Chapter 5: Recuperation

After I was knocked unconscious at the fight Clay was named the victor. My friends tell me he immediately returned the golem to lifeless dirt and walked away with his medal. They rushed right to my side to find me not breathing. Technically I have died twice since coming to Equestria, so much for living in my dream world. Anyway, they didn't know what to do, until Twilight remembered reading about CPR and started giving me mouth to mouth. It didn't take long for me to sit up coughing and gasping for air, but that was mostly reflex, because as soon as I started breathing on my own again I collapsed back to the ground, still out of it.

That's when I was brought back to Fluttershy's cottage, where I slept for about 3 days until I came back to them. Naturally, when I woke up I was confused, but after they explained everything to me I was able to catch up. Now, I'm still in bed with a broken leg, three broken ribs, and a cracked arm.

"Good morning Dako," Fluttershy said, bringing in a tray with food on it.

I sat up in bed a little as she brought me the tray, setting it in my lap as she began pouring me a glass of orange juice.

"Thank you very much Fluttershy," I said, giving her a warm smile.

"Do you need anything else?" she asked.

"No, thank you, I'm alright," I replied.

"Okay, I'll be downstairs taking care of your laundry, just call if you need anything," Fluttershy said before walking back downstairs.

I ate my breakfast quickly, then slowly snuck out of bed. I limped over to the window and gently opened it, before flying out.

Even though I was hurt I still had a ton of freedom thanks to the ability to fly. I soared high into the sky, up into and over the clouds, shooting up quickly before falling into a gentle cruising speed. I flew for a few miles like this, just taking in the sun and air, feeling so free and relaxed.

As useful as flying is I seldom do it. I always thought that with the ability to fly I'd never walk anywhere again, never use my legs, or ever sit on the ground. But as I learned first, flying is a bit tiresome and consumes a good bit of energy on its own. Although it's convenient to get up stairs and bypass ladders, I found I ended up using about the same amount of energy anyway. So sure flying is really cool and fun, but really, you just can't fight gravity forever. At some point you have to go back to walking, and walking is plenty convenient in its own right.

But with tons of practice since my first flight, not only did flying get easier, I was able to do more for longer. I could pull off complex maneuvers, fly farther, faster, higher, and for longer. But I never truly met my absolute limit, I've never flown to the point of dropping out of the sky from lack of energy. And for some reason, I felt like now would be the perfect time for me to do just that despite my injuries.

So I flew. I flew all over a good part of Equestria, fast, slow, high, low. I flew for what felt like hours, until I realized Fluttershy might try to check on me. That's when I stopped dead in my tracks and made a one-eighty, taking off back to where I came from.

Only then did I truly find my limit. As I was starting to actually break a sweat, I noticed I was slowly losing altitude as well as speed. I stopped to hover mid air and try to take in how quickly I was falling. I stopped for, maybe, seven seconds until I lost my breath and fell right out of the sky. As if I was cut from a tether, I just dropped at full speed in complete free fall.

I remained calm and tried to rest and catch my breath as I fell toward the ground. I knew I could still stop myself from hitting the ground in at least the last one hundred feet from the ground so long as I rested up until that point. Just as I had timed as I was about one hundred feet above the trees I put every ounce of strength and willpower into my flight and decelerated so quickly I made hitting the ground seem like a softer landing.

I stopped, just above the treetops, and quickly set myself down on the ground where I sat with my back against a tree trunk and rested, catching the rest of my breath.

"Whew, that was too close," I said to myself, still panting.

I looked around to try and figure out where I was. I wasn't in any recognizable forest. I had already begun to catch my breath and thought I'd do a test flight. I tried to slowly hover off the ground. It was slow and very shaky, and required a lot of effort, but I had my flight back. I quickly dropped back to the ground as I heard some rustling behind me.

I turned to face the sound and put my fists up in a defensive stance. The rustling sound continued, as I stared cautiously. After a few seconds of continued rustling the source of the sound revealed itself to be a deer. As it came out of the clearing it spotted me and froze.

"Hey there little guy," I said softly.

The deer continued to look at me carefully before turning and running off into the forest.

"See ya later then, take care," I said, now alone once again.

Just then I remembered that I still had to get back home to Fluttershy before she noticed I had left. I took a deep breath and slowly lifted off the ground, holding myself steady as I rose above the trees. As I was about fifty feet up I took off as quickly as I could and continued the trip home. I was still pretty weak and it took a lot of effort to maintain altitude and speed, but I finally made it back.

As I flew up to the bedroom window my forehead was covered in sweat, my teeth clenched in effort to stay in the air. I quickly opened the window and ended up crawling in after I lost all flight power and set myself down on the windowsill. I quickly crawled into bed where it felt great to lie down and rest after such a tiring flight.

As soon as I caught my breath Fluttershy came in to check on me.

"Dako? You're covered in sweat," Fluttershy said, putting a hoof on my forehead.

"Oh, y-yeah, um..." I couldn't think of an excuse.

"Your forehead feels warm. You don't have a fever do you?" Fluttershy asked with concern.

"Oh, uh, I guess I've been feeling a little warm," I said.

"Don't worry, I just made some fresh iced tea, I'll go get you some," Fluttershy said, heading quickly back down the stairs.

As she left I let out a heavy sigh of relief as I began panting, still trying to catch my breath after all the stress of flying on empty. I through the blankets off of me began tugging at my shirt collar, trying to fan myself. I stopped as I heard hooves on the stairs below, quickly throwing the blankets back over myself. Fluttershy walked up beside me, setting the tray down on the nightstand. She poured some tea into a glass of ice, then added a teaspoon of sugar.

"Here you go, I hope you like it," Fluttershy said.

I took the glass and restrained myself from chugging it down despite my thirst, and sipped it casually before pulling the glass from my mouth to examine it.

"This is good," I said, my eyes widening a little.

"Really? Thank you," Fluttershy said smiling.

"No really, this is great, it tastes just like the sweet tea I drank back home in Texas. This is amazing," I said, beginning to chug the remainder of the glass.

"Really? Well, that isn't the stuff I'm used to," Fluttershy began, "I'm out of the usual, all I had left was that. I'm glad you like it."

"I don't like it anymore, now, I love this stuff," I said, chuckling.

Fluttershy smiled again, this time with a light blush.

"I thought I'd never taste this stuff again, I hope you remember how you made this, 'cause you'll be famous for it, trust me," I said, reaching for the pitcher and pouring another glass.

After I drank half the tea Fluttershy made she headed back downstairs to take care of her animals. I lied in bed, rolling over to try and get some more rest, and decided to take a nap. I had trouble going to sleep at first, but after awhile, the exhaustion from my earlier flight took care of that.

I slept for only a little while, tossing and turning, until my nap was interrupted. I jumped at a wall rattling bang from outside. My eyes shot open, as I quickly sprang upright in bed. I looked around the room and saw a few paintings had fallen off the wall. Small streams of dust fell from the rafters. I threw the blankets off of me and stumbled out of bed, limping down the stairs as quickly as I could.

As I reached the first floor I saw no sign of Fluttershy anywhere. I looked all around.

"Fluttershy!" I shouted.

I heard no answer.

"Fluttershy! Where are you? Are you okay?" I called once more.

There was no answer still.

I hobbled through the living room, stopping in the middle as I felt the floor shake a little. Dim, orange light filtered in through the windows, a low rumbling heard outside. I hobbled over to the window and saw only fire. The entire Everfree forest was ablaze, the heat radiating through the glass. My jaw dropped.

I immediately stumbled quickly for the door, throwing it open and staggering out. My body went numb all over, a chill throughout my spine, as I felt sick to my stomach.

As I looked all around me there was fire everywhere. The cottage was completely surrounded by flame and scorched earth as thick smoke filled the air. Through the haze I could see mountains destroyed and leveled, large clouds of dust and debris replacing the once beautiful snow-capped peaks. I began hyperventilating, dropping to my knees, as tears poured down my face. Throwing my head back I screamed at the top of my lungs in horrified, agonizing despair.

I heard a chilling, distorted cackle, echoing through the landscape of destruction and ruin, I jerked my head to face the source. I saw a dark, shadowy figure in the sky above me, blurry and faceless. I felt a chill in my spine, a tingling like pins and needles through every square inch of my skin, as I sat there paralyzed with fear. I screamed, but no sound came.

Every fiber of my mind came apart at the seams as the figure shot towards me with unreal, unnatural, petrifying speed, terror and panic flooding me as it came at me. I turned to try and escape, but all I felt was pain, as I tumbled through the air, the sky and ground spinning before I hit the ground. I lied on the ground, looking up into the sky, watching the figure float above me. I tried to shield myself with my own arms, but I could not feel my limbs nor body. I was numb and dismembered as I watched in pure terror, unable to move or scream for help.

The dark figure above uttered one word in a deep, guttural, inhuman voice, "Die", as a bright, blinding flash of purple shot down at me. I could feel the light's hot intensity, blinding me, burning my retinas as I tried to scream in pain. The skin on my face blistering and boiling before being peeled back and blown away by the intense blast of wind.

Then, a loud, ground shattering bang, a shockwave that rattled throughout my skull, the ground below me quaking like water. As chunks of dirt and ash floated upward past my peripheral vision, I watched in slow motion, as the chunks of debris slowly turned to dust, blowing away in the atomic winds. I felt myself being disintegrated on a molecular level, the immeasurable levels of pain, as I burned through and through, captured in the blinding purple beam. A second shockwave hit, stronger than the first, shattering what was left of my vision into a kaleidoscope of shapes and color fading off into a void of the deepest and blackest darkness I have ever witnessed.

As the remaining scattered pixels of my vision faded out, my ears were filled by a quickly intensifying roar of static and white noise that quickly rose beyond loud and quickly passed painful, until my eardrums were splitting wide open, the sound of a racing heartbeat cutting through the static.

I jumped upright in bed screaming at the top of my lungs, flailing around, falling to the floor. I continued to flail around, spasming on the floor as I knocked over the nightstand in a loud crash, still screaming at the top of my lungs.

Fluttershy immediately flew upstairs to my side, quickly attempting to grab me in her forelegs. I tried to wriggle free from her grasp for a few seconds, before slowly coming to my senses, settling down in her embrace. She gently rubbed my head with a hoof as I lie against her, sobbing in shock.

"Shhh! It's okay! You're alright, I'm right here," Fluttershy cooed.

I wrapped my arms around her tightly, gasping for air as I continued sobbing loudly my face buried against her neck. Tears were streaming down my face like a faucet, quickly wetting the fur on her neck and chest. Fluttershy gently rocked me back and forth, softly reassuring me, cradling me in her forelegs.

"You're okay, everything's alright," Fluttershy said softly.

I shivered and shook uncontrollably, the images of the night terror still vivid. I was soaked in sweat so much that my shirt was actually dripping wet. I held tightly onto Fluttershy, trying to catch my breath.

"It's okay, I've got you now, you're safe, I've got you." Fluttershy softly reassured.