Chapter Twenty
"Back Where We Started"
"...h-hey..."
"...hey!"
What?
"...you doing alright?"
...Uh...Yeah?
"...good, it's almost over..."
Mom...? Is that you? What's almost over?
"...HEY!"
I suddenly awoke.
"Hey! Are you alright?!" I heard a voice say.
My eyes were shut, embedding my sight and awareness in darkness. I couldn't find much energy in my body to get them open either, plus, my body was aching
badly. Everything around me felt lifeless and empty, as a warm breeze suddenly blew overtop of my body. I had been laying down for some unknown reason,
and the breeze made my body suddenly shiver tremendously. I felt the sudden rush of chills run down my spine as I moved, as well as aching pain that followed
right after. I couldn't help but let out a grunt as I gently clenched my ribs, hoping that putting some sort of dull pressure on them would ease something, at
least. I then turned my head so it was facing upward toward the sky, and inhaled deeply to get my lungs some fresh air. Upon doing this, I couldn't help but let
out a sudden cough, as the air around me gagged my mouth and chest. I knew that smell too, and I didn't like it.
Smoke.
Ugh, it was disgusting, and it reeked. I then reached my sleeve over my nose and breathed a little inward to see if I could inhale anything that didn't smell of
the putrid odor. I inhaled, smelling the laundry detergent that was used to clean the shirt I was wearing. I took one more deep inhale to get my lungs to digest
the dirty oxygen inside them, which then was followed by a quiet,
"Ahhhh..."
"You alright?" The voice said again.
I finally got curious enough to see who it was and opened my eyes, taking a few seconds and waiting for them to adjust from a blur to clear. I then blinked and
turned my head toward the sound of the voice, seeing who I could bet was talking to me. It was Rainbow Dash, and she didn't look too good. Her cyan colored
mane had different sizes of black, sooty blotches and ashes, and her rainbow dyed mane was out of her normal style. It lay a little more flat, but not too flat to
where it looked awkward or bad, in fact, it looked kind of cute.
My hazel colored eyes matched her magenta colored eyes and we exchanged a few second pause, feeling a sudden warmth in each other now that we knew
both of us were out of harms way. She then smiled warmly down at me, tilting her head slightly to the right. And...that's all she did. I was confused.
"Something up?" I asked.
She chuckled a bit and suddenly blushed, taking her right hoof and placing it around the back of her head like she had done something guilty.
"T-Thanks for saving me back there...while I was sleeping." She said, feeling embarrassed.
I hadn't remembered what happened yet.
"Save you? From what?"
She looked at me dumbfounded, which caught me off guard. I had no idea what she was talking about...until she looked over me.
I followed her eyesight and turned to look behind me, which was a site that I wouldn't forget anytime soon.
The house that was once standing there, was now reduced to nothing but burnt rubble and ashes. I looked around the area and saw that absolutely nothing was
left, and we had fortunately gotten out in time. I let out a shocked expression as I kept my eyes peeled on that house. Rainbow Dash noticed it.
"Yeah...if you hadn't come looking for me though...I wouldn't be here, right next to you..." She began to grow soft.
I felt a minor helpless feeling in the pit of my stomach as she said those words, imagining if I didn't get there in time...and she died.
"How did the fire start, anyway?" She asked. My expression went from shocked to regret.
"I..Uh...Don't really know, I was outside when it happened." I said, lying about what really happened. She didn't need to know, after all, we were alive.
She shrugged, looked at the rubble a final time and stood up, towering over my prone, achy body.
"Well, either way, I'm so grateful for a friend like you who would risk their life for mine...I-I can't thank you enough." She said, smiling gently, her voice softer
and lower than normal.
I smiled a little and tried to act as tough and unaffected as I could, which wasn't very well played.
"Su-Sure thing, it was no problem." I lied again. It was a huge problem that scared the living crap out of me. The view I had of those flames roaring through the
hallway, beckoning through the doorway and exploding onto the bed as I jumped out of the window onto the ground below. It was one of the scariest things I
had to do because I didn't know if I was going to make it out alive or not! The fire...burning everything it touched...and the floor I stood on...began to cave in
form the heat...a-and-
"Hey!" Rainbow yelled suddenly, making me jump in fright.
"W-What!?" I replied, hesitant and caught off guard. I noticed she was a few feet away from me, walking in the opposite direction as I was, now sitting up.
"Are you coming? We can't stay here anymore, there house is gone! We might as well go and find something else!" She called back.
She was right. The house was our shelter, and it was ruined. I nodded toward her direction and tried to stand up. Sudden pain ran through my legs as I put
more and more pressure upon them, recalling how I must've landed feet-first when I jumped out of the window. It felt like growing pains from my foot to my
thy, but 10 times as painful. But, despite all the pain I was going through, I didn't want to hold back Rainbow Dash anymore. She looked eager to get back out
to walking and finding new things across the miles of farmland, which I could see from her doing that adventure with Daring Do. Daring had been a little
skeptical at first, but when Rainbow Dash had helped her out of that one villain's trap, she liked Rainbow and wanted her to help.
I managed to get up and onto my feet, which was like shoving thousands of needles through my achy legs. I also didn't want to look weak in front of Dash, so I
kept the pain-filled looks inside, and focused on walking towards her, which I could still do, but not as fast and careless as before. Rainbow Dash suddenly saw
the sudden change in my stride however.
"Your legs okay?" She asked.
"I think..." I replied, giving her my best answer.
She shrugged once again and waited up for me. We then met up a few moments later and took off from where the house once was. As we began to walk away
from the rubble, I looked back at it and signed quietly, feeling conflicting emotions on both leaving it and getting out of it alive. I probably won't ever forget
what happened for the rest of my days, because something like has got to stick to you. And...well, I guess what could stick more to me than that was the fact
that THE Rainbow Dash was walking next to me. A talking, cyan colored pony with rainbow colored mane and tail, with a cutie mark on her flank.
Good luck trying to forget that one.
A few hours have passed and the same setting had come upon us as it did before all of us found the farmhouse, which was absolutely nothing for miles on end.
The sun was now beginning to set and the temperature was dropping rapidly, feeling the gusts of wind feel cooler and cooler by the step. My legs had gotten
used to the aching pain, and my body begin to tense up from the constrictions in my joints. I could feel it suddenly start shutting my body down, and I began to
get weak.
"R-Rainbow...wait a second.." I said, stopping for a moment to ease the pain.
She turned abruptly and looked at me, concerned.
"Lone...is everything okay?" She asked, now with a more demanded tone.
I came clean.
"No...my legs I think are starting to cramp up or something...and I can't move them as I did earlier. I need to take a break so they can relax..." I explained,
looking over at her, "Is that okay...?"
She nodded silently and came over to my aid. I squatted down and fell back onto the ground, exhaling deeply as I took the weight off of my legs, which were
now screaming in aches and pains. I grunted once again and squeezed my eyes tight, trying to fight it out. I mean, I didn't even know if I had broken my legs
for that matter, and yet I still wanted to go on and help Rainbow Dash. Ugh...this was hard.
"Are your legs alright?" She asked, sitting down next to me, on my left side.
I looked at them, frowning.
"I don't know," I answered, "They hurt really bad and for all I know, are broken."
She frowned as well, her ears drooping. I saw this, and immediately snapped into something positive.
"B-But I should be better by morning, and we can walk all day to find shelter!" I said, trying to be as positive as I could.
She looked at me, her ears returning to their normal, perky shape. She then smiled, looking down at the floor.
"I really appreciate you wanted to keep up Lone, despite how you're feeling. It shows that you're really strong, even if you are in pain."
I looked over at her, which she continued to look at the dirt that we sat on.
"T-Thanks...I just feel bad because I know you want to keep going, but I'm holding you back..." I said, sorrowfully.
She then looked at me and scooted directly next to me, resting her head upon my left arm.
"Don't worry about it, I'm pretty exhausted already, so we needed to stop."
I had to laugh there, lighting the mood with a joke.
"You're tired, after what happened at the farmhouse, when you were SLEEPING?"
She laughed and shook her head.
"Whatever, Star." She giggled. Then, she signed and looked up into my eyes.
"Y'know, if anybody or anypony were here with me right now after all of this...I'm so glad it's with you..." She said quietly, suddenly kissing my sleeve.
I smiled and blushed brightly.
"Me too Dashie..." I reached over and pecked her forehead, returning my sign of affection. She smiled, then laid down onto her back, getting ready to fall
asleep.
I watched her do this, which put my emotions to rest, seeing that she was acting just as she always does, despite everything that has happened to both of us.
She took everything well, and never showed any real sign of losing it. I loved that about her, because she really was as tough as her friends claimed her to be,
either physically or mentally. I then smiled, and looked up at the sky, which was covered with millions of the same stars that were out a few nights ago, and
with those stars, was that moon that I loved looking at. Watching it, studying its far away luminous glow, I quietly said,
"Princess Luna...if you can hear me...please make this journey end successfully or easy...and that nothing bad will happen to either Dash or I. Thank you for
looking over us thus far...and I hope to make it up to you and Princess Celestia too. Oh, and Twilight!"
I chuckled silently and looked at the ground, my eyes beginning to get heavy and close. I laid down next to Rainbow Dash and shut my eyes peacefully, feeling
confident and safe under Luna's moon tonight, and Celestia's sun tomorrow.
"...thank you Princesses...for everything"
(20th chapter! Who thought it would go on for this long!? I didn't! But I've loved every chapter, and I hope you have too, reader! More to come!)
~LS