//------------------------------// // The Story Continues... // Story: Friends Never say Goodbye // by CDasher60 //------------------------------// The gently blows to and fro. Picking up leaves and swirling about, Cloud Dasher's wind-like spirit flows into circling directions heading into a darker area of Ponyville. Twirling around dead, broken trees and down burnt and lifeless homes. Nopony in sight for miles. Only one structure still stands. A tall, dark, haunting castle. The walls invaded by a blackened ivy and the windows cracked and smudged with dried blood. Banners hang below a few towers, each showing King Thanatos's sign of power. Dasher's spirit blows through a broken window in the castle. Inside Thanatos's lair she enters. Up stairs into a larger room furnished with a long worn-out rug with old designs. The windows cracked and dirty, looking as if they have never been washed. Two doors that lead into the room barely able to stand on its hinges. Dust-ponies and dirt cover everything, multiplying the more you look around. And to the far end of the room a stone throne rests. A dark shadow in the seat. An eerie purple glow above his head. The wind blows quickly around in a circle, and magically the senior Cloud Dasher arrears in its spot. As she walks forward, an evil laugh escapes from the King. "Ah I seem to have a guest. Please, have a seat." The purple glow from his horn, lights into red and a tall wooden chair forms to the side. "Oh your so kind Thanatos. Truly." Cloud replies in a sarcastic monotone before taking a seat in the chair. "Yes, Ive always thought so. So tell me, how are they?" Thanatos takes a sip of his golden goblet filled with strange red liquid. Looking back at Dasher he glares slightly before a monstrous grin creeps over his face. "You mean my friends? Their doing wonderfully. They like to get into mischief and such. Reading all the restricted books as well. Even my brother's book! Can you believe that?" "Oh that foalsbook is a bunch of rubbish! I expected Thegmaster to write about the glorious tales of King Thanatos! Ah but instead he wrote about fake tales that bring hope. I hate hope!!" Thanatos spats as he says "hope" and throws his ghastly drink, landing it just beside Cloud. "Ugh! I literally just cleaned my hooves! You can at least show respect to the one pony that killed you!" Cloud hovers in the air, wiping off her hooves as she speaks. Another evil laugh, louder than the last one, escapes from Thanatos. "Ah yes! Where are my manners!?" Thanatos's purple glow on his saber horn lights to blood red again and two giant, green and black glowing monsters rise from the ground. Purple lightning flickers about them as they move toward Cloud. As she tries desperately to fly away, she falls to the floor as on giant grabs her leg and pulls her down. The two monsters pin Cloud on the floor, resisting her efforts to escape. "You see Cloud Dasher, I own you. Without me, where would you be? What about your friends? What do you think would happen to them if you vanished? Hmm?" Thanatos walks toward the pined pegasus. Looking at her questionably as he asks his questions. Cloud doesn't answer, knowing she was on thin ice already. However concern fills her eyes and she tries harder to escape the giant's grasp. "Would they even care...? What if they've already forgotten about you?? Oh my, the curiosity is even getting to me! I wonder..." The King walks away from Cloud to a small table with only one object resting on it. A large bubble encased in glass. Thanatos gently pulls out the bubble with is magic and hovers it beside him. He looks in it for a moment, before walking toward Cloud again. "This is the same magic bubble that the gray pegasus gave you. Did you know I had it? I have to say, it really does show you what your heart most desires for! Why, just the other day I was looking in it and I believe I saw blood. All over my floors. Isn't that crazy?" Pausing to chuckle to himself, Thanatos hovers the bubble toward Cloud, resting it in front of her. "So tell me Cloud, what do you see?" He silently orders his giant guards to let the blue pegasus go. She picks up the bubble in a hurry and stares at it in hope for a second or two before the bubble starts to fill with pictures. Different ponies, familiar ponies. A minty green unicorn with a curly yellow mane walks down the streets of Manehatten, a giant smile across her face. As Glitter Shine fades away another pony fills her place. This one a blue camo pegasus, flying high in the clouds, a blue fire-like trail behind her. The mare chases a large yellow ball through the sky, before catching it in a backflip, and returning to her team whose cheering her name. As Blue Fire fades as well, several more ponies fill the bubble. This time its a small group of mares. Two pegasi and an earth pony. My friends! Cloud hugs the bubble tightly before looking deeper inside. Her friends are talking to one another, laughing and smiling. As cloud looks harder, tears are visible in her friends eyes. Their voices stream through. "...and remember that time when she sat with those stallions?!" "Yeah! Oh man, I still cant believe she actually rounded up some other people to go with her!" "Really?! I still cant believe I actually missed out on that!! The one time!" "One time?? Um, every time you leave to go visit your mom in Canterlot, something big happens!!" "Oh yeah! Thats right!! Goodness sakes, remember that other time when it snowed for ONE day?!" "And you missed out on that too?! Oh boy, did she have a time with that story!" "Naw, it wasn't that one that she kept pokin' at! It was the one bout how Muffin met her Bug!" "O thats right!! Geez how could I forget?!" "I know I didn't! Never heard the end of that one!" "Aw but it was pretty funny watchin' your face get all red!" "Like a strawberry!!" "Yeah well I think it was funnier watching her face get all red! Time. Of. My. Life!" "Gosh yes! Aint gonna forget that!" "Yeah I don't think there's ever a way to forget about Cloud" "No way, no how" "I bet well see her again. Never did say goodbye, did we?" "I aint gonna say goodbye! Thats just wrong on so many levels" "For real! After all shes done..no way." "..I wonder if she still looks at that bubble I gave her." "The one that-oh what was it..." "...lets you see whatever you desired the most? Wasn't it yipps?" "Yeah thats it!" "Id think that she still looks at it. Where ever she is." "What if shes lookin' at it right now?" "First off, that'd be totally mind-blowing. Second off, if she is...id want her to know that I miss her. A lot." "Me too. And that Im still waiting for ya in the clouds, Dash. Forever and always" "Aw well geez yall are already making me cry! I want her to know that shes always with us. Always..." Her friends slowly fade away, no other ponies fill their place. As Cloud hugs the bubble tightly still, her friend's conversation lingers in her mind. They haven't forgotten about me. And they wont ever. Dasher looks back up at Thanatos, wet streams down her cheeks still. The King simply looks down at her, snorts slightly, and walks toward his throne. Casting magic over the bubble again, he steals it out of Cloud's hooves and places it back in the glass case. "You know you cant win Thanatos." "Perhaps. But however, things are different this time. You'll see." "The only difference this time is that im still protecting my friends. Both past and future! So if you think that you can do anything different, any thing to save your pathetic excuse of a life, think again." "Im so glad you think that way." Thanatos's monsters grab Cloud again and lift her into the air by her wings. "You know, its a shame really. I do admire your courage and loyalty towards your friends. Always protecting them. But I must ask... Who's protecting you?" A sinister laugh breaks the eerie silence that followed his question. A look of horror crosses Clouds face. Panic floods her emotions and screams start to rise from the pegasus. "No, no you cant! Please..no! No—" Before she could say anything else Thanatos casted a spell that ended her screams. That ended her. And as his guards, having too much fun in their task, ripped her night sky wings off the pony, and dropped the lifeless body to the ground, she landed with a thud. Unimaginable sounds of horror echoed through the room. Blood gathered into a puddle, staining the rug. Night sky feathers floated along in the dark, thick puddle. "Hmm, now thats exactly what I saw the other day." King Thanatos laughs as he walks away from the bloody mess. *** Clip clop! Clip clop! Clip clop! As little Cloud Dasher nears her familiar empty apple tree-filled acres. A well known red barn stands in the distance. Smells of hay and barn dust fill Cloud's mind as she gallops on. Then she comes to a stop. Her Pack's clubhouse stands in front of her. Sounds of her friends roughly muffle through. And that must be Gummy, crying her feathers out. Great. You really screwed up this time, Cloud. As the little pegasus climbs the old stairs, she accidentally trips on a board and falls, face first, with a thud. "Did y'all hear that? "Comon lets go check it out! Her friends, Squishy McMuffin in front, Eileen behind her, and a tearful Gumdrop mopping along, come to her rescue. "CLOUD?! Oh you are SO GONNA GET IT!!" Or not. Before Eileen could catch her, not that she even gave much of any effort, McMuffin bolts toward Cloud and tackles her. However Cloud being who she is, and absolutely terrified of her friend, tries to run away. Thus causing a ball of white, brown, and blue to tumble down the stairs. "Oof! Hey! MUFFIN!! Get off of me!!" "You're such a little butt-face!!" Pinning Cloud to the floor, Muffin literally sprawls over her friend, pinning her to the cold ground. Eileen and Gumdrop join their two friends. "Just lemme explain, would ya?!" Cloud says in a strained voice before trying to shake her friend off her, to no avail. Then trying to scoot herself away, still to no avail. Finally Cloud gives in to defeat. "You better or else your gonna wish you would've never came back! I mean it! The whole explanation!!" "And if you even think bout' galloping off like that again, ill personally hoof-slap ya across the face Cloud!" Eileen looks dead strait in Clouds eyes while she holds up her hoof and pounds it with her other. "Geez guys, y'all are squishing her half to death! Squishy!" "Alright, alright Gumdrop. Calm your ponies! Im gettin up." Squishy gets up, slow as a tortoise, and stomping on Clouds stomach for a silent "im beyond mad at you" hint. As Cloud takes in a breath of air, after it was knocked out of her, she stands up. All three of her friends herd around her in a trapping circle. Muffin with a stare to kill, Eileen still looking mad but not as much as before, and Gumdrop with a heart breaking face. Before Cloud begins to explain, she walks over to Gumdrop and gives her a big hug. "Im so sorry Yipps. I shouldn't have ran out like that the other day. Are you okay?" "Yeah Im alright, now that you finally came back. Cant believe you did that though! We all really thought you died when you didn't come home last night." Gumdrop hugs her best friend back, still sniffling through her words. "Im sorry y'all. I wanted to come back as soon as I left, but I didn't know where to go! Honest to Celestia!" Cloud wraps her arm around Gumdrop, wanting to comfort her friend still. "Well then how did you get back, huh?" Squishy asks in her sassiest voice ever, as she looks at Cloud in a sarcastic way. "Lets just get in the clubhouse where I can tell y'all without wanting to pass out from so much pain." Cloud rolls her eyes at Squishy, and Gumdrop helps Cloud limp-walk up the stairs, with Eileen following next to the pinto pegasus. "I'm tellin ya, if she makes another run for it..." Squishy whispers to Eileen, anger obviously ending her sentence. "Don't worry, i'll tackle her this time." Eileen bumps into Muffin in a playful way, but her tone suggesting that she wasn't lying. The two buffer ponies make their way behind Cloud and Gumdrop. Squishy trying hard to resist the urge to tug on Cloud's tail. As Cloud enters her clubhouse, she takes in all the smells of home. Golly, I've missed this place so much! I know I wasn't gone for that long, but still! Each of her friends take their usual seats, and pull them around Cloud's soft snowflake blanket. Gumdrop lowers Dasher onto the blanket, and even gives her the treasured white unicorn while she holds a fluffy pink unicorn plush under her wing. "Alright Cloud. Talk." "I am sorry Muffin. Really. Y'all have no idea how awful I felt leaving.. As soon as I couldn't run any longer I fell down to the ground and laid there, crying. Asking myself why did my parents not tell me the truth? Why did they lie to me instead? Where was I..where were my friends.." Cloud trails off, looking down at her hooves with her eyes already starting to tear up as she recalls what happened. "Aww Cloud..." Gumdrop places her wing over Dasher in comfort. Looking up from her hooves, Dasher gives a small smile to her friend. Glancing at Muffin, she sees that her friend softens her expression, but Cloud drops her smile, knowing that looks can be deceiving. Eileen looks sympathetically towards Cloud, still curious as to how the story continues however. "So then what??" Eileen asks, curiosity dominating her thoughts. "Well, before I passed out from running for so long, I heard something. Somethin was in the bushes in front of me. So course, I asked who's there? And this pony, I couldn't see who they were because it was dark, but she steps out and says "A friend. Rest now." Or somethin' like that. And then everything went dark. Course I had to have yet another nightmare about my dad and then Thanatos trying to get me before I woke up." "Another one? Maybe they mean something..? Did you find that creepy pony when you woke up?" Eileen asks. "I don't know, maybe. Yeah I did actually. Its pretty weird what I'm gonna tell y'all next, but honest its the truth!" "Pinkie Pie Promise?" Gumdrop looks up at Cloud, asking for the most sacred promises of all time. "Yes, I cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, that I'm telling the truth." Including the gestures and sing-songy voice Dasher recites the promise, ending with her hoof invisibly sticking a cupcake in her eye. "Alright. What then?" Muffin looking at Cloud, no emotion showing. "Well, imagine a mare. A really old one. With a long scar down her left flank. Her coat color a royal blue, and her hooves, ears, nose, and wings fading into a navy blue color. Her mane was a really pale sky blue, dusty white, and a faded bright blue. Um, her eyes were purple. Oh, and her cutie mark was a little dashed through cloud in front of a big dashed through cloud. An exact match to this one." Pointing down to her own cutie mark, Dasher describes what her older self looked like. Silence and astonished faces from her friends. Each has their jaw dropped and a thousand-word expression on their faces. "You've got to be kidding!" "You know you just described yourself Cloud?!" Muffin looks baffled at Cloud. "I know that! But she was way older than me! Wrinkly and gray hair old!" Staring back at her friends with her hooves gesturing in the air. "But why would some pony look exactly with you? Cutie mark and everythin! Hows that even possible?" "Because she was me! But like, future self! I legit saw myself from the future!" "Seriously?! Thats really cool but isn't it kinda strange? Why would you-the future you-be here in the past-or present..you know?" Eileen stares at Cloud with that "this is so weird" kind of look. "Yeah, it was really strange at first! But then it made sense later. After I saw her in the morning she told me to follow her. So course I did. Then we walked through this trail in a really pretty forest. Birds were singing and bees were buzzin...it was a really pretty forest.." Cloud continues with retelling her story of what happened that morning. "Focus Cloud! So yall just walked on this trail?" Muffin snaps Cloud back into reality. "Yeah. Through a really pretty forest. She didn't say anything though, if thats what you were wondering." "Then what?" Gumdrop asks with excitement and curiosity. "Well, I saw this light up ahead. When we got there, it ended up being a small campfire next to this big ol' tree! Like a really big tree! It was so awesome! But then what happened next was even more awesomer! The older me did this special knock on the tree-like that- and these stairs opened from inside the tree! It was crazy!" Cloud gestures in the air and knocks on the wooden floor in the same special knock as her older self did. "Woah really?! Thats awesome!" Gumdrop bubbles with excitement. "How did it do that? Like that has to be magic or somethin!" Eileen asks. "Thats because it was magic! She told me that a unicorn friend of hers-or mine- took up a wood carving class or somethin and made that for her and her friends before leaving to Manehatten for her business, or somethin like that." Cloud explains. "A unicorn friend? And shes you from the future?" Muffin, finally all anger in her gone, asks curiously. "Yeah." "So then if shes you, and her friends are us...do you know any unicorns Dash?" "..um..only Gumdrop's little sister. Whatcha thinkin?" Cloud thinks hard before answering. "Well, put the pieces together! Unless you meet any unicorn ponies down the road, I'm pretty sure that the older you was talking about Glitter Shine!" Muffin explains herself. "Woah! Really? But my sister is like, not even one yet!" Gumdrop stare completely baffled at her friends. "Hmm, naw..what Squishy is saying actually makes sense! Glitz maybe little now, but she aint in the future! For all we know she could enjoy carving, and eventually make us a really awesome new magic clubhouse!" Eileen points out, excitement filling her words. "Holy ponies! I didnt even think about that! Thats so cool!" Cloud's excitement showing as she grins from ear to ear. "Well now I know what to get her for her birthday! Thats pretty awesome!" Gumdrop adds in. "Alright so then what happened?" Muffin wanting to press on with Cloud's story. "Well we went up stairs and-" Cloud stops mid-sentence. The sound of a bell ringing interrupts her. Some pony calls out "Gummy! McMuff! Cloud! Eileen! Where are yall?" "Oh shoot! Is it that late?! We better go before Mr. Snug gets mad!" Eileen stands up in a hurry and packs away her things. The other three ponies stand up too and move their pillows and blankets to their usual spots. Gumdrop and Cloud are the first out the door leaving Squishy to steal the white and pink unicorn plushes and hiding them under her pillow, before leaving as well. Eileen hurries after, locking the door behind her. "Hi daddy!" Gumdrop gives her dad, Snuggly Warbunnies a big hug. "Hey Mr. Snug!" Cloud catches up and gives Gumdrop's dad a brohoof. "Hey my little ponies! Cloud, I told ya you can call me dad too! Your one of the family!" Snug gives Cloud and Gumdrop a hug back. "Evenin' pops!" Muffin and Eileen catch up to their friends and give Snug a hug as well. "Hey guys! Time to come home now, mama's orders. Hey Eileen, you're spending the night. We've already cleared it with your mom." "Alright cool!" Eileen jumps in excitement and brohoofs Gumdrop. "Ok ponies, hop on!" Snug gestures for the ponies to climb onto his back for a ride. Before Gumdrop can hop in the front, Squishy flies in, stealing her spot. Gumdrop accepts defeat, and climbs in behind. Eileen jumps on, and Cloud hovers in the air. "Ready? Cloud, try to keep up! And don't choke on my dust!" Snuggly asks, looking at Cloud. But before she could answer, he sprints off in a gallop, leaving a trail of dust behind. "Oh golly, its days like this that I love my family." Cloud smiles before dashing forward, racing towards her family. ***