Chapter 7
What was Left
"And, I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad..."
The slow, droning music from a long-lost age wrenched me out of my restless sleep, and I struggled to understand my surroundings.
I was in the endless hallway.
I was falling, near as I could tell, though the movement of small white dots in front of me was the only clue. There was no motion to be felt, with my body being supported by what appeared to be a giant cloud, taking different forms as each errant thought passed my mind, but staying soft and supporting. Stars and planets passed by me in all different directions, until I was turned over. I was sure I was falling at that point, for Earth was right in front of me.
I could see the exit sign.
I was going to land on Earth… did that mean I was escaping the world of Equestria? I saw the real, tangible clouds pass by me, with the intangible ones keeping up, even steadying my descent. The pillows of water vapor cleared and I saw land. I could see my house from impossibly far away, looking like a toy. I was finally going back.
I fell towards my escape.
The air tugged on my mysteriously intact clothes, but I couldn’t bend my neck to look at them. I simply stared at the incoming tiling on my roof. I slowed down like last time. It was almost a mirror image of the dragon fight preceding these events, but it was like I drifted the final meters to my house instead of time simply slowing. I was turned on my back again, still being held onto by the formless clouds. As wisps passed into my peripheral vision, I saw what the clouds were made of.
I was being held aloft by my life, before the pain.
All I had done, everything I experienced, all my knowledge was supporting me as I felt my spine touch a roof tile. I exhaled a held breath out of relief, but it was different. I heard the sound echo off of the walls that suddenly surrounded me. I was not sighing in relief; I was screaming in pain. The supportive memories of my previous life were dispersed as I hit the suddenly soft surface below me. I was not on my house anymore.
I was being brought back.
My arms, legs and head were forced down by something I couldn’t see. I had my eyes closed hard, and all I could do was feel, smell and hear. I smelled the horrible stench of burning skin, accompanied by the overwhelming warm, coppery tinge of blood. I heard voices, some crying, some screaming, all of them around me. I felt small objects on my wrists and ankles, and two on my head. I gathered enough strength to finally move; I was not going to be captured and tortured as long as I was alive.
I was not being brought back there.
I gripped at the forces pushing me down and pulled as hard as I could. I felt my left leg break free, and used it as leverage for my right leg. After the bindings were gone, I alternated between pushing on the soft surface below me to free my arms and kicking at the enquine figures surrounding me. They were too far away, so I tried the other option.
I would stop at nothing.
I felt bones break as my right arm was freed. It didn’t matter; my focus was on getting out at all costs. My heart and lungs strained to keep up as I pulled with impossible strength on my left arm. After feeling a snap and a pop, I thought I was going to be free from this limbo prison when I was thrown flat onto the soft ground once again. My arms and legs were spread again, and my bones were painfully set back to their proper orientations. The pain was without equal, how I remained alive, I had no idea. Was I even alive at that point?
I was failing.
The weight on top of me was an immovable obstacle. I could not bend my arms or legs, I could barely breathe, and my head was pushed back at a disproportionate angle. The pain slowed, and I could only lie there, convulsing in futile escape attempts. In my final throes of consciousness, I had the sense to open my eyes.
Capture was approaching.
In front of me, upside down, I saw the sight I feared the most. It was Celestia, the goddess sun ruler of Equestria, and she was looking back at me. Through a bluish glow I could see fear, concern and confusion set upon her face.
She was weak.
My own face was mixed with pain, regret, and anger. Anger and rage because of my failed escape, because of my wasted sacrifice, and because of my sabotaged afterlife. Regret because of how differently I could have done things, how I could have taken the chance to speak to them and avoided the falling out. And pain because of what I was going to do.
I was strong.
I screamed with all my power. I did not channel it, however. The pulsating energy, seemingly made of pain itself as it further singed my body, simply flowed out of my skin, or what was left of my skin, and bombarded the figures in the room. I heard many thumps as what I assumed were ponies passed out under the pressure. One of my captors, however, stood defiant. Celestia was still awake, still killing me. I saw her glow become brighter, and the pain, somehow more intense than before. I finished screaming, as I found it did nothing to ease the suffering, and accepted my coming fate.
The low music, which seemed to loop in my head since the lucid images started, began playing again. At the final tone, my presence was cast into darkness once more.
"...that the dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had."
I finally awoke, but my eyes remained closed for fear of what I would find. The recollections of what just happen were distant, but I somehow saw them in the same light. Excruciating fire and electricity shooting through my veins, arteries and nerves filled the most recent memories. I didn't know if Celestia was actually killing me, but the pain she created was similar to the dragon's fire. It was the same thing she used against me in the castle, but the previous time I had reached that level I at least had some sort of guideline. The horrible moments, which seemed like eternities as they happened, were unmatched in my life so far. Perhaps if death came again I could compare it.
Of course, the issue of my death was moot. I was alive now, at least. It was ironic, really, that immediately after blinding pain, my biggest fear was opening my eyes. I had to ease into the situation, however; first priority was my physical condition.
What just happened was certainly some sort of abstract fever-dream, but it seemed to represent what happened to me in real life as evident by the severe internal pain in my right arm, and distant soreness in my left shoulder. I had expected more types of pain, perhaps the burning or bruising resulting from the larger scale battle in real life. I still felt my bones shift in my brief movements, and my raw skin was irritated by only the air, and that was unpleasant to say the least. But I could handle it. It was nothing compared to what I felt at ground zero, and what immediately followed.
With my physical status at least partially understood, the main trouble I was facing at the moment was the pair of eyes boring holes into the side of my head. Some sort of being was standing next to me, and as it shifted a scratching noise gave the impression it had scales. It didn’t sound anything like a pony, and my slight curiosity was beat by apprehension; I didn’t want to have to deal with two different alien species- though that thought dissolved when I remembered I had encountered at least five different kinds during my time here, discounting small animals and plants.
Even the dragons could talk; which, while it was not entirely surprising, still scared me. I could now be in a very unique civil war, between native sentient species. It eased my nerves when I remembered that I was the invasive species, unknown and unmatched. So far.
I refocused on the task at hand; observe my surroundings without opening my eyes. The creature next to me was watching diligently, and I had no idea what it was, so it was best to play it safe.
I decided to try to ping the room like I had done in prison, and by extension, the dragon's fire. I didn’t know how it worked, but after a few normally-silent echoes were passed around the room I got a feel for the general shape. It had a large, curved wall closest to me and an opening opposite the room. There were separation walls bordering the door, and scattered shelves throughout the room. And, of course, the being standing next to me, probably expecting me to be unconscious. I would not show any signs that I wasn’t.
After what I thought was a half hour with nothing but the creature near me making a scraping noise as it shifted, a door opened and closed and a faint yell came through the opening to my room.
“Spike! I’m back!” It sounded like Twilight. Perfect.
“Twilight! Nothing to report on the subject, he’s still asleep.” The young male voice of ‘Spike’ got further away and was accompanied by light footsteps around a corner and down some stairs. I made that my cue to jump out of the bed and examine my surroundings.
“Are you sure? Any movement, any noise? Anything out of the ordinary at all?”
I quietly stepped onto the floor towards the door. Luck granted me another chance at escape, and their voices sounded like they were facing away from my door. I almost stepped out.
“Well, he made some sort of snoring noise and his eyes opened a bit, but that was half an hour-”
“What? I need to see this!” Twilight began to rush up the stairs, towards my room. I doubled back and used the separation wall as cover when she stepped inside. She didn’t see me.
“Come on, Twilight, it’s probably…” Spike also reached the door and stood there, probably dumbfounded at the empty bed. Watching from the shadows, I could see Twilight and the now visible lizard-thing, Spike, approach the bed. I silently snuck around them.
“I don’t know what happened to it, it was still there before you got in.”
I stepped down the stairs and approached the door.
“We have to search the house; from what we know of him, he could have-”
I opened the door, which resulted in the ringing of a bell that I didn’t notice. I heard some rushed footsteps from up the stairs, but by that time I was already sprinting through the dirt road, ignoring my protesting muscles, towards the forest that I could see in the distance.
I simply ran as fast as I could across the flat ground, with bare feet and unfamiliar clothing. No ponies were in the strange town passing by me, and all the rustic, wooden houses looked empty, so apart from two panicked voices behind me I was free to go where I pleased. Of course, that meant the forest, which had creatures I was in no condition to defeat. I shook the thought from my head and grinned.
‘At least there’s one less dragon to deal with.’ With that in mind I ran faster. I thought it was renewed energy due to motivation, but I soon recognized it as the mysterious, pushing guide from earlier. It came back to me yet again, pillows of air pushing me forward, and the goal was the same. It guided me with ease through the forest, and behind me I could hear the two shouting.
“Twilight, he’s too fast!”
“You’re right, we can’t catch him alone. I’ll get Rainbow Dash and Applejack, you get Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and we’ll get Fluttershy on the way into the forest. Go!” Her voice was followed by both her and Spike running in opposite directions. I entered the forest, still in pain but not tired, and made quick work of the distance between me and my castle.
I heard a pair of footsteps as I was halfway in, and they sounded familiar, but they were traveling away and soon disappeared behind a kilometre of thick trees. I briefly considered following the animal, but the pushing force behind me ignored the matter and I did the same.
I approached my castle. As I turned, the pushing guide stopped abruptly and I almost fell over, as if a carpet was pulled from under my feet. I doubted that was where it was intent on taking me, but stored the thoughts for later, when I had some time to think. I ran inside, uncomfortable as I had to put real effort into each stride, and eventually I found my stash of belongings. I took off my strange new shirt, which was made of white cotton and didn’t quite fit my form, and ripped it in two.
I grabbed one of the sticks from the fireplace I never lit and turned the two materials into an extra large bindle. Within it I held the loot I stole from the dragon; an assortment of pre-cut gems, gold coins and jewellery. I was thankful the fabric was both strong and elastic, as I managed to collect all of the loot in one go. I made my way out of the castle and back to the site in which I fought the dragon, in an effort to find any remainders of my more important belongings; specifically, my knife and watch.
I moved quickly and silently through the trees and shrubs, my feet feeling more secure after I found my hiking shoes near the ground floor. After a matter of minutes, I was beginning to see trees at odd angles. I followed in their wake, and came upon some trees that were bent, snapped, and even shattered, yet all converging to a single point. Once nearly all the trees were fallen, I found the point of impact.
There was a crater made of hardened soil laced with black glass, and nearly all of the surrounding area was completely void of vegetation. I noticed a small pillar of grass facing away from the dragon’s footsteps, and found light imprints of small bodies within. It seemed that I almost completely shielded the ponies from harm in the showdown, and finally made up my mind as to what I would do about that.
I picked up the slightly singed backpack lying against a toppled tree and turned away from the scene. Not seeing my watch or knife anywhere, I filled the bag with most of my loot and started walking, directly against my unseen guide. It would not lead me to where I wanted to go.
I was returning to my captors. I was alive, after what I went through, and now awake. If anything, they would respect my power by now. If they didn't, I would have to make them fear it.
Little time passed after the guide let up. It seemed that it had some sort of intelligence, at least enough to determine when not to push when the effort would be futile.I would need to look into that, if I was to spend any time here. I neared the forest wall, the sun coming down behind the receding canopy. Only around half hour had passed, although I wasn't entirely sure, so I shouldn’t have drawn too much attention. I almost reached a point where I had nothing to think about, but I heard bears fighting in the distance.
A deep, guttural roar, followed by a scream; it was all too familiar. It was close this time. And based on the footsteps I heard, I could have turned around to stop it when I was back in the forest. The guiding force had led me straight past it.
I abandoned the rising pain and exhaustion that came from wandering the forest unsupported and ran straight for the approaching noise. No ponies were going to die in front of me. I broke through the forest threshold and saw the shape and color that I feared. A manticore stood next to a house with a tree coming out of it. Screams were between them. I knew the voice, I knew the situation. My fear was forced out by the realization that this was my fault.
Zecora, in my brief meeting with her an indefinite amount of days ago, said that manticores never ventured very close to the town, or even as far as her hut. They preferred the marshes that resided even further than my castle ruin, so something drove them here. I didn't want to indulge in my theory, but I still wanted to make sure.
I somehow doubled my speed, through anguishing legs and chest, and charged at the beast ahead of me. After a final roar, it raised a paw and I saw a scar. The very same scar I had given on the first day now taunted me with the certainty that I was the catalyst. My arrival here was very possibly the cause for this particular manticore to approach the town, and what made it even worse was I ignored the signs of it moving in this direction. No, my intangible guide led me past it. I wanted to investigate, but I was pulled away.
I was about to scold myself, until I remembered what I was running for. I was right behind the manticore, and it was raising it's scarred arm for a swipe. I jumped.
Just as the arm reached its maximum height, I reached around it and twisted so I was facing the beast, back to a wall. It was further than I thought, so I ended up with my feet on the wooden siding. Taking my chance, I pushed off and tackled the monster. It stumbled slightly, but I failed to knock it over. It swiped and snarled when I jumped off, narrowly missing a set of teeth and two sets of claws in the process. I leaned back to gain leverage in a blast of power, but the manticore recovered from it's misses quicker than I could react.
The horribly sharp claws ripped into my chest, following the entirety of my rib cage as it carried through. I felt bones shatter under my bare skin, and I was knocked over. The manticore had succeeded where I had not, and now it was upon me. It reeled back for another swipe, and I started to black out, but the pegasus it was attacking came between us. Fluttershy was standing over me, wings abroad, and looked like she was staring the beast down. It hesitated as she started speaking.
“You big, mean bully! You have no right to attack me or anypony else! Now, you better get back to the forest before I make you! Is that clear?” With that, the manticore performed a double take between me and Fluttershy, and took off. The pegasus above me looked in it’s direction until it passed into the trees, then immediately turned to me and started talking.
“Oh my goodness Ethan I thought you were still recovering what happened?”
I coughed harshly in response, and she appeared to notice the extent of my injuries. My vision was tunneling, and all I could see at that point was her cyan eyes peering into mine before I lost all vision and collapsed.
“Oh no, we need to get you fixed right now!” With greater strength than I thought she had, she lifted me and flew for a few seconds, before dropping me onto a papery matress. I could feel wooden boards on my limp hands, and realized I was probably in Fluttershy's house.
In almost an instant, several cloths started to cover my wound, the extent of my injuries becoming apparent to me as well; I could feel one of the cloths touching my heart. I would probably die at any moment.
Proceeded by faint shouts, a door opened and four quadrupeds ran in. They all called for Fluttershy, but stopped as soon as they came into the room. My sense of sight was long gone, as well as touch, but my hearing worked from beyond the potential grave.
“Twilight! I need you to cast a healing spell on him, STAT!” There was a short pause before a glowing that I just barely registered, as it must have been bright, and a noise reminiscent of a laser gun started. The very next instant, I wished I was still dead. Again.
I felt my skin weaving together, and the fragments of my ribs were pulled into their correct positions. It was even worse than the attack that had caused it, but not as bad as what I experienced before waking up. The difference between now and then was now I had room to move, and I accepted it by arching my back and kicking the air, and, at one point, punching the floor hard enough to shatter the wood.
When time Twilight was finished pulling my chest through the seven circles of hell, I fell from my arched position onto the bloody, papery surface with a thump. After gathering enough strength to move my arms, I brought them to my chest, and my palms and fingers were met by rough, unharmed skin. I cycled my breath a couple times while Fluttershy wrapped bands around my bloodied torso, and soon I was led onto a couch.
I rubbed my eyes to wake up, and noticed something strange about them. I settled my face into my palms, as support to catch my breath, and still felt strange. There was a cracked aspect to them, and I was about to rub them together when I noticed four ponies in front of me, and one beside me, desperately trying to assess my injuries.
After I was done covertly feeling my oddly textured face and hands, I looked up at them. There was Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and the white one I thought was ‘Rarity’ but couldn’t quite remember. I thought there might have been six including Fluttershy, but I passed it off since the only time I really saw six at a time was right before I died. I pushed the poking Fluttershy away from me, ignoring silent protests, and looked fully at who I assumed was the leader.
"Is pain the only thing you ponies bring me?" They were about to reply, looking at eachother and turning back, before just staring back at me, mouths agape. I had no idea what they were doing, but I read Fluttershy easily as she lowered her face beneath her pink mane.
"You're the exception, Fluttershy." She perked up after I said it, but still retained her shy, fearful face. I turned to the others and continued, "you, on the other hand. It seems every direction I go leads to me being mortally wounded, and you, especially you," I pointed at Twilight, "and your 'Princess Celestia', insist on being humane and saving me, only to increase the pain. What's next, this house is going to come down on-"
I paused as another distant shout was heard, and it rapidly approached. I remembered this happening earlier, when I was running on day one. Before I could dive to the ground, a rainbow colored blur burst through the door and tackled me hard, knocking me heavily to the other side of the room. I was winded, so as I was turned over to reveal Rainbow Dash, the missing sixth pony, shouting at me for attacking Fluttershy again, I could only cough and sputter.
“What’s wrong with you, attacking Fluttershy a second time? She never did anything to you!” She had her hooves over my arms and her face was hovering over mine, trying to look intimidating. The spectrum of colorful hair did little in that regard, but she managed to incapacitate me for at least the next minute, so I turned away the more she shouted.
"He didn't attack Fluttershy!" Came Twilight's voice from behind me, stopping Rainbow Dash in her tracks. She looked suspiciously at me before turning back with a questioning look.
"He can talk."
I sat back in wait as Rainbow Dash slowly moved towards the group, and an extremely startled Fluttershy dragged me back onto the couch. I breathed through the minor injury, thankful that no other conditions arose, and looked back at their expecting faces. Twilight was, once again, the first one to ask.
"You can talk?"
I had no intentions of giving them answers just yet, so I harshly stated, "I will ask my questions first." Twilight flinched slightly but nodded and I continued, "am I being captured again?"
"Not entirely. We were meant to keep you in one place, but it wasn't like last time."
"Why not?" Twilight flinched again, and a look of confusion crept onto her face as she answered.
"Don't you remember?" I didn't respond, so she continued, "you saved us from a dragon!"
I let out a sigh of relief. The ponies seemed to be fickle as a race, but at least I was on their good side. I looked over at Fluttershy, and she was just smiling weakly at me. I felt bad for judging their intentions so quickly, and to make up for it to Fluttershy I made a beckoning motion. She quickly jumped up to hug my neck, and I turned to the other five.
The assorted ponies, unicorns and pegasus looked at me with ever growing confusion, but I was still hesitant. "What about her?" I asked, pointing at Rainbow Dash.
She raised her head to meet my eyes for a split second, before registering the gesture, and looked to the floor again. "Sorry..." she muttered, still not making eye contact. I got the point and leaned slightly back, careful not to crush Fluttershy's left side. Rainbow Dash was probably sorry for what she did, but I would have to keep an eye out for her. As with them all.
"Please, we need to ask you some questions, now that you're awake." Twilight chimed in, moving slightly towards me. It was odd that she said 'awake' instead of 'alive'; maybe they were actually helping me? I saved that thought and inwardly sighed, again, knowing what kind of questions they had planned for me. They were probably the same ones that I had for them, but I was the stranger, and a convict, so it only made sense to let them have their day first. It was basic diplomacy.
"Alright, I'll try to answer-" I was interrupted by a pink blur flashing in front of me, and instantly regretted giving them a chance.