//------------------------------// // 09 - Alone In The Dark // Story: Without You // by Dustchu //------------------------------// ooo000---000ooo I couldn't do anything as I watched Dee get shoved out of the window, the monster grabbing onto him and causing them both to plummet down. Everything happened so fast that I couldn't react fast enough, there was nothing I could do! "Dee!" I heard his yell and the window shattering, and the last thing I saw was his feet disappearing from sight. His voice kept going and I rushed over to the window, my wings spreading — or at least they tried too. My injured wing was still wrapped up and I couldn't fly and pain spiked up causing me to slip and roll onto the floor, smacking into the wall. "Agh!" I shook my head and tried to get up, to get to the window and find Dee. Something smashed the door open behind me and when I turned around to face whatever it was, I saw several of those monsters stumbling into the room. Dead eyes locked onto me, hungry mouths opening wide to try and chomp a piece off of me. I wasn't going to let them get the chance! Kicking off of the floor I galloped towards the monsters, my fears forgotten enough that I could slip by them. I was smaller than they were and much faster even on hooves, and was able to knock a few out of the way, freeing up a path into the hall. I rushed down the hall with my hooves slipping on the smooth flooring. I was able to regain my hoofing and make a mad dash away from the room. No way in Tartarus was I going to end up as some snack for some stupid monsters! The hallway kept leading down past more rooms, ones I didn't bother trying to open. I didn't know anything about this place, where to go, who to trust. I couldn't even fly and I had just lost the only help I had in this whole thing! My chest tightened and my eyes burned. Why did this have to happen to me?! I just wanted to train myself to be a Wonderbolt, I wanted to get the fame and glory! Not be chased around by monsters! "Yah!" I slipped and tumbled from something in the floor, rolling into a wall hard and hitting my bad wing causing the pain in it to flare up badly. I barely bit back tears before clambering back up onto my hooves and continuing to run away. Stop running away, you coward! My mind screamed at me as I rushed down the hall, kicking off of the floor and keeping ahead of the horde of monsters trailing behind me. No thanks, I don't plan on becoming some monster's dinner! I screamed and turned down another hall, managing to keep myself from sliding. I spotted a door to an open room and took my chance, bursting through the door and looking around. When I didn't see any of the monsters inside, I slammed the door shut and hid near one of the beds, taking a minute to catch my breath. J-jeez, this is too much. I swallowed hard, trying to get my thoughts back in order. Dee... damn it! That stupid monster! Now I'm alone! I thought back to Dee's scream, when he fell out of the window three stories down. No way he would have survived that, and even if he did... he probably wished he didn't. I didn't even try to help him... No. I did try to help, I was just too slow to get to him in time, and it was all because of my stupid injury! I had noticed it every time I've had to run, I couldn't move nearly as fast as I used to. Maybe if I wasn't hurt... I sighed and laid my head down in my hooves, covering my head. I hated this, I hated it so much! I just wanted to be a Wonderbolt... ooo000---000ooo Ever since I was a filly, being a Wonderbolt was my life's dream. i wanted to take to the skies and show off my moves to crowds of starstruck fans, I wanted to dazzle them with wonder, just like my heroes did. I could see it now, I could see myself soaring through the air at high speeds, breaking the sound barrier with a powerful flap of my wings, sending an explosion of rainbows cascading across the skies like a flood of color. The crowds below would shout my name, throwing up their hooves in excitement and crying out as I did my tricks and moves. I pulled myself up and grunted from the exertion, where my hind legs locked into place on a bar in my closet's door frame. I was doing this to help build up muscle in my core, I knew I was going to need it if I wanted to do the tryouts, maybe not today, or even next week, but I'm going to get into the Bolts no matter what! I didn't care how long it took me! This was my dream! "All this training you're putting yourself through and you plan on using it to become a showpony? Bah." I heard the mare next to me speak up, and I could hear the tone of disapproval lacing every one of her words. "When I was a filly, the Wonderbolts were-" "-Something to be feared and respected, not paraded around like toys." I mirrored my aunt's words and continued my inverted sit-ups, trying not to let it bother me. She did this whenever she visited our home in Cloudsdale, always checking up on me and questioning my dream, like it was a waste of time. She even said it to my face plenty of times, telling me to do other stuff that wasn't so 'showy'. "Why do you always do this?" I couldn't help but stare at the pink pegasus pony next to me, her eyes watching me as I curled my body and heaved myself up. I could see how her gaze seemed to harden, and how her lips curling back as she brushed back her mane. "Because I don't want you wasting time trying to be a performer when the zebras-" "This again?" I scoffed loudly and let myself drop down from the bar, twisting my body around and landing on the cloud floor beneath me. I turned to look at my aunt, mostly to give her a hard stare of my own. "Can you stop with the crazy conspiracy theories? The zebras have literally zero reason to attack us." Her wings fidgeted by her sides as the pinions tightening against her barrel. "You didn't spend half your life in a bloody war." my aunt bit back, her eyes narrowed and lips pulled back into a firm frown. "You didn't watch your mates die all around you because of those filthy striped basta-." "Hey now!" I heard my mom's voice in the doorway, cutting off my aunt before she could finish her slur. "Watch your language around little Dashie!" I blushed at the nickname, one both my parents used far more often then I'd like. "She doesn't need to be learning that, especially in this day and age!" "You know it's true." My aunt turned to stare at my mom, eyes almost glowing from the anger. It was so potent you could almost taste it. "We may not be at war right now, but mark my words... they're not going to just give up because we won." Her voice was hard and venomous, and I swear I could see fire in her eyes as she stared. After a moment she stood and pushed past my mom, leaving my mom and I alone to mull over her words. Mom sighed heavily and walked over to me where she draped one of her wings over my back. "Don't mind your aunt that much, Dashie." She had told me. I just looked up at her, where I saw her eyes staring into my own. "She's a wonderful mare, she's just... suffering on the inside." I didn't know how much I believed that, but I didn't care. My aunt was always like that when I was growing up, she was still like that. Even though she didn't want me to become a Wonderbolt, I had moved out of Cloudsdale a few years after that, moving to Ponyville to be closer to Fluttershy and keep up my training. I was going to be a Wonderbolt, no matter what. ooo000---000ooo I shivered on the floor of the hospital room, and I could feel my body slowing down as the tiredness began to set in. When was the last time I even had some decent rest? I feel like I've been awake for days, unable to rest for even a second until just now. Things were starting to crash down around me. My mind zeroed in on the fact I was alone with no way to protect myself, and I had no one to turn to for help. I always said I never needed help, I liked being able to get things done on my own, I wanted to prove to myself that I wouldn't ever need help. But right now, I needed all of the help I could get. It didn't take much longer until my body began to tremble as I pulled myself under the bed, and I could feel the drowsiness spreading over my body. My limbs grew weak and my eyelids were getting heavier. it was getting hard to keep them open the longer I tried staying up. It wasn't until I collapsed on the floor completely that my body just decided to give out. The darkness of dreamless sleep took me soon after, my last thought... I'm alone in the dark...