she poured all of her feelings into it. All of her sorrow, her shame, her loneliness from being stuck in that glass cage for god knows how long, it was all melting away as the kiss deepened and I felt her tongue dance with mine. If my teeth frightened her, she didn't show it. She wrapped her forelegs around me and I kept gently massaging her jaw and cheeks with my hand, occasionally moving it to stroke her mane from her face.

I don't know how long we spent kissing like that, but we were both breathless as she finally broke the kiss. She had cried continuously throughout the kissing, leaving stains on her cheeks. I simply wrapped my arm around her, hugging her to my chest and soon after, she fell asleep, finally feeling the rigors of an eventful night catching up with her, no matter how badly she wanted to stay awake.

I gently wiped her tears away and watched her peaceful, sleeping face for a while. I wondered what her name could be. I didn't want to pry, clearly whatever she went by before could have something to do with what she'd lost. Anyway, I didn't want to force her to spell it out, but I needed to call her something.

...

Way to draw a blank, Samuel.

Author's Note

Have another chapter, and thank you if you're still following this. If you want to help Samuel pick out a name, feel free to do so in the comments. He doesn't have a lot of practice thinking like a brony.