For a long time I couldn’t hear anything except my own frantic breathing as I ran for my life, punctuated with the occasional sob. The branches cut of my skin and clothes, not deeply, most didn’t even leave marks. But the constant barrage of wooded needles was unrelenting. I finally burst out into a clearing. THE clearing. I could see the warped tree trunk on the other side of the clearing. I stopped dead in my tracks, I was back to where it had all started. I almost expected to see Twilight just under the tree line ahead of me, tentatively observing this strange creature as he knelt broken on the floor. How ironic, here I was again, just as (if not more) broken than before.
I took a tentative step forward into the centre of the clearing. Was... that a car I heard go by? What direction had it come from? I strained my ears to hear anything else. Nothing. I must have imagined it, the wind made all kinds of ungodly noises when passing through trees in Equestria, one of the few menacing things I had first noticed about the place.
I looked to the sky, Twilight had said she had come here specifically to keep a safe distance from anypony so they wouldn’t be harmed. And yet it was also one of the few places in the forest where you could see the sky so clearly. As I watched the clouds pass over, I saw...something. A little line of dark...smoke through the sky? As I watched, I began to hear a faint rumble almost like thunder. The shape was getting bigger. With a sickening feeling in my stomach I realised what it was. A pegasus’ slipstream as the flew through the sky. Only a few ponies left that kind of mark when they flew, the Wonderbolts. Soarin’ had finally arrived. I moved out of the light to ensure I wasn’t spotted, I needn’t have worried the Pegasus flew over without a care in the world. Why would he have? He had Rainbow waiting for him...
I took one last look at the site of my crash, the site of my rebirth as a new me. Maybe it was for the best, I now knew what I felt like to be cared for by so many people. (or ponies in this case) My spirit began to lift. And then I looked down. I was wearing one of the shirts the girls had given me, any other colour would have secured my thoughts how it had all been worth it. but the colour wasn’t pink, it wasn’t white with long sleeves, and it wasn’t yellow or purple. It was blue. The one to represent Rainbow Dash.
I didn’t scream, I had no voice left. I didn’t cry, my eyes were dry. I looked into the dirt at my feet, and simply decided. No matter how homely this place felt, I wanted to go back to earth. And with that terrible thought in my head, I turned in the direction to get out of the forest. I wanted to go to the library, to see Twilight one last time. To make sure she knew it wasn’t her fault. To sleep in that bed one last time. Before I went away in my car and never looked back.
As I trudged back towards ponyville, I vaguely recollected Twilight telling me she had a surprise for me. Oh dear god! I hoped it wasn’t anything big! I don’t I would be able to stand it. I’d already broken down in front of one of my two closest friends here, and I didn’t want to repeat it with the other.
I reached the library without seeing anypony in town. I didn’t mind really, it meant it made leaving a lot easier by not seeing all their happy faces one last time. I came in to complete silence, thank god the light’s were on. It showed that no one waited to surprise me with a party, as Pinkie Pie was very prone to doing. “Twi? Spike? Anypony home?” I was amazed by the strength in my voice after so much sobbing and screaming. I glanced over to the table, there sat my car keys. My hand tightened around the bottle still clenched in my fist. I didn’t want to upset Twilight, it was completely selfish to come back here just to see her again. I could just take those keys and leave before anypony came looking for me.
The crazy thought eventually died down as I calmed the storm raging inside my head. I went over to the centre of the room, placing the fuel next to the keys. I then moved back to the sofa I had sat on so many times before, and collapsed on top of it. I sighed to myself and leant my head back to look at the ceiling.
I suddenly felt two hooves quickly place themselves over my eyes. I jumped, I would have reacted more if I had the strength, but my day’s escapades left me drained. “Got you!” sang a familiar voice. After all I’d gone through over the last few days I was amazed. I was smiling. I reached up at took hold of a hoof with each hand, and parted them to see my longest standing friend in Equestria smiling back at me. Her violate eyes seemed to glow with brightness as she looked at me. I lunged up with my arms, hooking them round the back of her neck and pulling her in close for an upside down hug.
We stayed there, embracing each other for far longer than the time Spike had walked in. Her mane, I had forgot that smell, lavender. Eventually we broke apart, and Twilight came around the side of the sofa to look at me. She looked slightly worried. “Are you ok? You look terrible.” I looked at her, I almost burst out with every scrap of detail about how I was feeling right now! But the urge passed soon enough.
“Yeeaaahhh, I’m fine, just... been a long day that’s all.” She looked sceptical, but she didn’t pursue the subject. She simply shrugged, and turned away trotting into the kitchen. Humming a tune that I thought I could remember humming once before in this house.
“So where’s the little guy?” I queried about Spike. I heard movement in the kitchen, plates were being moved out of the way of something, and I could the slight chink of glass. “He’s at Rarity’s helping with some gems they found the other day.” She sounded happy, I was glad. This is how I wanted to remember her. The usual joyous Twilight. At the sound of approaching hooves, I swung an arm over the back of the Sofa as to lean around and spot what the unicorn was doing. She was levitating two tall, long stemmed glasses in front of her and a green bottle with a golden foil top just behind her.
I raised an eyebrow at the magenta unicorn. “Is... that...?”
“Champagne, yes!” squeaked Twilight happily, as she set the glasses and bottle on the table in front of us. “From Canterlotte, the Princess’s own private collection!” She hopped up onto the sofa, lay down on her haunches and got comfortable. I leant over and took the bottle in hand, it wasn’t like back home, it didn’t have a label coated in fine print, it simply said ‘Canterlotte’s own: Champagne.’
“So what’s the big occasion then?” I asked, pulling away the foil top to expose the cork.
“Here...” she said soothingly, using her magic she took the bottle from my hand, and handed me one of the glasses from the table.
“Well? Why are we breaking out the bubbly?” I asked again.
“Oh, it’s kind of an early celebration...for tomorrow.” My stomach tightened for a second. Tomorrow? Oh god what had I been so stupid to forget and plan to leave the same day?
“And what IS tomorrow exactly?” Twilight smiled at me warmly,
“It’s my birthday.”
I nearly dropped my glass out of surprise. Barely holding on, I managed to force out a slightly garbled “Birthday?!”
“Yeah,” Twilight finally popped the bottle’s top and cheered quietly. She then proceeded to poor her and I a glass. “It’s not like I expected you to know, you haven’t been here very long.” Her words meant nothing to me, I felt terrible. I was running away, on Twilight’s birthday. And I couldn’t stay because I knew what was coming tomorrow for me. That last little sliver of my heart still left made me feel disgusted with myself.
I put on a brave face, and with as much gusto as I could muster I cheered “Well what are we waiting for? Let’s celebrate!” I clinked my glass against hers and took a swig of the delicious drink. It tasted perfect, and I felt terrible that Twilight had to share it with a creature like me. As the night moved on, we talked, and drank. Twilight was a bit more generous to her own glass than my own, which I was grateful for; perhaps it would mean she’d sleep right through me leaving. The convocation eventually began to grow thin, and we found ourselves growing quieter and quieter.
Twilight had abandoned her rigid posture, and was lounging out over her half of the sofa, and was dangerously close to invading my half too! When the bottle was empty, we gave one last cheer of congratulations. “Happy birthday Twilight!”
“Happy birthday me!” she giggled drunkenly. She stretched her forehooves out ahead of her, and let them rest over my legs. She was warm, even through my trouser’s I felt her warm skin push close to mine.
“You know...” she began, I looked down at the tired looking unicorn smiling, inviting her to continue. She pushed herself back up into a sitting position once again. “I never gave you your surprise...” she was very close. “We got so carried away with me, we forgot about you.” She leant in closer and rested the side of her head on my shoulder. She was drunk; I knew she’d probably fall asleep soon. After all it’s what drunken friends end up doing. But I let her continue, there was another breeze of lavender which travelled up my nose with her being so close. I spoke quietly,
“Today’s is about you, not me.” She took her head of my shoulder, and looked into my eyes.
“What if your surprise is something I WANT to give you?” I struggled to find words, I was lost in those violate eyes.
Twilight was leaning in to me. I sat there looking dumb for a minute, before the alcohol began to cause me to do the same, closing my eyes as I did. A voice in my head was screaming! “STOP! STOP! STOP NOW!” it sounded a lot like Rainbow Dash. I opened my eyes, we were nearly about to touch, I could feel her hot breath on the flesh of my lips. But as I looked at her, I didn’t see Twilight. In my mind I knew it was her. But my heart warped my sight. Her fur was blue, her main every colour of the rainbow. And that stupid little vision was all I needed. I stopped just short of her mouth. I could feel her breath change as she tried to find my lips. I rested my forehead just below her horn. Tilting my head down as to pull my lips away from the temptation. Twilight opened her eyes.
Still resting against her head I reached up with both hands. And put them on either side of her ears. I pulled myself away, and tilted her head back into me. My lips met her forehead just below her horn. I could feel myself shaking, taking a deep calming breath I opened my mouth and whispered. “I can’t. I’m sorry.” We stayed there for a moment, heads pressed against one another’s. When she spoke, she didn’t sound as though on the edge of crying. Her voice had more of a hint of disappointment and understanding. She only spoke one word, a name.
“Rainbow.” We pulled apart finally, and I looked at the magenta pony for a moment. Just like with Applejack, there was no use pretending.
“Yes.” I said meekly looking to the floor. I felt a warm hoof under my chin, Twilight tilted my head up to look at her. And though her eyes looked slightly more misty than usual, I also saw warmth within them.
“She’s lucky.” I smiled at her sadly, and for the first time. She gave me a hug. She leant in and held me tight to her. I simply sat there, almost dazed. After everything today, I was amazed to be conscious now.
I felt Twilight’s muscle’s slacken slightly, and soon she was leaning on me, asleep. I carefully pulled myself away from her. I lay her down gently on the padded sofa, I then moved to my room where I took out a blanket from a draw. As I tucked twilight in snugly, I noticed the blanket was miscoloured, with some patches darker than the others. It was the one she had used to save me on the night of the storm. With a bemused smile I leant in and kissed her forehead one last time. As I walked to my room, the hairs on my neck decided to stand on end yet again. I ignored it, whoever was watching me would eventually reveal themselves. I took a look at my watch. It was 4:00 in the morning. Why wasn’t spike back yet? As I stuck my head back out into the central room to turn off the lights I thought to myself. “He’s probably collapsed at Rarity’s, either out of exhaustion or a heart attack from being too close to her for too long.” I chuckled. I turned the lights off, letting the sleeping unicorn lie. I went to my bed, and sat there for a minute, setting the alarm on my watch. Id only had two glasses, if I slept for three hours I should be fine to leave. I lay down in the bed for the last time, and took a look out the window for the last time. And I fell asleep in the bedroom in the library, for the last time.