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Twilight and Sorin were away from the cart when they weren't supposed to be. They didn't tell the others! What were they going to think?
What if AJ and Fluttershy see us like this? Twilight was at a loss for what to think to say, other than the truth. Sorin didn't have any idea either, which didn't help their situation.
We had ran away from the cart to come here and look at the stars, but we fell asleep. No, I fell asleep. Yeah. I'll say that. We were looking at stars, and I fell asleep. Twilight had thought.
"Twilight! Sorin!" They heard the others shouting for them louder now. "Alright," She said, speaking softly to her stallion. "Let's just say that I fell asleep while looking at stars, and after what we went through with the bandits, you didn't want to wake me up."
"But that wouldn't explain the giant circle we made for ourselves during what we did last night. As well as the.. remaining... Stuff." He admitted, looking at the ground near where they were laying. It was still slightly wet.
Twilight sighed as she realized there would be no getting away from this. Pinkie Pie found them first, and she yelled for the others, and then started off, as she always did.
"I didn't think I'd find you out here, what were you doing? Is it something secret, is that why you went away from the cart, and away from us?" She had asked in excitement.
"Pinkie, let's go back to the cart.. And I'll explain." Twilight admitted. It didn't take long after that for the others to come over. They all looked at them like they had just stumbled on a birthday surprise, and stared in dis-belief.
The walk to the cart took forever for Twilight, because she knew what was going to happen. How would the others react when I tell them what we did? Will we still be... Aah, enough thinking like this, I need to focus on telling them.
They were walking into the cart, awaiting the sure disaster to come. As they were explaining what they did last night, Twilight accidentally mentioned AJ and Fluttershy. Applejack stopped her when she mentioned the two of them, and asked her what in all she saw.
"I only saw you two snuggling together, like I said earlier. Wait... Does that mean you two went further than that?" She was curious to see what they had to say this time.
"W-what're you talkin' 'bout. A-Ah ain't done nothin like 'at!" She said, obviously lying to herself, and the others. Fluttershy was quick to respond. "Not true AJ... You know that. Why would you lie to them? Why would you lie to yourself?" She asked, eyes starting to water as she looked into her previous lovers eyes.
Applejack then admitted what they had done. "So it's similar ta what y'all did I guess."
"So are all of our secrets revealed here?" Twilight asked.
"... I know a language nearly nopony else does." Sorin admitted. Twilight looked at him in dis-belief, raising an eyebrow.
"If you want me to say a sentence, I will, but I only know the dark ancient words... And the meaning of those words." He admitted yet again. That sparked interest in Twilight and the group, so they asked him if he could. He sighed, as he prepared his voice, smiling nervously.
"How much do you want? Do you want one sentence, or do you want the entire poem that I know?" He wanted specifics. They had asked for everything he knew. He then tried his best to remember, and he spoke the words. They were amazed by the language they had never heard before, and had asked for the origin.
"I only know that the language I just spoke to you is extremely old, so old in fact, it rivals the spell put on you, from what I've heard from Twi." The group noticed what he mentioned Twilight as. "So ah guess that since you two 'ave been together, ya've been callin' each other different?" Applejack stated.
"Don't you call her Twi as well?" He asked. AJ then looked confused, and replied. "Well, yeah, but that don't mean ah've been with 'er. She's a friend, and I call ma mare Flutter." She pointed to Fluttershy, then walked over, hugged her, and brought her over. "She's a good friend, but Flutter is more import'nt ta me." She admitted, with a smile, and a shine in her eyes that only Fluttershy could see, as she smiled back at her, blushing.
As they were all sitting in the cart, Sorin stated that he needed to go outside and push the cart more. Twilight had said she wanted to help, but was quickly denied, as he and the others all said that he didn't need any help. As she was laying in the cart, trying to get some sleep, she noticed the cart stopped every now and then. She decided to walk out, to see what was going on.
She quickly decided she should have came out sooner.
Sorin was laying unconscious on the ground, after having seen what had happened, her eyes shot open in fear, as Twilight herself had nearly fallen to the ground in shock. She ran over to him, screaming for help to carry him inside again, as she went over to him, lying down, nearly dead. All the exhaustion and injuries had gathered up, and while he was pulling at the cart, he was slowly hurting himself, all because of his stupid pride.
The others had just arrived, rushing to help the stallion any way they could, and Twilight had just been laying in the cart, all while he was pushing himself harder than he knew he could handle.
You should have TOLD me, you stupid stallion! If I had known that you would have been pushed this far, just to help us move to our next destination, I would have helped you! I would have stopped you before you pushed yourself too far... Twilight thought, feeling guilt wrap around her heart, and squeeze it like an orange.
The others had gotten him into the cart, and laid him down on his resting area. The area next to Twilight's bed. They also wanted to know why he would push himself this far. His stubborn pride had been enough to blind him to what he was doing. He thought he knew the circumstance, he thought he knew the effect this would have on him... He had underestimated it.
He lays down now, breathing stabilized after all the panic of trying to save their friends new lover. They had wanted to leave him out there at first, because of what he did to Twilight, but after seeing how she had reacted to him laying there, suffering, they had realized that doing such a thing would be wrong. It would not only be cruel to the stallion, it would hurt Twilight more than they could imagine.
So much trouble, just to get to a different town.. First the bandits, then this. What else could possibly go wrong next? Could there be anything more that could happen before we get to this next town? Twilight was unsure whether or not anything would work for them, if they would shatter before even getting to the other town. She had then realized that this would be only one of the many dangers that could endanger them even further. She didn't want to think about it any more, she just wanted her stallion to wake up. She wanted to wake up from this horrible nightmare.
She couldn't wake up. This was real. She couldn't save herself or her stallion, or any of her friends from experiencing this. She needed some sleep. They all needed sleep after what they went through. They had stayed in the cart, tending to Twilight and Sorin, as they waited for him to wake up, and say something.
The next morning, he had finally woken up. Still sore from everything that had went on, he couldn't move much, even if he wanted to. They had wanted to ask him questions, but Twilight had made them wait until later, when the stallion could think properly again.
It was evening, and they hadn't moved much the past few days. A search group from the next town had come, looking for the cart. They were surprised when they found it on the side of the trail, with seemingly no one around. They had a few weapons for dealing with bandits, so they slowly crept to the other side of the cart, and the leader had stepped inside. The group shot worried looks at him when he entered, and he had noticed the group all standing next to Sorin, who they immediately thought was knocked unconscious by the group, and had wanted to ask them questions.
"Why are you lot here, and why is HE laying there like that?" The leader asked. Twilight was the first to respond. "We were attacked by bandits a few nights ago, and the stallion you see laying here-"
"I know who that is!" The leader shouted.
"Let me continue!" She shouted back. "The stallion you see laying here was the most injured, and he pushed himself too far in the fight, and he's been unable to move since pushing the cart after the attack. We need help."
The leader then relaxed a little, as he was beginning to think they were innocent, and they hadn't been the ones who had done this. He cautiously walked towards them, and looked at Sorin, lying on the ground, slightly panting, trying to regain control of his thoughts and body.
"Yeah... I believe you about that. This stallions blinded by his pride most of the time, saying he's strong enough to do anything for any amount of time, and always pushing himself too far. I'm surprised he'd made it as far as he has." The leader admitted.
"You know him?" Dash asked. The leader quickly responded. "Of course I know him, he's one of my traveling friends that I met with a while ago. I had stuck with him for a while, and we had started moving to the village you came from. I was already at the town when you all arrived, so I had been expecting him to arrive. If only I knew he was attacked by bandits. It looks like a lot of them jumped him this time." He continued, surprising everypony in the room. He had town people with him, and he had them push the cart. He needed to talk to Sorin's new friends.
"So, tell me. How long have you known him, and how much has he said about everything?" He was curious as could be.
The entire group asked the same question at the same time. "What's your name?"
"... Right. Sorry. I don't like to give out my name, so right now you can just call me... I don't know. You figure something out. I don't stay in one place for long, so you are awfully lucky you found me with Sorin in such a bad condition."
"How about we just call you Friend for now?" Twilight stated. He nodded, and continued.
"I've known him for a while now, and we've been traveling together every now and then, both of us are allowed music while on our tasks. Mainly because as he might have told you already, he can't function well without it."
"Well," Twilight started. "He didn't have much music yesterday, but I think I made up for it.." She admitted shyly.
"Made up for it.. How? I might ask?" Curiously, he looked at her as if he had just seen a ghost as she told him. He then burst out laughing, taking them all by surprise. Twilight blushed as he was laughing, and stared at him awkwardly. "W-why are you laughing?" She said, irritation clear in her tone.
He responded by holding out a hoof apologetically. "I'm sorry," He started. "It's just that.. I would have never expected him to do something like that so suddenly!" He was giggling the entire time, as he was explaining, laughing again as he finished.
"I'm sorry." He stated again, more seriously. "Do you know his back-story? You know, uh.. What he was like before he was so stubborn with his pride and his strength.
The group looked at him curiously, wanting to know more. He simply sat there, awaiting a response.
"We want to know whatever information about him we can get, but we want it from him. I want it from him." Stated Twilight.
"Alright, I won't give out any information he hasn't said himself."
At that point, Sorin finally woke up.
He looked at his friend as if he was imagining him there, not taking too much care into noticing him. He simply laid there, eyes half open, staring at Twilight, as she looked at him with the most beautiful stare into his eyes, full of curiosity, wonder and hope.
"You've finally woke up." She said, hugging him, then laying next to him, in front of all of the others. She didn't care. She was glad she finally got to look into his eyes again.
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