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// 013 Life's Death 
// Story: The Life Returns 
// by Dress72 
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013
Well, fuck. I had just left Canterlot, and already I was about to have to fight. Shining would be pissed if he learned that I fought right after I promised him I wouldn’t. He would probably lock me up if and when he finds out. I wouldn’t put it past any of the ponies in high power, as they mostly hate me or distrust me.
I was currently in the in the center of five pegasi that were surrounding me and above me. “Still thinking of refusing us?” the earth pony that was the leader shouted out.
“Of course I refuse. I have a son to raise and a promise to keep,” I countered, getting ready for the assault.
“THEN GET BEATEN!” The earth pony shouted.
“Jake! Hold On!” I shouted as the ponies that were on the ground flew straight at me, and the one above dived. Jake wrapped his forelegs around my neck.
I noticed, in the split second I had, that the unicorn that was next to the earth pony wasn’t using magic. Peculiar.
Anyways, group closed in, which took only around two seconds. When they closed in, I took my precautions and used them. It would take much more than five non-magic using ponies to hold me into a single spot like what they were trying to do.
I jumped at one of the pegasi that were flying at me, using my wings to spiral around them. I noticed something was off as I went past, but didn’t quite figure it out. The group collided with each other, being unable to divert from their path. They quickly recovered, however, but I was already at our stuff, my current goal: to get everything packed, while avoiding the attacks.
The group charged me again, spreading out to attack me from three sides and above. Glancing behind me, I quickly measured the distance at 20 feet, almost 7 meters, from a wall of the cave. Looking back at my attackers, they were once again, two seconds away from me, and Jake was still holding on tightly. I turned around, and ran at the wall. The pegasi where smart enough to not go as fast towards me. I got to the wall, but kept running. In truth, I ran up the wall, using my wings to help keep me aloft.
Once again, I was pursued. When I was about seven feet from the top of the cave (and about 424 feet from the bottom), I stopped and waited for my pursuers. They too their time getting to me, thinking that with my back and top covered, they need only to reach me. And so I waited. I kept an eye on them and my stuff. The earth pony and unicorn watched me, curiosity displayed in their posture.
One minute is what it took for the pegasi to lazily reach me. They jeered at me, saying stuff like how I cornered myself, how they would beat me up, and how I wouldn’t get away. Yah, sure, like they actually could keep me pinned.
I dived when they reached me, and once again, they followed me, like a game of cat and mouse. Once again, I saw something peculiar about the coats of the pegasi that I passed. Of course, I was the faster one in dives, and from a 42 story drop, I arrived a good time ahead of them. What made them call out, especially the unicorn’s voice caught my attention, was that I didn’t stop, slow down, or show signs of changing my course as I neared the ground.
About five feet from impact, I was about to do a spinning land, when I was caught in the unicorn’s light red aura, and forced to a stop. I smiled as I realized what was going on, “Shining, I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon. I suspect that this was an exercise to test my devotion, strength, and skill?”
“How did you know?” Shining asked.
“Well, from what I gathered, you must be using coat dye or paint to appear a different color, that, and also I recognized your voice and magical aura. These must be some of your guards. Also, why did you catch me?”
“Why? You almost killed yourself!” Shining said. He totally jumped to conclusions there.
“LIES! ALL LIES!” I shouted, the sound reverberating through the cave, causing a deafening sound, and Shining dropped us, and I was barely able to recover before hitting the ground. “Ow,” I mumbled. When the sound of the shout died out, I continued, “Shining, I think I remember telling you that I would protect my son. If I killed myself, how could I do that?”
Shining looked like he was going to answer, with his mouth open, but no sound came out, so he closed it. He tried a few times before actually saying something, “But you weren’t changing course. You would have smashed into the ground if I didn’t catch you.”
Once again, I shouted, “LIES!!!” I got a laugh out of the expressions displayed on the faces of the ponies before me, as the five pegasi had landed behind the Captain of the Royal Guards.
“Daddy, my ears hurt,” Jake complained.
“I’m sorry my little angle. No more yelling in here for me,” I whispered to him.
“I have a single question. Three times now, I have heard you call your son ‘Jake’. I thought his name was Red Wing,” Shining said.
“Well, both are right. Jake is actual name. However, you will address him as Red Wing, or by a nickname that he approves of.”
“So what is with the aliases, then? I’m assuming that White Wind isn’t your actual name either, right?”
“Oo, a perceptive one. You are correct, White Wind isn’t my actual name. I have an alias because when I first came here seven months ago, from where I come from, about 11 here I think, I lost my memory, and that is what I remember calling myself. I had Jake here take an alias as to fit in better,” I replied to Shining’s questions.
“So what is your actual name? And why would there be a time difference of four months between the two places? We both live on the same planet, with the same calendars used throughout the world.”
“Do you ever stop asking questions? I find that my actual name is unimportant. And I don’t want to try to explain the time difference as I don’t know myself.”
“I find that your real name is important, so answer my question. Or do you not want me to trust you?”
“Again, my real name is unimportant. Even if you did research, I doubt that you will find it in anything in any country. If you must know, however, there is a single pony that can tell you. After all, she basically knows my entire life’s story. But you have to find this pony.”
“And why won’t you tell me this information yourself?”
“Shining, is it fair if I did all your work for you?” He was about to say something when I cut him off, “No, it isn’t. You are a capable pony with resources. I have no doubt that you are able to figure out who has this information.” I yawned loudly, inciting one from Jake as well, “Now if you excuse us, Shining, Red Wing and I are going to go to sleep. After all, the sun has gone down and the moon has come up. You are welcome to stay here for the night, if you want, but we don’t have extra sleeping stuff.”
“Um, thanks, I guess,” Shining said.
“Cool.” I tucked Jake into his sleeping bag, and then went to where the seven guards were settling down. “I’m going to go get some firewood, and build a fire next to Red Wing. You are welcome join us at the fire if you would like,” I offered before I left, not bothering to get a reply.
I spent about an hour gathering wood, and going up and down the mountain continuously, with a fire built and lit on the first trip back. I found that the ponies I had offered with fire didn’t move after my first trip back, but on my second, when the fire was already lit, they were gathered around. I made two more trips to get firewood, and those two times, a couple of the pegusi came with me to help.
When all was said and done, and enough wood for a fire all night, and half the next day, I finally went to bed, thinking that the guards would tend the fire occasionally if I slept through the fire dying. I quickly fell asleep.
‘This dream, how can I stop it? I thought as I stood before the same six foot tall cat, smoking a pipe, wearing pants, and had a large X-shaped scar on his back. The same environment of bramble clearing within the forest was behind it. The only thing that was different at first was what he said, “Will you be able to stop it?” The fake world swirled around, causing me to become slightly dizzy. It finally stopped and before me, stood Elis. No cat came to pounce on her, no bloody mess, no being to frozen in despair to do anything. “Elis,” shouted as I ran to her and quickly hugged her. She felt cold to the touch, and unresponsive. “Elis, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I was unable to stop saying those two words, tears where flowing down my cheeks. “I shouldn’t have run off like that, I shouldn’t have been upset, it should have been…” The world once again spun, and I lost Elis within the spinning “ELIS!” I shouted within my mind, yet she was gone. The world settled, however, and revealed the same area. Elis was before me as well. I started to her, but once again, as has happened countless times before, I froze as the cat jumped, killed, and devoured my beloved. The cat turned once more, to face me, and leapt. This time, however, I did not awake. I watched in horror as I felt myself becoming weak, I struggled against the cat, and fought against it, but to no avail. Each blow became weaker and weaker, and I could feel myself slowly lose consciousness, which is a strange feeling within a dream. My own consciousness being so dim, I felt something enter my mind, but didn’t know what it was. All then became dark.’
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Shining awoke within the cave, the guards had been taking turns keeping the fire alive, so the area of the cave he was in was warm. It was already slightly before sunrise and Red Wing was still fast asleep. He stretched, then got up. He didn’t mean to stay the night, but ended up accepting White Wind’s offer. He also enjoyed the fire that was built within the cave.
Walking to the entrance of the cave, he noticed Luna was directly outside the cave, a concentrated, worried look upon her face, her horn aglow. Shining was about to say something to her when she violently released her magic, got up, then rushed inside. Worried, Shining followed the princess, and found that she was next to White Wind, checking him. She cast a spell upon him, cast another, and then levitated him.
“Princess Luna! What is going on?” Shining asked.
She just flew past him, ignoring the question
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Luna had sensed that something was off soon after she raised the moon. The night always made her feel at peace, but something was wrong, and it was her duty to figure out what it was. She left the castle, and cast a spell to guide herself to the pony in trouble. She noticed that the pull of the spell was coming from the direction of Ponyville. She made haste to get there, but the distance was long, and she didn’t risk teleporting, as she could jump past the pony that she was receiving the feeling from. It took more than half the night to finally track the source down, as she flew past the actual source multiple times, because the signal was getting weaker, and finally, she realizing where the spell was truly pulling her. The mountain where White Wing had, not once, but twice, created a vortex around the same one that Twilight and her friends cleared a dragon out of. 
By the time she reached the cave, the signal extremely faint, and she cast a spell to enter the pony’s mind, who luckily was dreaming. Only then did she find out who the pony was: Mathew, the human who ended up in Equestria and was self-named White Wind, here. But as she entered, something blocked her mind out, and she had to fight against it, to enter his mind. Whatever it was, was extremely powerful. It was too late by the time she got through, and she was forced out of the mind. 
She snapped awake, releasing her spells, and rushed into the cave to where White Wind was. She felt for a pulse; she found none, and he was as cold as the stone he was on. Casting a detection spell, she found trace hints that his mind was completely intact, but showed no sign of awakening. She cast one more spell, this one to preserve the body and put the mind in a state of paralysis. Taking the body within her magic, she rushed out of the cave to go back Canterlot, vaguely aware of Shining Armor asking what was going on.