Citrus

by Hope

Ch. 3, Leaving.

“I want to go home.”

Pinkie didn’t react to the determined statement, and continued taking some rocks out of the ground and putting them in a pile while inexplicably leaving other rocks in the ground, forming lines of rocks.

“I’m going back to the pool. I’ll go back, and I’ll go home.”

This time, as Rainbow started walking towards the pool she noticed Pinkie following her, that same blank expression on her face, as though she was bored.

Rainbow got to the pool and looked into it, a sudden anxiety growing in her heart. It was suddenly apparent that it was incredibly deep, even though it had seemed shallow and reflective before. But, never one to obey or listen to her fears, she dove in.

There was no quick arrival on the other side, there was no swirl of color, or other side to arrive on. Instead, Rainbow suddenly realized she didn’t know how to swim, with hooves.

Flailing, water working its way into her nose and mouth, she felt a hard tug on her tail, and she was dragged out onto the ground. Coughing and panting, it took her a moment to see Pinkie, sitting next to her and looking genuinely worried.

“You can’t go back,” Pinkie said softly. “You can’t… I can’t, nopony can.”

“Well I’m not just a pony!” Rainbow shouted as she struggled to stand and backed away. “I’m Rainbow Dash, I’m better than anyone or anypony else, and I’ll find a way to go back!”

Pinkie had to restrain Rainbow as she charged towards the water again, keeping her from flinging herself back into the depths.

“Please, don’t… You don’t understand!”

Rainbow beat her wings, trying to add force to her push, but instead she found herself flung over the pool, gliding over the tree and over the fields, until she landed with a short trot, confused.

Looking back to Pinkie, she saw that the other pony was looking at her in surprise, from across the pool.

“You know what, if I can’t go back, then I’m leaving!” Rainbow decided, spreading her wings and blasting off straight up, in such a rush of speed that for a moment she completely forgot about her prior life, her old name, Pinkie, and the hunger in her belly.

She was flying. She was flying with such an incredible speed, unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. Turning over onto her back she moved from a vertical climb to a flat path over the tops of the clouds, but it wasn’t enough. She knew she could do more. She felt how even this blistering speed wasn’t enough, because there was a pain she was running from.

Faster and faster, the clouds rippled behind her, blown apart by her passing. Pouring on the speed, she wanted to stop thinking, stop feeling, and let go of it all. So, as she approached an impossible level of speed and she felt her body stretching against it’s limits, she closed her eyes, grit her teeth, and pushed even harder.

---

The old man closed the book and sighed, stretching a bit.

“That can’t be the end,” the boy groaned. “We’re just getting to the interesting bits!”

“You’re right,” the old man nodded. “But the sun is going down, and I’d rather be inside before it gets dark.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the boy sighed as he stood. “But… Could we come back and keep reading tomorrow?”

“Sure,” the man chuckled, leaning on his cane while he waited for the boy to lead the way. “Or maybe I’ll have you read it to me.”

“Noooo, is this all just some way of tricking me into reading?” the boy whined as he started to walk. “Reading is for eggheads.”

“But if only an egghead gets to finish the story, is it really so bad to be an egghead?” the man asked, as they left the old shopping mall, and the shade of the orange tree.

---

Rainbow Dash woke up in a sterile white room, under comfortable sheets, her head resting on a soft pillow. Somewhere in the distance there was a melody playing, and voices. But she could only think of the pounding in her head, and the aching in her wings.

It was like she’d woken up from a bad dream, only to be stuck in a bad life.

“Ah! You’re awake!”

The larger pony that was suddenly standing over Dash was the color of the sea, with wings and a white coat. Her mane and eyes were yellow, and she was altogether too close to Dash.

So Dash frowned, scooted away, and looked at the mare suspiciously.

“Oh, are you alright? What is your name, little filly?”

Rainbow remembered she’d had a name before, but it was so hard to remember, her headache getting worse whenever she thought about it. So she gave the name that was given to her.

“Rainbow Dash.”

“Well, Rainbow Dash. You were found crashed in the forest after an explosion was reported, do you remember what happened?” she asked as she checked the splint that held Dash’s wings stretched out straight.

“No,” she said simply, looking around. “I want to leave.”

“Well, we need to find your parents to do that. What are their names?”

Rainbow paused before glaring at the doctor.

“I don’t have any parents,” she said firmly.

That simple phrase began a week’s worth of investigation. At first, they thought she was a runaway, but they couldn’t find any reports of a rainbow-maned pegasus filly going missing, or even any record of a filly named Rainbow Dash ever existing. For a glorious moment, Rainbow Dash got to enjoy not existing, as far as society was concerned. She healed in the hospital, was given all the sympathy of an orphan, but left alone due to her brash attitude. She thought that surely they’d let her just leave once she was healed, like any wild animal back in the village. It looked like she was going to get what she wanted, until the day of her “release” arrived, and she was led into a small room with a very soft couch, where a mare and stallion were waiting.

The doctor sat across from them, behind a fancy desk, and as Rainbow entered she smiled and gestured to the two ponies.

“Rainbow Dash, these are going to be your new parents.”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

If there's been an apocalypse, then why is there no dark tag?

[Hope]

8460766
Just because an apocalypse has occurred, does not mean that the story will necessarily be dark.