Well, time to end the dramatic suspense of the previous chapter... with a new one! Hope you all enjoy this fairly long chapter. Hope its not a TL:DR deal...
Kyle was peddling hard and fast on the bike to try and catch up with the truck. Fortunately, they were staying under the speed limit of 25 MPH, but even so, he still had to peddle hard in order to keep up.
"Come back here, you heartless snatchers!" Kyle shouted.
The two catchers could not hear what he said, but the passenger noticed Kyle peddling directly behind them in the rear-view mirror, noticing that he was trying to catch up.
" 'Ey, Louie! There's some weirdo chasin' us on his bike!" the passenger animal catcher said.
"Meh... prob'ly just some hotheaded teen." the driver said. "Y'know how they are... ragin' hormones; testosterone 'n stuff... prob'ly drugs, too..."
"Yeah..." the passenger said. "...prob'ly wants to try and take our precious li'l princess in her cage! Put yo' foot on it!"
The driver sped up a bit, and Kyle was getting left in the dusty wake.
"Damn... they noticed me." Kyle said to himself. "Well, time to power through..."
As luck would have it, they came to a downhill stretch, and it greatly helped Kyle to pick up a bit of momentum. It did so for the catchers' truck as well, but they could not risk creating too large of a buffer above the speed limit. He was slowly catching back up to them, but he had to be extremely careful; he had no helmet or padding on, and the road was not in great shape, being full of potholes and cracks. Still, his adrenaline rush was sufficient to keep him going.
Kyle kept the momentum going downhill in order to keep up with the truck, but the bike was now moving at a very dangerous speed. He had to keep a firm grip on the handlebars; if he veered too far on either side by even a fraction of a degree, it would make him lose control and crash. He was able to get directly behind the truck, and then Lyra noticed him.
"Oh, Kyle!" she said. "You're here!"
"Don't worry, Lyra! I'm gonna get you outta there!" Kyle said.
Immediately, he put his feet on the frame of the bike between the seat and the handlebars, and slowly began to stand. He would have to let go of the bike completely for the next part. In less than a heartbeat, he jumped his hands from the handlebars to the rim of the truck's trunk, and hauled himself onto his elbows to hang off of it. At that point, the bike lost all control and fell from under him. He looked back to see it ride on its own for a few seconds, veering towards the curb, and colliding with the sidewalk, flipping over.
Kyle put his feet on the bumper, and stood up to climb into the truck. He flipped himself inside, and stayed low to the floor of the vehicle, crawling over to Lyra's cage.
"Kyle..." Lyra said, smiling with tears in her eyes. "...you came to save me!"
Kyle nodded. "Yep! I just gotta figure out how to open this lock..." he said, examining the padlock.
Meanwhile, inside of the cabin of the truck, the catchers tried to get another observation of their posterior surroundings.
"Hey..." the passenger said, looking in the rear-views and behind them. "...where'd he go?"
"Prob'ly gave up or somethin'..." the driver said.
"Wait..." the passenger said, looking back to see something crouching in the truck. "...THAT ASSHOLE'S TRYIN' TO STEAL OUR UNICORN!"
"WHAT!?" the driver exclaimed. "Well, don't just sit there! Get 'im off the truck!"
"With pleasure..." the passenger said, powering up a dog-control stun baton.
With that, he leaned out the window after rolling it down, and held the stun baton to thrust at Kyle, who was removing the duct tape from Lyra's horn so that her magic would not be blocked. Kyle happened to notice him, and gasped as he saw the baton being jabbed in his direction. He dodged it, but the passenger catcher brought it back to try again, all repeating in quick succession.
"GET THE HELL OFF THE TRUCK, YOU COCKSUCKER!" the catcher shouted.
"NOT HAPPENING!" Kyle shouted back.
The passenger catcher managed to nick Kyle's hand with the baton.
"OW!" Kyle shouted as a sharp pain stemmed from his shocked hand.
After several more seconds of jabbing and dodging, Kyle managed to grab a non-electrified part of the baton and pull it away. He started swatting the passenger with it. The catcher pulled himself back inside of the vehicle and rolled the window up. Kyle then got up onto the roof of the truck's cabin, setting himself on his stomach, and started hitting the windshield with the baton in hopes of creating cracks that would obscure their visibility and force them to pull over.
"God, what is dis fucker's probl'm!?" the passenger said.
"I dunno... but he ain't gonna be walkin' outta here with his life!" the driver said. "I can shake him off, and he'll crash to the pavement 'n die! Then we can retire in glory and riches fit for a hundred kings!"
Immediately, he put the accelerator to the floor, and the truck shot forward, Kyle almost losing his grip, but not quite. He held onto the rims of the truck's top firmly, as they swerved like crazy.
Lyra was occupied trying to hastily pick the lock with her magical telekinesis, but it was not working out so great; she could not see inside of the lock, and the swerving was throwing her off badly. She wanted to help Kyle, but was not exactly sure what to do. It was too risky for her to try and use her magic as a means of attacking; she might accidentally hit Kyle. She was pondering heavily about what to do in order to help Kyle and escape...
...and then she happened to spot a ditch filled with water off to the side of the road up ahead.
I know what I need to do... Lyra thought.
All she wanted was for Kyle to be alright. He might be a little banged up, but it was better than more serious injuries, Lyra assumed. With the two men still heavily distracted, she took hold of the wheel with her magic, veered the truck more towards the watery ditch as the driving catcher swerved towards it, and closed her eyes for impact...
SPLASH.
Kyle was flung off the top of the truck, but landed in a puddle of water that was just deep enough to break his fall. Regardless, the impact still hurt him a bit, and knocked the breath out of him.
Under the water for a brief moment, Kyle flailed his arms about before he stood up in the waist-deep water.
He looked at the truck, which was now stuck in the ditch, it's engine sputtering to a halt. The windshield was now cracked all over and had bloodstains on it from where the two snatchers hit their heads against it, and they now lay unconscious from the impact.
"Lyra...!" Kyle uttered, rushing his way through the water to get to the truck.
Peering into the trunk, he saw the cage that had been holding Lyra was now busted open. Lyra was laying half-inside of it, but she was out-cold, covered in bruises and cuts from the crash.
"Oh no... Lyra!" Kyle said, quickly climbing into the truck and kneeling beside his beloved Unicorn friend. "Lyra, please wake up! Get up!"
He tried to nudge her, tap her muzzle, and even pull her mane, but she was far too deeply unconscious to awaken... in fact, it seemed like she was...
"Please, Lyra..." Kyle said softly, tears filling his eyes. "...please don't be dead! Please, give me something! Anything...! Lyra...!"
Kyle began to hyperventilate. He had no clue what to do to save his pony friend.
No, no, no... Kyle thought. ...why did she have to do this!? Why couldn't she wait for me to get her? Ngh, I need to do something! I NEED to save her...! But... how do you do CPR on a pony? Where is the heart even located!?
Succumbing to defeat, Kyle laid his head on Lyra's chest, and cried softly.
"...P-please come back, L-Lyra..." he cried. "...you mean... m-more to me than... anything e-else... in the whole world..."
He sat there, crying for several minutes. The hide on Lyra's chest became saturated with his drying tears.
"I-I never... got the... ch-chance..." Kyle began. "...t-t-to say... I'm s-sorry..." he sniffled. "...I'm so... sooooo sorry... Lyra..."
If Lyra was truly going to die, especially after the event that transpired only a few days ago... there was absolutely no way he would ever be able to forgive himself. He knew that he had hurt her, and for her to die with that pain still inside of her...
...he felt like a horrible monster. He felt like he did not deserve to have her in his life.
He sat hugging the unresponsive Lyra, crying his eyes out. He could not get her to a veterinarian, because she could not risk being exposed to humankind, and he was not a doctor, let alone a surgeon. There was absolutely nothing he could do. But...
Wait... Kyle thought as something popped into his head. ...what if... what if I could use Lyra's magic, just like before?
Willing to do anything to save Lyra's life, Kyle took the chance. He held Lyra's horn in his hand, and attempted to focus his energy into it. He closed his eyes, did the best he could to calm himself, and focus. It took a little bit of time, but Lyra's horn started to glow the same green color as Kyle's eyes.
Glowing strands of light began to stem from the tip of Lyra's horn, and spread all over her body. It appeared to be working; the bruises were slowly shrinking and dissipating, the cuts were slowly sealing themselves, and Lyra's dull color was becoming more saturated and normal-looking again. After a few moments of heavy focusing, Lyra looked completely healed, and sure enough, she let out a few moans and slowly opened her eyes.
Kyle's heart leapt as tears filled his eyes.
"Lyra...!" he whispered.
"...N-ngh..." Lyra uttered, weakly. "...Kyle... you saved me."
"Thank God..." Kyle said. "...I thought I was gonna lose you!"
Lyra sat up, and looked around at the scene.
"You didn't get hurt... right?" Lyra asked, clearly concerned for her human friend.
Kyle shook his head. "I hit the water pretty hard, but I'm alright." he said.
Both of them sat for a few minutes, having first spoken to each other after several days. Both of their minds were flooded with all of the sadness, frustration, and pain that each one of them believed they had caused themselves. A sad look filled Lyra's eyes. She sat looking at the ground for a few seconds before she managed to glance up at Kyle.
"Listen... Kyle... I... I'm really sorry... about what happened... a few days ago." she said.
"What?" Kyle asked, looking up at her.
Lyra sighed. "I overreacted... and I'm sorry."
"Lyra... you don't need to apologize." Kyle said, tears filling his eyes. "I shouldn't have said those things about you. I broke my promise to do what was best for you, so I should be the one to apologize."
"But still, I shouldn't have taken it the way I did! It took me a while to notice..." Lyra briefly trailed off. "...that you really didn't mean it."
"Lyra..." Kyle began. "...anything bad about you that I would say... I would never genuinely mean it. But... I felt like a complete ass when I told off your species the way I did. Those words came out of my mouth, and I wasn't thinking about what I was saying..."
Once again, they both sat silent for a moment, thinking. Both of them were almost very much certain that the other was angry at them.
"Kyle..." Lyra finally said, looking down and pausing for a moment as tears filled her eyes, before she looked up at him. "...do you still love me?"
Without hesitation, Kyle lifted Lyra in his arms and held her in a firm hug, closing his eyes as tears ran down his face.
"Of course I still love you, Lyra!" Kyle said as the Unicorn mare hugged him back. "I will always love you, no matter what happens! If I didn't love you... I wouldn't have come to save you!"
"G-gngh...!" Lyra strained.
Kyle loosened his hold on her a bit. "Oh, I'm sorry... still hurting from the crash?" he asked.
"Y-yes..." Lyra said, but she just hugged him tighter. "...but, y'know what they say... l-love hurts..."
"Oh, Lyra... you silly filly." Kyle said, lightening up a bit and managing to smile.
"And, Kyle... thank you. You saved my life... in more ways than one." Lyra said.
Kyle smiled. "Guess my life-debt is repaid, then?" he said.
Lyra looked up at him, smiling despite tears in her eyes. "...You never owed me anything." she said.
"But it's just what I would do for you..." Kyle responded.
After having come to forgive each other for what happened on that unfortunate day, they both stood up and readied themselves to head back. Kyle pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and checked it.
"Well... looks like my phone's toast." Kyle said, chuckling a bit. "When we get back home, I'll stick it in some rice."
Both of them got off of the truck to head out, but then Lyra happened to hear something approaching them from behind.
"...Glad to see you're still in one piece, kid." came a voice very familiar to Lyra.
"Oh, Romeo!" Lyra said upon seeing the horse.
"Huh?" Kyle asked, looking back. "That horse...?"
Lyra was not listening to Kyle, and went straight up to the brown stallion.
"You came for me?" Lyra asked.
"Yep." Romeo said. "I was readyin' myself to jump the fence... but I see you got yourself a nice human rescuer who did the job for me."
Since Kyle could not understand "horse language," being a human, Lyra's voice was the only thing his ears could pick up from their conversation.
"Um, Lyra... who is this?" Kyle asked.
Lyra looked back at Kyle. "Oh, Kyle! This is Romeo. I met him when I was wandering around Zebulon Range... and he offered to help me back to your house." she said.
Kyle's eyes widened. "You wanted to come back? I thought you hated me after what happened..." he said.
"Like I said..." Lyra began. "...I felt really bad, and wanted to make it up to you. But, as I was coming back, we came to a gap between two neighborhoods, and I was spotted by those catchers, and they took me."
"Well..." Kyle began. "...I'm glad that I was wandering around aimlessly in despair at that time. If I wasn't... I would've never seen you again... and then I would've thought that you..." he trailed off.
"And... it seems like Romeo was trying to come and rescue me as well." Lyra said.
Romeo nodded once. "Yep. I woulda bucked my way through those truck doors to stop them." he said.
"Let me get this straight..." Kyle began. "...this horse was helping you get back... and tried to rescue you?"
Lyra nodded.
Kyle stepped forward, and rubbed Romeo's mane. "Thank you, Romeo. Thank you for helping Lyra to come and find me." he said.
Romeo nuzzled Kyle's hand. "Gotta say, kid... your human's got a nice hand-touch."
"I know..." Lyra said. "...he's the best anypony could ever ask for."
"Wish I could stick around..." Romeo said. "...but I gotta be headin' back towards the Eastern side of the range. My herd is gonna be rounded up for relocation, and we gotta be altogether when we're retrieved."
Lyra looked saddened. "You're leaving?" she asked.
"That's right." Romeo said.
"I hope we can meet again someday!" Lyra said.
Romeo looked to ground for a moment. "Well... even if we don't..." he said, looking back up at Lyra. "...I'll never forget about you, kid."
Kyle chimed in: "Well... once again, Romeo... even if you can't understand what I'm saying... I can't tell you enough how thankful I am that you helped Lyra." he said.
"Well... I best be off." Romeo said. "Gotta head back and be rested for the long journey.
"Bye, Romeo!" Lyra said.
"So long, kid!" Romeo said. "You stay outta trouble now, y'hear?"
"Gotcha!" Lyra replied.
With that, they watched as the elderly stallion galloped off into the distance and out of sight. Just as the two were about to head on their way, they happened to re-spot the scene of the crash truck with the unconscious catchers still inside.
"I should probably do an amnesia spell on these two scumbags..." Lyra said. "...can't have them telling everyone about me."
"Ah, right..." Kyle said. "...good call. Make sure they don't remember me, either. I don't want to have the police knocking at my door about this."
With that, Lyra performed the spell on the two men, rings of yellow light enveloping their heads for a brief moment. Now with the catchers' memories of Lyra and Kyle wiped, all the two had to do was leave the area. Kyle decided to carry Lyra in his arms, seeing as to how she was still a bit sore from the crash; Kyle hadn't fully healed all the fine details of her body. He did not mind. If anything, it made him feel all the more attached to her, as well as making him feel like her guardian... her protector... he would never let anything happen to her again.
"Alright, let's go home." Kyle said. "We've got quite a hike back... and I'll fix us up some cocoa when we get back."
"Home... that sounds so good right now." Lyra commented. "It's been real lonely the past few nights, sleeping without you, Kyle..."
They asked occasional questions on the way back, but were more or less quiet the whole time. Kyle decided to take a route through the fields back, just so that they would avoid the roads and Lyra would not be spotted. Once they made it back, Lyra immediately jumped into the shower while Kyle prepared a nice dinner of homemade spinach-and-cheese ravioli, assorted vegetables, and wine for both of them.
Lyra had finished washing just in time as Kyle finished cooking and preparing the meal for them. They ate their dinner in peace, without much talking. They both had enough drama for the past couple of days, and just wanted an evening of recovery.
"You want anything else to eat?" Kyle asked upon Lyra finishing.
Lyra shook her head. "No thanks. I just want to sleep."
"Okay." Kyle said. "You must be exhausted."
"Believe me, I am." Lyra said.
"By the way..." Kyle said, reaching into his pocket and pulling something out. "...here's your necklace."
"Oh...! You saved it!" Lyra said, just before looking guilty. "...I still can't believe I discarded your gift the way I did."
"It's okay, Lyra..." Kyle said, placing it over the mare's head, around her neck. "...I've already forgiven you. And I promise that I would never discard anything that belongs to you."
They both had a final cup of hot chocolate before settling into bed to go to sleep. For the first time in several days, they were finally able to experience the comfort of snuggling with each other under the covers once more, and it really helped to help them start falling asleep after nights of insomnia.
"I missed the bed." Lyra said. "And especially... I missed you, Kyle."
"I really missed you too, Lyra." Kyle said.
Kyle wrapped his arms around Lyra, just as she wrapped her forelegs around him.
"I promise that I'll never run out on you like that again!" Lyra said.
"And I promise never to consciously say anything to hurt you again." Kyle said.
Both of them had finally found the reconciliation they had been looking for, and made the promise that they wanted to each other.
"...I love you, Lyra..." Kyle said.
He had just said one of the most powerful phrases any intelligent being could ever hope to hear, and one of the hardest to say... and what she said in return had an even greater effect on him in return...
"...I love you too, Kyle..."
Well, at least they've finally made up and all's well, right? I hope you all are benefiting from me putting out the chapters more frequently; it's been easier now that I'm done with school for now. So, with that being said, I'll catch you all later! Keep holding on...