//------------------------------//
// 2 A New Beginning 
// Story: Rubie Red 
// by Rubie_Red 
//------------------------------//

Behind the metal door was Rubie's future. It was only a few steps in front of the stallion. Behind the old, rusty door was life, his life.
Rubie took a deep breath, his eyes remained glued to the door as he lifted his hoof up and gave it a hard push. The door was now wide open. Behind the door, to Rubie's surprise, was a vast land of snow, ice and harsh winds. A loud howl soared across the land. Rubie shut his eyes tightly as he was almost blinded by the bright light. It shined on his mask. Rubie could feel the wind pass through his long, grey, scruffy mane. Even though it was cold, the breeze felt so refreshing; blowing away all the pieces of hay stuck in irritating places like the back of his neck and in his mane and tail. It was as if the wind was giving him a refreshing massage, as if the wind was welcoming him to the outside world. After the wind had passed through him, he was able to open his eyes. Standing on the snow in front of him was Hope, smiling. It was a calm smile that gave off an atmosphere of peace. 

"Come on Rubie, let’s go."

Rubie wanted to leave, very badly. However, there seemed to be something that was stopping him. Rubie stood still. His head was looking down at the ground. The red slits in his eyes slowly changed to yellow. 

"I-Is.....what is that......?" 

Hope was confused. What was he talking about she wondered. It took her a few seconds before she then realized that the masked stallion was looking down at the snow. Hope realized, Rubie was talking about the snow. He had never ever seen snow before. Her smile remained visible, giving reassurance to Rubie.

"Hey, it's okay. It's snow. It's quite cold, but it will not hurt you. I promise". 

Rubie was nervous, but Hope's smile sunk into the back of his mind. It gave him comfort and confidence. In that moment, the dark stallion took a deep breath before placing all four of his hoofs in the snow. It did feel cold, but to him, it was a very nice change of feeling under his hoofs. Rubie smiled and looked into the distance. 

"Ok..lets go...I don't know where we are going...but I want to be away from here...I never want to be in a cage again for the rest of my life..." 

The two of them set off into the blizzard. Minutes passed. The minutes turned into hours. The situation started to become rather concerning since the surroundings started to slowly darken. As the snow soared and the winds howled, the two ponies were slowly crossing the wasteland. Hope's eyes were shut tight. She was shivering. Her body was being supported by Rubie, who's mask luckily gave him a little eye protection against the harsh winds and cold snow. The two of them were moving at a very slow pace. It was hard to keep moving forward, as the winds were trying their best to push the two of them back. Eventually, Rubie started to feel drowsy. He had used so much energy, but he didn't want to give up. His head said no, keep going forward, but a swarm of drowsiness was coming over. His eyes slowly thinned. At this moment Rubie heard a voice. It was the same voice that was inside Rubie's head before.

"Rubie, you can't, you can't stop now. You can do this. You have to, not for your sake, but Hope's. Rubie...wake up". 

Suddenly a loud bang was heard in the distance. It was so loud that it woke Rubie up in surprise. Even Hope woke up from it with a scared expression. 

"Wh-What was that loud noise??" 

Rubie asked concerned. Without a single word spoken, Hope flapped her wings and ascended into the air. As she ascended the sight became clearer. After a few seconds she could see a large rainbow ring in the sky. Hope gasped as she felt that they were close to somewhere with Civilization. Then something in the far distance caught her eye. It was a large outline of a structure that she could easily identify. She could see Canterlot. Due to what the pegasus had just escaped from, Hope felt that the best place to head for was Canterlot. She believed that if her and Rubie arrived there, then the princesses could be able to help Rubie, and find Sombra. She had a plan, and she believed that it was going to work

"Rubie!!" 

Hope shouted down at the freezing stallion. 

"We're going the right way!! We just have to go straight on!!" 

Rubies face began to gleam with joy. He smiled brightly up at Hope. Seeing Rubie smile like that made Hope giggle a little. She felt that it was almost too good to be true. Before she could descend a sudden powerful gust of wind caught Hope off guard. The wind caused Hope's body to flip upside down. Hope was no longer being supported by her wings; she began to fall. The pegasus felt another gust of wind that pushed her downwards, making her decent much faster. She screamed before hitting the ground with a loud thud. Rubie rushed over to her. His smile had broken into a look of pure worry.

"Hope!!? Are you okay!??"

He came to her side and gently nuzzled her to see if she was still conscious. A grunt of pain came out from the blue pegasus. She slowly stood up and attempted to spread open her wings. However, she did not succeed. She had broken her left wing. 

"Hope. Let me help you, spread open your right wing and give me your right hoof." 

Hope did exactly what he said, trying her best to ignore the pain. She lifted her right hoof and spread open her right wing. Rubie came to her right side and took her hoof around the back of his neck. The Pegasus whispered. 

"Th...that was w-weird...those gusts of wind…they came out of nowhere…as if...as if...the wind...w-wanted me to st-stop flying..." 

Rubie felt very concerned. He felt that Sombra had something to do with this. However, he shook the feeling off. He knew his main objective was to reach their destination, no matter what. 

"Hope, we are going to get to our destination. You will be okay. I swear on it." 

The mare's head lowered a little and her eyes shut once again. She leaned on Rubie as the two of them slowly made their way to Canterlot.