Chapter Twenty Four

"Takeoff"

Everything began to move rapidly. Movements, thoughts, time, everything you could imagine that stood in your way, seemed like it was without limit. Before I

had known, my weak, aching body had been lifted onto the base level on the helicopter that had landed after seeing me below a few minutes previous. The

captain of the aircraft, his name unknown at that moment, never looked at me from his cloth seat, for his head and his eyes were peeled at the glass ahead. He

stared outside, motionless, and without emotion. His duty however wasn't to comfort anybody or anything, or to even care if you were okay enough to be

transported. All he cared about at this given point, considering how eager this random police department was for finding me, was to start those blades above us,

lift the landing gear, and fly us back to safety of some sort. Now, I didn't exchange any sort of conversation or emotion with this guy, but I knew he didn't want

to be here. I knew NOBODY in fact wanted to be out here! This was no mans land. Not for the living, not for the dead, not for anything.

My focus was then changed onto the other guy who had gotten out of the passenger side area of the cockpit. His face was shaped normal, his eyes blue, and his

overall facial features seemed rugged, tough, but also soft and adaptive to the environment or situation that was thrown at him. He was dressed as a normal

special unit police officer would be, darker neutral colors, a headset for the helicopter on his ears, and his overall body language read determination and agility.

He was the real deal, and I could tell from the symbol on shirt sleeve he was ranked pretty high, based from the promotional aspect of duty. Earlier, he grabbed

my arm and helped me walk to the helicopter, so I could tell then and there that the meant business and that this wasn't the time, nor place to exchange chit

chat. It was really crazy though, when he took me toward the chopper. I remembered looking around me and seeing all the dust swarming, the intense roar of

the blades spinning, and the frequent yelling of orders from the officer who helped me aboard. It was surreal, and actually reminded me of a few Call Of Duty

games I played earlier in my life. I pictured me as Soap, getting on the chopper at the end of Modern Warfare 2. It was actually humorous when I thought about

it, but the humor didn't last very long. This wasn't a video game where you're given infinity amounts of lives or chances, nor was this a time to be thinking

about anything else, other than being rescued and safety.

Well...one other thing did cross my mind every now and then.

Rainbow Dash.

She went away, after that first helicopter that overpassed us hours ago, storming and drafting the piece of machinery until she would catch up to it and ask for

help. Though, she never did come back, and the chances of her coming back any time soon were close to surreal. It just didn't seem right though, for her to just

bolt off like that and chase after such a slim, slippery chance of some sort of justice was not like her at all, at least not in this kind of situation. She would

typically stick by the other's side and wait out whatever happened in chance that the greater good would come. She didn't even consider the outcome either, or

ask if it were a good idea. She just got up, stared daggers at the distant dot in the sky and said,

"I'm going after it..."

That was it. Those four words. Those LAST four words I heard from her, and could've been the last I'd ever hear from her. I didn't know what was going to

happen though, she could turn up as I was finishing this very thought! She could show up in a little bit too, or she could never show up again and that snippet I

saw of her, leave me in the dust earlier, was the last time. I just didn't know, nor could I know! It was killing me inside though! The sudden sharp pain of

emotion that sprung up inside me, full of remorse, guilt and grief rang throughout my body like a pinball. The feeling of not knowing what is needed to be

known...killed me.

The man who had been assisting me this entire time looked at me carefully, examining my features and overall body health, making sure I was still in somewhat

physical working order. Barely passing that test based off of his expression, he turned around towards the pilot and reached for his right shoulder, giving him the

sign that it was time to take off and leave the area. Just as his arm touched the pilot's shoulder, my heart dropped like a rock and I thought I would be sick. I

gasped for air suddenly, blinking heavily, turning my head outside in the open field, looking around for any source of Rainbow Dash coming back. Unfortunately,

there wasn't any luck yet. I began to panic at this point, looking around the helicopter, then back outside, then back at the helicopter, trying to imagine and

come up with answers on what I could do to make her come back in time. We couldn't just leave Rainbow Dash out here in the middle of nowhere! We just

couldn't! We were both already so weak and tired, we would barely survive another few days! If we took off without her, she would either give up on the

helicopter she had been chasing after and come looking for me again. Though, I would've already been picked up by the helicopter here, and I would have

abandoned her with nothing. I could never do that...never. I couldn't, and I won't. I had to make this clear to the officer, and quick.

"W-Wait! Sir!" I exclaimed quietly, almost inaudible from the propellers above beginning to spin up.

He looked at me concerned, pushing his ears toward me so he can hear me easier.

"What did you say, son?!" He replied loudly.

I tried to speak up as best I could,

"We need to wait!" I said aloud, what felt like screamed.

He looked at me dumbfounded, confused at my odd statement. He must've been thinking that the heat was getting to me, or that I was going on the verge of

craziness. He shook his head in disbelief, then spoke up again in his loud, determined tone.

"Why do we need to stay, son?! Is there someone else out there we need to acquire?!"

I imminently pictured the cyan colored pony in my head, all tattered and worn out, looking at me as if I were abandoning her to her face. Her face was sad, dark

and full of grieving doubt that struck a nerve inside me on the verge of sudden tears. Her ears, as well as her head, were lowered and droopy, and her image

began to slowly fade from my imagination the more and more I heard the propellers increase in speed.

"Yes!" I suddenly shouted, louder than I anticipated, "Someone else is out there, but she isn't here! We need to go find her! She went over there!" I pointed

towards the direction at which she flew hours ago. The officer followed my fingertip, looking out at the direction I was pointing towards. The same confused look

came back towards my direction, for all that was out there was land and low hanging clouds. There was visually nothing.

"There isn't anything out there!" The officer replied with doubt, "If she had left, then she may be long gone by now!"

I began to slowly cross over the edge, more and more as every second ticked passed and Rainbow Dash wasn't by my side.

"N-NO!" I shouted, trying to jolt my body alive and jump out of the helicopter, "She's out there! I know she is! She might have flown after another helicopter,

and her rainbow may have disappeared, but I know she's out there!"

As if I weren't crazy enough to this guy, he looked at me as if I had two heads on my body.

"She flew? Her rainbow? Son, I think we need to get you medical attention," He then turned towards the pilot once more and yelled,

"RISE HER UP!"

Those three words haunted me.

I screamed, gasping for air as ideas and thoughts raced through my head. The helicopter began to lift off of the ground, and Rainbow Dash wasn't next to me as

I had planned her to be. We were leaving without her, and there was nothing I could do to stop the pilot from ascending. I then reached for my seatbelt that

harnessed me into the backseat area, flung it off and tried to jump out of the helicopter. As crazy as I seemed to act on this, the absolute last thing I wanted to

do was leave Rainbow Dash. No, not like this.

As I reached for the emergency door, the other officer that had helped me up to this point reached out and grabbed me, shocked at the willpower I had of trying

to jump out of an active helicopter. He constrained me, holding me against his own, yelling down at me as if I had committed a federal crime.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU CAN'T LEAVE THE HELICOPTER NOW! WE'RE LEAVING!"

I didn't respond to his broad, tense statement. I just kept trying to reach that door handle and pry it open. I tried and tried with every fiber of my being,

reaching for the door, crying and yelling as if I were throwing a temper tantrum. I wanted Rainbow Dash back, I wanted my pony back, I wanted my best friend

back! The fact that a stupid metal door was the only thing keeping me away from her killed me physically inside, so much to the point where I lost sudden vision

in my eyes, picturing her once again, the faded image I had a few moments ago had came back. It was Rainbow Dash, her head and ears dropping as before,

but now she was softly crying and whimpering, whispering over and over like a broken vinyl record,

"Why did you leave me? Why did you leave me?"

I began to squirm in the officer's arms, trying to free myself from his grasp. But, I was too weak, and he was too strong, and my match was unfortunately

impossible to compete with. I lowered my guard, as well as my hands, and relaxed my body, full of grief and brokenness. I began to silently cry and whimper as

I closed my eyes, seeing the once fully visible image of Rainbow Dash, fade for a final time.

I then opened my burning, watery eyes and looked out the passenger window on the door I tried to go out of, looking at the ground that I once sat, stood and

slept on. All of those memories, times and movements we had together, Rainbow Dash and I, were fading away just as much as she was. I began to loose

feeling inside of me at this point. All of the grief and despair I felt, turned into numbness of failure and sorrow. We had taken off and were now soaring above

the farmland, going above and beyond the low lying clouds that hovered below. I sighed sadly, watching as the farmland that I once hated, fade away into

grayness. The farmland that I hated, but now loved due to everything that had happened on it, became nothing short of a distant, past memory that I couldn't

get back. A distant, past memory...just like Rainbow Dash.

I softly began to cry again, feeling the sudden heart pain and feeling of regret come over me once more.

She had slipped away...as I have slipped away...

from her.

(Wow...pretty heavy chapter. The story is closing however, for this was the second to last chapter. I've loved writing this one, and I hope you guys have liked it

so far too! Please leave a comment or follow or whichever, it means a lot! Thanks guys, one LAST CHAPTER to come!:) )

~LS