//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: The Great Escape // Story: Cracking Dawn // by Didily Winkles //------------------------------// Chapter Fifteen Dawn opened her eyes to a pale green room, lit only with the dim moon light. She looked around to see a sky blue pegasus sleeping next to her, burrowing her head in Dawn's exposed mane. Dawn felt an old ache of inner pain at the sight of her. There was a tube attached to her arm that stung but she paid it a little to no mind. She looked out the window to see brilliant stars sparkling in the sky accompanied by a waning sliver of a moon. She could make out the great hunter in the sky. It's winter... Her consciousness provoked April to wake up. She blinked away her sleep as she looked at the unicorn that was looking out the window to the starry sky. "You're awake." She said as she squeezed Dawn hard. "I missed you so much." Dawn was in pain. Not from the IV or her present condition but from what she must have done to April to have her voice sound like that. "I'm sorry." Dawn managed to say through her bouts of pain, still looking out the window avoiding to look at the pegasus. April barely registered the apology. She kept snuggling the unicorn almost as if checking that this was not a dream. "I am so sorry." Dawn said again, trying to get through to April. This time April shivered. Dawn could feel warm drops of water fall on the back of her neck. April said nothing but held tighter on to the unicorn next to her. "I am so sorry April." Dawn repeated. This time earning a heavy weep from the pegasus, staying still all the same. Dawn remained quiet until April fell back asleep, crying. I hurt her so much. "So you are awake." Whispered a shadow in the room. Luna came stalking out of it. Dawn didn't feel the need to reply. She was watching Orion drift across the sky. Luna followed Dawn's line of sight. "Six months almost on the dot." She answered the question that was on Dawn's mind. Dawn lay there, trying to fully grasp what she had done. Tears started to flow down her face, soaking the pillow supporting her head. She wanted to shut everything out but she let it all in. The pain, her senses, Luna, April... It hurt her so much but she needed to feel something right now, anything, even pain. "April's been so strong for you." Luna said, taking a side step to look Dawn in the eyes. "You do not let her go again or so help me not even the void can save you from me." Luna threatened as she tore up. I hurt her too. Hiding her face, Luna walked back into the too familiar shadows, leaving Dawn alone with her thoughts. Dawn spent the rest of the night looking at the sky, enjoying the subtle heart beat of the mare next to her and cringing at her own tears. I feel... In her sleep, April wrapped her tail around Dawn's like she often did once upon a time ago. Alive? Dawn watched a newly birthed sun shine beams of light through the city of Canterlot. It was so bright but Dawn simply could not look away. The new sun blessed her head with a winter's warmth, helping to dry off her face from the night's tears. The sun also woke up April. I do not wish to damn any one to the void... but you are a horrible celestial mass. "Good morning." April said, hugging Dawn while taking in greedy sniffs of her mane. "It certainly looks like it." Dawn said, still looking out the window while basking in the sun light. April crawled on top of Dawn, mindful of the IV in her arm, to look her in the eyes. Dawn's eyes were full of happiness, bliss, so grateful for the light of the new day, so tired... "I missed you so much." April nuzzled Dawn heavily. "I am so sorry." She whispered. "I said awful things." She broke apart from Dawn to take in the unicorn's face. "Will you ever forgive me?" Dawn surprised herself. She thought she had spent all her tears but alas they started to pour out of her. What did April do? I don't remember... April went into catch the first tear to fall with a kiss. "I think we've cried enough." April whispered, breaking away on the verge of crying herself. "You are the most important thing to me April." Dawn said, as she levitated a near by tissue box to hover in between them. That much I do know. April took a few tissues. "I love you..." Tissues at hoof, who needs to hold back? April started to cry tears of pure happiness. Dawn sat up, knocking April back a bit only for April to find she was being supported with Dawn's magic. Dawn pulled April into a hug with her hooves with surprising strength for being in the hospital. "I am so..." April started to say. "Let's get some food. I am starving." Dawn interrupted, wincing as she pulled out her IV with her magic. April didn't notice the IV dripping on the floor but she flew off Dawn all the same. "Lemme go get a Nurse." She said as she started to fly to the door. Dawn stretched her limbs. It felt like she had been in bed for the day. She rolled her joints free of any built up stress and stretched out any cramps left in her muscles. Before April could open up the door, Dawn whisked it open with her magic and skipped out. "Come on April!" She cheered. April, thrown aback by the random energy from the hospital patent, started to run after her. "We really should stay in the hospital." "Nah." Dawn replied flatly. "Let's go somewhere fun to eat." Dawn broke into a higher skip as she thought of her next meal. "Doughnuts..." "And where do you think you are going?" Asked a random nurse Dawn just passed. "Doughnuts. Haven't you heard?" She answered as if the question was absolutely ridiculous. Dawn kept on skipping at a feverish pace. Dawn thought of her loved ones and of what she had to look forward to. I guess I'll cross those roads when it's time. She ignored the cries for security from the nurse she just passed as she turned the corner with the main entrance in sight. "Dawn I really don't think we should be going anywhere just quite yet." April pleaded as she flew next to Dawn. "Stop that pink mare." A nurse yelled. Two burly looking stallions walked into the skipping mare's path, ready to restrain her. "Don't be silly April. It's a wonderful day out and I want to see it." Dawn said as she teleported the two stallions that were stalking towards her behind her, disorienting them long enough for her to make it out the door unimpeded. Dawn took in a greedy breath of the fringed winter morning air. It reinvigorated Dawn. She intensified her skip to Doughnut Joe's. April followed close in tail, not saying much in protest any more. The only sound in the winter air was the sound of snow crunching below Dawn's feet and April's wings flapping. "It is a pretty day." April said, looking down at the skipping unicorn. "No doubt thanks to that new weather pony captain." Dawn sung as she relished in the day at hoof. "Kinda sucks not to have a fully grown winter coat though. It is really cold." April hummed a near mournful response. "You will need to catch me up on all that I've missed once I get food in my stomach." Dawn added quickly, not breaking her cheery tone. I will not hurt April any more. Dawn bounced through the doors of the doughnut diner, welcoming the warmth and smells that came with the place. April and Dawn found a pair of stools not really paying attention to the occupants of the diner. "I need a milkshake and lots of Doughnuts." Dawn said to the waitress that had walked up to them. The waitress rolled her eyes at the blunt and obscure order. "What kind and how many?" "Chocolate on both counts." Dawn said, smiling back. "And for you hun?" The waitress asked, turning to April. "Oh, uh I'll just have water please." April replied. Dawn raised an eye brow to this but kept quiet. The waitress disappeared behind swinging doors to fill the order. April sat on her stool just looking at the smiling unicorn. She was real. Every bit she had remembered. "So tell me what I've missed." Dawn said, turning in her stool to meet April's stare. "Where should I start?" April asked bashfully. "Hmmm." Dawn gave a show of her thinking, scratching her chin with her hoof and puckering her lips from the mock strain. The answer was obvious. "You." "Ok..." April slurred as she tried to recap what has happened in the past six months. "School? Work? Relationship status?" Dawn started to list seeing April's hesitance but she settled with... "Everything." April donned a face of horror and shock. "I haven't given my heart to any one else but you." She said quickly, hoping to clear that up quickly. "I see..." Dawn replied. She thought about it a lot last night, after Luna's visit, and a good part of her hoped April may have opened herself to somepony else. To move on. The other part of her was now rejoicing in the fact that she can try to rekindle their relationship, unhampered. If Dawn was to cast that alarm spell she and Twilight had created, she was sure it would be buzzing viciously. Silence can be awkward with her now... That's my fault. The silence was broken by the waitress that had taken their order by setting down her chocolate doughnut and milkshake. Dawn was starving like she said. It's been six months since I've had a meal. She chuckled to herself as she levitated the two fatty treats to her mouth. All in all, gaining a small smile from April, this made Dawn feel loads better. "So go on..." Dawn said with her mouthful of slurry made up of doughnut and shake. "I am going to school like I planned." She started to say. She took a moment to consider her last semester. "I didn't take a lot of credits this last semester but... I am working for the princess now. Kinda..." "The princess?" Dawn asked in a confused tone right after swallowing a not thoroughly chewed mouthful. "I was no good as a weather pony after..." She said, letting out inner shame seep through her words. She cut herself off once she heard herself. Composing herself for Dawn, she plunged forward. "The princess needed an assistant right after Luna..." She paused wanting to redirect the subject away from Luna. "Err... My first job was to put all your books in a Library named after you." "Sounds like a good place for books." Dawn replied, trying her hardest to keep smiling despite the pain in April's voice. "That's about it for me..." April concluded gloomly. "I've been lost in the void for six months and all the great April has done is turn Librarian?" Dawn asked in a sarcastic tone, attempting to bring back the April with a smile. "Well..." April said, looking at the ground between them. "I'm joking April." Dawn said, once she saw her sarcasm didn't make it through to her. She lifted April's face with a hoof and, with chocolate laced lips, kissed her. It took April by surprise but she welcomed it with open arms. Dawn broke away to take in more chocolaty sustenance. April blushed at her mishandling of Dawn's humor and, of course, because of the kiss in middle of a diner filled to the brim with ponies. "Oh right..." she managed to sputter out through her embarrassment. "What about our friends?" Dawn questioned through a wall of food in her mouth. Retaking her composure for Dawn, April straightened in her stool. "Well Twilight and Trixie made it official a couple weeks ago." She said, adopting a gossip pony's voice. "They're still on their honeymoon." She giggled at the memory of her friends. We helped Trixie pick out proper horn adornments. It felt good for Dawn to recollect things she had forgotten in the void. "Good for Trixie." Dawn said in between bites, urging April to continue. "Actually Twilight was the one that asked." April corrected. Dawn involuntarily coughed in surprise, spraying bits of doughnuts and chocolate shake on a very unlucky waitress. Dawn grabbed a towel from near by and started to clean the poor mare as she said, nonchalantly, "Well I'll be damned to the void..." only to instantly regret her poor choice of words. April looked glum. She returned her gaze to the floor between the mares. Dawn Cringed at what she accidentally did. "Slip of the tongue." Dawn said apologetically. She set a comforting hoof on the droopy pegasus. Best have her continue. Can't let her alone with her thoughts. "And... my Family?" She asked hesitantly. Dawn feared the worst. April came up giving an apologetic smile to Dawn. She cleared her throat. "They took your loss very hard of course. Especially Metal..." She paused to gage Dawn's reaction. Dawn tried to hide it but her eyes were getting watery, she dropped her smile only to replace it with another one soon after. "He sings bass for the Cloudsdale symphonic now." April continued. "And his band is doing quite well. They're coming out with their first record in a couple of days." I am so proud of him... Dawn replaced her fake smile with a genuine one. Only one word could express how she felt about the turn of events. "Fantastic." Happy to see a genuine smile on Dawn, April continued. "Your mom and dad moved to Cloudsdale. They have a small apartment to themselves. They are trying to live their lives to the fullest, Eve is competing in flying competitions again and your dad has dedicated a lot of extra time to the Wonderbolts. The princesses didn't want to tell them about you until you regained consciousness. The doctors thought you wouldn't wake up..." "Good..." Happy tears pooled in her eyes as she tried to some how damn them up by shoving more food in her mouth, not the best system. "And... Luna?" She asked after an elongated moment of her stuffing her face and trying to hold back the gathering saline. She was afraid of the answer, given last night's brief visit. April froze as she tried to formulate an answer. "She..." She started to say "Well... she took your disappearance the hardest. Even harder than me... She..." Dawn interrupted April with another kiss. After seeing that April was having a hard time expressing what happened to Luna. She didn't want to know. It scared her. "It's fine. It doesn't matter." Dawn said as she broke away. Finishing the last bit of her food and convinced if she ordered more that waitress she spat all over might return the favor in kind, she hopped down from the stool. Dawn stretched her limbs as she levitated the check to her. Eight bits for breakfast. Did I miss a gross inflation or is this Doughnut Joe as greedy as Fatty Joe. Behind the check, Dawn could hear mass shuffling from everypony in the diner. April took Dawn's side as she lowered the check to see the sun goddess walking towards her. "I am glad to see you are doing well enough to escape the hospital through force." Princess Celestia said in a sarcastic tone. She had a disapproving look aimed not at her but at April. "She is supposed to be in bed getting rest." "She wouldn't listen..." "I needed to enjoy the day, forgive me for not staying in a dank and dark facility." Dawn said coldly, interrupting April. She earned a few gasps from the crowd around her as the princess just looked down at the pink unicorn. Princess Celestia took the check from Dawn's telekinetic control with her own and lifted it to a bowing Doughnut Joe. "Please put this on the royal tab Joe." She said, not lifting her gaze on Dawn. Princess Celestia then turned around to walk out of the diner, April followed her and Dawn followed April. A chariot waited right outside. Dawn watched the Princess and April get in, leaving room for her to join. Best go through with what ever is in store for me. When Dawn got on the chariot it launched into the air, leaving Canterlot far below. Dawn was not frightened, tense or even nauseous. She looked behind her, where the chariot opened up, and gawked at the beautiful day. The view was as crisp as it was cold. A shiver shot up Dawn's spine when she saw Equestria at the apex of their ascension, only to loose the moment when they started to land in front of the castle. Luna stood waiting for the chariot. When the chariot came to halt, the three ponies made for the night princess's direction, still in complete silence. It was unsettling. Luna gave Dawn a quick glance as she turned around to make way into the castle. "Her parents have been informed. They will be here momentarily. I also managed to find Twilight and Trixie." Luna said to her sister as if Dawn was still in her bed at the hospital, ignoring Dawn completely. "I don't think I want Twilight's honeymoon interrupted... And have you made a decision about her?" "No. When I am ready I will talk to her and make a decision then." Princess Celestia sighed. "Very well sister. April take Dawn up to the east tower. A doctor will be sent up there." Dawn groaned out of reflex, earning more then few angry glares. "Of course Celestia." April said as she broke away from the group, leading Dawn with a wing down a hallway. Once the two were out of eat shot, April rested her guiding wing on Dawn's withers and gave a heavy sigh. "For them, this is worst then when you made that stupid spell. They're angry for some reason." Dawn tried to look in the back of her mind and recall her memory but it felt so long ago. "I wish I could explain what happened... I just know it was my fault... some how." They started to crawl the spiral staircase in silence. "Luna... She said you resisted coming back when we tried to pull you back." April paused, waiting for her words to take effect. "Why did you come back?" April asked as if the question had been burning on her tongue for awhile. "I don't know." Dawn let the answer roll off her lips, surprising herself. "I... I forgot everything in the void. There was nothing in me. Of me." She said. Tears started to drop from her face as the recollection of the emptiness drifted through her mind. April tightened her grip on the unicorn when she felt the fear shake through Dawn's body. She said nothing in response until they got to the room. All the shelves were empty and Dawn suspected her drawers and cupboards were in the same state. April walked out to the balcony to bask in the morning sunlight. "What was it like?" April asked quietly, barely registering as a voice to Dawn. "Very lonely." Dawn answered from the center of the room behind April. "When Luna sent me in there to find you..." April started to say, Dawn was treading on thin ice with this subject. She walked over to April to take a seat next to her. "I was frightened for you. It was so cold, so dark, I couldn't feel anything." Dawn nodded slowly at April's description. She shivered in the cool breeze of the winter. She could only hope her hormones would make her a winter coat quickly. "Were you in there a long time?" April asked, fearing the answer of her question. "Luna said time didn't really matter in there..." Dawn lay down on the balcony, tucking her forelegs underneath her. She ducked her head at the question knowing April wouldn't like the answer. "An eternity." She said, shivering at the thought. I had lost every bit of myself in there. How did I get back? "I think it was you that got me out April." Dawn admitted, closing her eyes to the sun. "Where was I found?" She asked, hoping to get more information for an unseen equation. "You appeared when I was walking home from..." April's eyes went wide as she froze in mid sentence. Dawn could tell something was off with April with the sound of her voice. "Yah, I thought as much." She said indifferently, keeping her eyes closed. "It's not what you thi..." April started to quickly say but was interrupted with the door swinging open with a slam. "Dawn!" Two very familiar ponies' voices sounded behind her. She was soon tackled by her parents. Though she kept her eyes closed through their desperate hugs, kissing, and all around inspection of her, she knew a few things. They were both way more fit than they used to be. Her dad felt even more gigantic than she had remembered him in her youth and her mother was firm rather than the soft feel of inactivity she used to have. She felt her parent's muscles roll under their warm coats as they hugged and kissed her. They were also crying profusely as their tears were not entirely biased on who they fell on, namely Dawn. When all the affections slowed down to a long embrace of sobs, she opened her eyes. Metal stood behind their parents, crying as much as they were, just studying Dawn who was now smiling back at him. Her mother broke her hug and squeezed her daughter's face with her hooves. She looked back into her mother's eyes with her own dry ones. The great Ever Watch was not sleeping well, she looked as fatigued as April and Metal. She assumed the same was for her father who was still holding tightly to his daughter, crying into her damp mane. "I am so sorry I did this to you." Dawn whispered to her family earning a tighter hug from her father. "We just missed you so much." Dawn's father said into her mane. "We don't care what you did or didn't do, so long as we have you back." Her mother said. As she inspected Dawn's face more, more tears started to pour out of her eyes. The doctor that came in shortly after her family was berated with questions of Dawn's well being by her parents. The doctor was of high moral standing and managed to ignore a majority of the questions her parents imagined up. Once he left, leaving a clean bill of health, the family spent the next several hours with each other catching Dawn up on what she missed. Metal insisted that she come to one of his concerts, not really caring what kind she went to. Her parents were very apologetic for moving to Cloudsdale and we're talking about moving back to the ground as soon as possible despite Dawn's protests for them to stay where they are happiest. April mainly just sat close by, quiet, listening, and thinking to herself. Princess Celestia joined the family in the tower and was accompanied with lunch for them all. They ate together with much jubilation. Luna did not come to join for lunch. It was well into the afternoon that Luna did come to the tower. She did not say anything nor did she even acknowledge any pony. She stood on the second floor looking down at the celebrating family over the railing deep in thought. Around sunset, Princess Celestia, contrary to the doctor's clean bill of health, convinced Dawn's family that she could use some rest. She ushered the family out, much to their dismay. Leaving April, Luna and Dawn alone. Dawn made eye contact with the night princess for the first time since last night. Her face was unreadable, not entirely blank but complex with thought and emotions Dawn couldn't quite comprehend. "I should go grab what little class work I may have missed today while my professors are still at school." April said, wanting to get out of dodge. "I'll be right back." Dawn gave a little pout as the pegasus flew out of the room through the balcony. Cunning ponies, they planned that. She could hear Luna descending the steps of the stairs leading to the second floor, her metal hooves clinking on the marble floor. Dawn heard the patter of hoof steps come closer only to stop by her side. Dawn looked up to see Luna tower over her, despite her small stature, looking out on the balcony as she was. "I will speak then I will listen are we clear?" Luna said suddenly. "Umm... sure." Luna took in a deep breath to cleanse body and mind. "My sister wants to keep you." She began, trying to gage Dawn's reaction. There was none. "I do not." Still no reaction. "I want to take away your magic for good and plant you in middle of some fertile land to let you live out your life as a farmer with your loved ones. But my sister says 'I can not'. Not that I shouldn't. Not that I am unable to. But 'I can not'. My sister speaks in riddles concerning you and it drives me up the walls." Luna's voice was almost breaking into a shrill of frustration. After taking a deep breath she continued. "My sister is, and was, always right. I hate how she has never been wrong about these things." She took another deep breath to smother her seething anger. She turned to look at Dawn, studying her for any kind of reaction. Dawn gave none. She was just smiling out to the sky, looking for the first signs of stars. Luna gave a heavy sigh before she continued. "Losing ones self to the void was something that was always possible with the goals I had set forth for you. That is why I wanted you to be able to master it, command it first." She said flaring her wings in agitation and stomping a hoof down for dramatic effect. "That being said not once did I even fathom that one such as you may resist being saved from the void. Not once did I even consider that you would willingly go there yourself." This time Luna's voice sounded full of anger, pain and self-loathing. It made Dawn cringe. "So I ask you this... Why?" Luna was on the verge of tears when Dawn looked at her. Dawn took her time considering the question. "I can't say I know. My memory is so… stretched." Dawn answered, while adverting her eyes from Luna's, bringing them back to the balcony. "I was in there for so long... I do not recall exactly what happened on the day I fell into the darkness. The void feels like it's all I have ever known. I see all the pain around me, in you, April, my family... I'm convinced I caused the pain but I don't know how or why." Dawn said, relaxing on her forelegs with a long exhale. "It feels like my entire life was thousands of years ago, a dot in the distance. I was in there for an eternity Luna. I have no idea how I came to be back to this world but I am grateful for it." Luna looked shocked by the answer. Then relief flooded over her body as she tucked her forelegs under her chest as she lay down next to Dawn. "I know that feeling too well..." She shifted uncomfortably at her own recollection. "The moon is very much like the void. Lonely. I spent a long time with nothing but my thoughts. Sure my sister would come to visit to talk to Nightmare Moon every decade or so but her words never fully reached me. And when they did 'She' had warped them to fuel her own hatred…" Dawn turned to Luna only to find her looking right back. "I am sorry. I now understand a great deal. I fear I have found the... similarities between us... disturbing to say the least." "Similarities?" "The way you think is very similar to mine. In the six months you were gone I read nothing but your notes and books. I lost myself trying to save you very much like how you lost yourself your first weeks here." Luna's head sunk as she thought of her next words. "I fear, among many other things, we now share one more thing in common." Dawn nodded knowing exactly what it was. Darkness. Darkness of the mind, body, and soul. "We both have come back too." "I suppose you are right." Luna said, giving a gentle smile to Dawn. "That is something to rejoice to." Luna gave Dawn a small nuzzle, letting her know everything was fine between them now. "I suppose I will not be able to keep you from continuing your work." A quiet life on a farm sounds so pleasant. "No, not even if you took away my horn." Dawn giggled. "I really do hate my sister being so right." Luna muttered to herself. "This tower is yours again. I will have your library brought back in here." Luna got up and walked to the balcony, Dawn followed. Dawn leaned up next to Luna for the protection she offered from the cold. The two watched the waning moon rise over the horizon as they did many times before in silence.