//------------------------------//
// Waking up 
// Story: Is this how it ends? 
// by Slick Dash 
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My limbs were cold; every inch of my body ached and groaned. I moved my arm slightly, something pushing into the crook of my elbow as I do. My eyes parted slightly to give a hazy view of the world around me. It was just a physical effort to open my eyes! I nearly fazed back out into unconsciousness out of exhaustion, but I just held on... barely. I look to my arm; the thing pushing against me is a drip. Was I in a hospital? 

I Notice a shape just ahead of me. It’s blurred and foggy. As my eyes accustom to the light surrounding me, the shape comes into view. She’s here. Her blue coat was clumped and dirty, spatters of blood danced in the light over her usually pristine coat. Her mane is dishevelled and though it consisted of the same colours of the rainbow as it always had, its brightness seemed to have gone completely.

Rainbow, Rainbow Dash was here with me. The pony I loved with every fibre of my soul, the one I had fought my own human insecurities for, and had finally become the man who she loved, and who loved her back completely. She sat only a few inches away. If opening my eyes was an effort, than speaking was a damned mission! My lips moved for what seemed like hours, and yet no sound would come out. Sharp pain emitted from inside my chest whenever I breathed, or tried to push out sound. But I eventually was able to ask, “What ... happened?” she gave me a half smile of relief as I spoke to her.

My name is Tom, I’m a human. I live in a world filled with talking ponies known as Equestria, and that...was the last time I saw my true love smile before I died in the dark and cold of my own sleep merely hours after that sad, sad smile.

..........................................


I lurch awake! I’m screaming! My head feels as though it’s on fire, and my heart, well that just feels nonexistent for the moment as it seems not to be beating. Suddenly, almost like a punch to the chest, the muscle inside me begins to move again! Where in Equestria am I? I’m sat on mud, I can tell that from the damp feeling seeping through the material of my clothes. Dear Celestia it’s cold! That was the first hint, I’d only ever been this cold in Equestria once! And that had been when I was nearly dying of hypothermia! 

But to say I had only felt this cold once in my life was wrong, I had felt it many times before. Just not in Equestria. I blocked out the obvious and tried to figure out where I was. Turning my head I saw that I was in a ditch, the mud around me was thick and copious. I stood and wiped the brown sludge off of myself before starting my assault on the slope to my right, out of the ditch and into sunlight!

I took a long time, too much exertion caused my head to pound wildly, and yet if I took too long I would slide back down to where I’d started. So I took a deep breath and braced myself for pain, then I ran as hard as I could up the steep little hill. I made it, and once I reached the ridge I let out my breath with a huge sense of relief. Then the pain in my head began anew! I yelled with discomfort and clutched at my skull as the pain became unbearable. I leant over and retched, but nothing came out. I realised that my stomach felt completely empty. How long was I out for? How had I gotten here? Where was here?

I heard something, like the sound of rushing wind, but louder. It built to a climax and then ebbed away quickly. The sound was unbelievably familiar! It began again, and through the haze of pain I listened carefully. The noise built and there was something else building with it, a pulse? No, a beat? The noise of the rushing wind and music built up to a crescendo and then ebbed away yet again. My heart began to sink, further and further into my stomach. Those...were cars!

I staggered my way across the flat grassy verge I stood upon, and headed towards the origin of the sounds. I large line of shrubs blocked my path, and as I fast approached it I saw through the spaces of its branches, there were shapes, passing unbelievably fast behind the bush. The realisation sank in even before I parted the leaves and looked out ahead.

Car after car streamed past my hiding spot, down a huge 3 lane dual carriageway. All of them were headed for the same thing; a huge bustling mass of towering structures. It was a city, nothing like Manehatton. It was a human city, I bit my lip hard. I was back on earth! Celest- God help me!

I stood, making my mind up. I wouldn’t go anywhere near the human settlement! I’d turn around and head for Equestria, wherever that was. And so I did turn around and walked back to the ditch I had awoken in. I looked down into the mud filled crack in the ground, you could see where I had been lying. There was almost an angel shaped dent slowly slipping away as the mud seeped over the impression. And just to its side...

I jumped with sudden and honest terror! I tore my way back down the steep incline. I Slipped and skidded down the rest of the slope, landing with a horrible squelch. I didn’t care! What I had seen was what was most important! My fingers scooped away the sludge feverishly, it was cold and disgusting work but I didn’t falter for a moment! Finally I had cleared enough mud to find what I had seen from above, so I plunged my hand into the bog and pulled it out from the ground.  

It was covered in brown sludge, its black material most probably ruined but yet it was still my coat! The one given to me by all my friends in Ponnyville, from Dash. My heart panged with a sudden longing! What had happened to Dash? Was she back in Equestria? How could I get back to her? As I clutched the piece of clothing tightly in my fist, my eye caught a glimpse of my right hand. My jaw dropped at the sight!