Chapter 11
*Temporary Third Person*
"Any day now!" Glimmer shouted, feeling the pressure of the moment as the team's 'medic' Petal was starting to sweat more intensely, he couldn't hold out much longer. Petal's usually clean gray coat was now tainted with sweat and his horn's glow was losing its color.
Glimmer continued looking down to Frost and Sweetie Belle, Frost looked blank while Sweetie Belle looked like she was on the verge of panicking. That would make two of them. Glimmer peeked over to Pinkie and saw her smile had faded a while ago and she two had a worried look, which made Glimmer feel guilty. After all, she was the one who asked the question, she was the one who was curious, and now he was dying and it was all her fault. She had never killed any good pony, and now she would never forgive herself.
Glimmer felt herself tense up when she saw Frost lift his head a little and take a deep breath.
My mother would always read me stories when I was young, whenever I asked she always had a new story ready for me, she was amazing that way. The stories themselves, looking back to them, were ridiculous to say the least. They always had the typical clichés in them, such as a hero looking to save a damsel in distress, or a pony searching for gold and instead finding a lifelong friend, but my mother always had a way to keep me interested in them. I would do anything right now to hear one of her stories, I needed to know more about being a hero, or being courageous, or being generally a good pony. But here I am, and she's not. I'm alone.
I was falling at an impossible speed, zooming past some images of ponies I might've seen before, I'm not sure because they passed by me so quickly. I wanted to shriek but I couldn't open my mouth nor produce any sound from my throat, oddly enough I felt no wind at all though. Just when I assumed I would never reach ground level I saw that I was going to land on… a bed? I saw myself began to slow down as I reached the bed then my body turned around, the bed sheets seemed to open up and I gently landed on it, then the bed sheets wrapped on me and my eyes closed by themselves.
When I reopened my eyes, it felt heavier than when I first 'landed,' I must've dreamt that landing or something. I yawned a bit and rubbed my eyes with my hoof to clear out the sand in my eyes, I must've been knocked out for a while now. I looked about and noticed even though I was laying on a fairly good bed, not to mention beds with mattresses were usually left behind, I was inside of a tent as if they just moved the bed inside the tent for just this occasion. Part of me wanted to go back to sleep, but the other part of me knew I had to get up.
I must admit it is hard to get off such a comfy bed, especially since the closest thing to a 'bed' I have is a pouch on the floor, but I eventually hopped off the bed and instinctively pulled the sheets so it looked clean. I carefully looked made my way to the tent entrance and did my best to not make a sound as I peeked outside of it. Luckily for me it was dark outside so everypony was either inside their tents, or somewhere else. Either way, I didn't see anypony so I quietly made my way to the nearest tree and began walking around the area to see if I could get an idea where I was.
"I'm telling you, he's a lunatic" I heard a voice say in a nearby tent. I creeped over to it as I began listening.
"No he's not, if you've known him as long as I have…" the other familiar voice trailed off. Maybe I was knocked out for too long but I couldn't exactly tell who this voice was.
"I think we're all crazy in our own way" another voice joked, maybe this was Glimmer?
"He is taking it to a whole new level though" the first voice responded. I rolled my eyes and continued to sneak about, I didn't want to hear their opinion on me. I continued walking until I saw this tent that was slightly bigger than the rest, and it was a different shade of color but I couldn't tell in the dark.
"Whatcha doing?" A voice behind me asked, making me almost jump in response. I sighed and turned around, Pinkie found me somehow.
"Pinkie" I sighed, she had a smile on her face but didn't seem fazed in the slightest.
"I'm sooo glad you're finally awake" Pinkie whispered.
"How did you know-" I began but stopped as Pinkie held up a hoof.
"Pinkie senses" Pinkie nonchalantly responded. I had no idea what that was, but I decided to ignore it for now.
"Why are you spying on us?" Pinkie whispered. I shrugged.
"Just making sure it's safe, I might've been captured in the 6 hours I was asleep" I joked, turning to look over at the nearest tent, which had its lights off.
"6 hours? You've been asleep for 3 days." Pinkie whispered. 3 days? It barely felt like 10 minutes. I knew it was more than 6 hours, but I wanted to see if this was a scout and the real Pinkie was somewhere else, plus I wanted to know how long I was actually asleep for.
"3 days, that's the longest I've slept in a while" I thought out loud and earned a giggle from Pinkie.
"Everypony will be really excited to meet you" Pinkie chimed as she grabbed my hoof and began walking towards the tent I was previously listening in on. I tried to stand my ground but she (effortlessly) dragged me along.
"W-Wait" I whispered.
"No need to be so… shy." Pinkie said, stopping a little then immediately resuming. That reminded me.
"Pinkie wait, I need to tell you about Fluttershy" I whispered hastily, hoping to get her to stop. It succeeded as she came to a full stop and she just stared forward, the tent was perhaps 10 steps away.
"What?" Pinkie said in a scared voice. I cleared my throat, of course Pinkie knew Fluttershy, they were both 'elements of harmony' so it'd be weird if they didn't know each other. I guess she assumed she was dead.
"Princess Luna told me-" I began and Pinkie snapped her head around.
"Princess Luna!?" Pinkie exclaimed, her voice echoed a bit and I jumped from the sudden volume. She immediately put a hoof to her mouth and I heard some rustling around the tents.
"Pinkie?" a voice called out from one tent as a pony stuck her head out and peeked over to us. Great, so much for being stealthy.
"Sorry" Pinkie whispered loudly, I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or the ponies she woke up.
"Ugh Pinkie, keep it do-" I heard another familiar voice say and immediately stop, I looked and saw a unicorn with a grey coat staring at me like I was a zombie.
"Sorry" Pinkie whispered again with an embarrassed smile, I rubbed my forehead a little. I think that was the tent I was spying on earlier. I quickly got a good grip on Pinkie's hoof and stormed off, this time I was able to nudge her along, or more like she allowed me to drag her. I hear some shuffling zipping sounds behind me as I dive into the nearest bush, dragging Pinkie with me.
"What are you-" Pinkie began but I shushed her quiet. I listened for a while and heard no hoofsteps, or at least none nearby.
"We can't let them see me" I whispered, which made Pinkie tilt her heard a little.
"Why not?" Pinkie asked. She had a point, why not? After all I had big news about Luna and stopping HIM. I should be entering that tent and planning things out, after all I can't waste any time when HE is looking for me.
"I… don't know." I admitted.
"Is it because of the whole name thing? You don't need to be embarrassed for that I mean we all have our moments like I did when I made clones of myself in a magical pool so that I could spend timewithmyfriendsandnotupsetanyof-" Pinkie rambled on until I shoved my hoof in her mouth to silence her, she spoke way to quickly for me.
"It's not that, I think" I responded. Why am I hiding? Or more exactly who am I hiding from? Maybe I'm just being careful again, after running into a changeling scout and dealing with dark magic, being careful seemed like a logical conclusion. No that wasn't it. I felt somewhat safe here, or at least it felt like no changelings were here.
"Is it because we know your name?" Pinkie asked. I felt myself tense up. 'We know your name' kept ringing in my ears as turned to Pinkie, slightly horrified.
"…We?" I asked, afraid of the answer she would give me. She sheepishly smiled and rubbed the back of her head.
"Sorry, but me and Glimmer had to hear what it was from Sweetie Belle because we were the ones to ask you" Pinkie admitted. That was it. That is why I'm hiding from them. They know. Pinkie and Glimmer told them all and now they know who I am. That is why they were debating about me in the tent. That is why that grey unicorn was frightened by me.
They all knew who I was, and they all hated me.
I began to back away from the bushes, away from the tents, and away from Pinkie.
"I'm sorry" Pinkie whispered loudly when she was me backing away.
"No no no no no no no" I kept mumbling to myself. I really look like a lunatic now, but I can't help it.
"It-It's alright. I really like the name Clo-" Pinkie started.
"No!" I practically yelled and closed my eyes. I felt myself shuddering and I blocked out all sounds going around me. I'm sure somepony heard me and now I was hated again. Everypony hates me.
I didn't open my eyes when I heard Pinkie's panicky voice. I didn't stop shaking when I felt her grab my hoof. I didn't stop crying when I felt her pull me somewhere.
I'll be uploading one more chapter after this, the story will continue but in another (better written) story (not sure on name yet, but will have the word Traveler in it somewhere). The next story will either be focused around Luna (what happened to Celestia) or Spike (what happened to the mane 6). Thanks for sticking with me through this, I just found out you can actually reply to comments (silly me) so yeah, I felt really dumb. xD
