//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: The Lust for Power // by All of the Above //------------------------------// She woke up two hours after I did. I can usually sleep for hours upon hours until somebody shakes me awake. But today I woke with a start. I looked to my right, seeing a large indentation on the left side my bed. I held my breath and stayed as silent as I could. I heard the quiet, steady breaths of Shimmer as she slept peacefully. For the two hours that I was awake I walked around my room. On a school day, my parents or Gild would wake me up. Luckily for me, no school for me. On these days, my parents would leave to go pick up groceries. Gild would often went with them, but sometimes he would leave early in the morning to go hang out with his friends. Luckily for me, that was one of those days. For an entire hour, I just stared at her. I thought about what I was going to say to her when she woke up, and how I was going to get her to let me join her in the journey. Hour two, I started reading the book a little more. -and the Didec would escape into the jewel. He put the knife in my hooves. I left without uttering another word. Saying that I didn't have a plan after that was an understatement. An old human, possibly the last one alive, just handed me the key to getting Celestia back to normal, and told me to stick it in the back of her head. I was confused. I didn't even know where to step next. But I did know one thing. I couldn't do this alone. Ellis wasn't the most enthusiastic about this plan. Ellis loved Celestia. She was her mother after all. Mine as well. El- Several times I stopped reading because I swore I heard a noise somewhere in the house. I thought I heard the door opening, some voices outside, and even the sound of an explosion at one point. I thought that the world was coming to an end for a second. I dashed out of my room and ran out the front door. What I saw next was the greatest thing I have ever seen. It's sheer beauty had me awestruck. I stared at it for a good two minutes until it subsided. As much as I wanted it stay in the sky for the rest of eternity, it eventually did the world an awful favor and disappeared, never to be seen again. I thought that those were a myth. I couldn't have been happier to be proven wrong. I reluctantly went back into my room. I found everything as it once was. But there was something wrong. My book was gone. My head shot to the bed. The indentation that once occupied almost the entire left side of my bed was gone. The covers were thrown off the bed and the window was wide open. I almost screamed when I saw that. I quickly ran to the window, hoping that I could maybe see where she went. My head darted around faster than a hummingbird's wings. In the forest, I saw a flash of yellow and red running into the forest. Getting my shoes on and grabbing my jacket, I prepped myself to jump out of the window and chase after her. I hesitated. If I jumped out the window right then and right there, then I would be leaving this life behind. Leave the awful life where I at least had a roof over my head and a bed to sleep on, for a life without the harmful gaze of Gild and my parents, without a good place to sleep or a roof over my head. Just an open sky and future where anything could happen. It was then that I felt that same feeling in my that I had back in the library when I picked up that book. The feeling that I was making a big mistake. "Dreck!" I stiffened up when I heard that. The word swirled around in my head, banging against my cranium, setting fire to my positive thoughts. I didn't even need to turn around to see who said that. My dad could be heard in a crowd of screaming, protesting Cromiz citizens. "Just what do you think you're doing!?" I watched as Shimmer ran into the forest. I swore I saw her turn around for a second. And I swore I heard her calling my name, begging that I come with her. The decision was made for me. I jumped. The taste of the air was sweeter than it ever was. The sounds of nature were like sweet honey. The colors were more vibrant and beautiful. Life was worth living again. I found the urge to laugh. I laughed and laughed and laughed. I laughed as I dashed off into the forest, I laughed as my father shouted curses and commanded me to come back, I laughed as they soon became echoes of a bad dream the farther I got from that Godforsaken house, I laughed as I dodged branch after branch, I laughed as I realized that I was finally free. Free of those who hated me, free of the beatings, free of the malking voices and shadows of the executioners who were my family. I ran for what seemed like hours. Even though my body was beginning to collapse from exhaustion, I continued to run. I didn't want to stop. I didn't even care if I found Sunset Shimmer. If I could keep running and never stop, then I would be happier than if I got the book back. Eventually, I had to stop myself. My legs couldn't take much more, and they decided to stop me by going completely limp. I skidded to a stop, and nearly flipped over. I fell onto my back and stared up into the sky. I continued to laugh, despite the fact that I could hardly breathe at all. Sunset Shimmer and my book came to my mind. But I told myself that I would get up and go look for her in five minutes. "Are you going to just lie there forever?" A voice said. To the left of me, I saw her. Sunset Shimmer was clutching my book with her magical grip and looking down on me. "Hey, if I could get my book back..." "Come now? You didn't think it was going to be that easy to get your stupid book back?" "No." my stupid smile was still on my face. I continued to look up into the sky. “So, what’s your story?” I almost didn't hear the question. I was too busy thinking about my freedom. “I was in a place I didn't want to be. And in a split second, I decided to follow you.” “Come on, there has to be more than that.” “You don’t you want to hear the boring details.” “Nobody has a boring life. There has to be something interesting about it.” “Not really.” I lied. Actually, I wouldn't really consider it a lie. Twelve years of living with abusive parents and a brother who hates you does get boring eventually. “I’m actually more interested in your story.” Sunset scoffed. “You don’t get to ask me what my life has been like. We barely even know each other.” "Fine." I stood up. I was taller than her, and yet she somehow stood taller than I did. "I'll tell you my story while we find a place to sleep before it gets dark." "That won't be too hard. I just so happen to know a place."