Luckily enough, my gut was simply playing tricks on me, as the oven was no longer on when we found our way back to the house.
It didn’t take us long to find our way back. Rainbow seemed to have a precise memory of where we had gone, so I simply followed her tracks. Besides, I was willing to bet that I would’ve gotten us lost if I even attempted to lead the way back.
When we returned I found my phone, light blinking, signifying that I had received a text. I grabbed it and saw that it was Fluttershy, who made sure I knew that Rarity had given her my phone number. She continued to tell me that she had left my bag with the people in the front office, much to my dismay, though she could have had no idea, of course. I decided against texting her back, realizing that she would probably have been in class at that time.
Rainbow and I stayed there for the rest of the day, unwilling to return to the school both for the fact that we would have to face what we had done and that it was, well, school. The day crawled by at a pleasantly slow pace. I had begun to understand Rainbow Dash for who she truly was, not what she projected to the world around her: a real person with real thoughts, not that I thought of her as just another girl, not by any means.
She wanted to be free, to fly. Nothing tieing her to the ground of reality. Rainbow wanted to touch the clouds and soar beyond the worries of what was down here. I found myself wanting to fly high into the sky alongside her, but that dream would never come true. It wasn’t possible.
Even so, I found myself enjoying her company all the same. Being around her, I felt as though I was free of any of my worries, though I knew they would still be there the following day. They would have to be. They couldn’t simply vanish into thin air. And after a while, the good times faded away into the evening, when Rainbow and I were forced to part ways.
---------------
That night I dreamt of flying, being free from all the worries that held my soul on the ground. The wind blew through my hair, flapping through the threads of my clothing with ease. I flew through the clouds, over the rainbows that eloped the skies in their glow, fighting against the little resistance the air before me had provided.
The air was clean, cleaner than that on the polluted lands of my home. I inhaled as much as my lungs would allow before letting all of my fears escape my lips. For the first time in as long as I could remember I was happy.
But I wasn’t alone. Rainbow Dash was there, flying beside me, challenging me to a race across the skies. Without fear of failure, I accepted. We topped clouds and striped the skies in a rainbow trail, courtesy of my racing partner.
She shot ahead, like a bolt of lightning. I watched her disappear over the tip of a mountaintop, simple enough. I followed as closely behind as I could, determined to at least put up a fight.
What I saw made me regret ever having falling asleep. A black cloud loomed just ahead. It wasn’t gray, but black, and it was quickly approaching. It threatened me with occasional bursts of stray electricity, followed by the crack of thunder. I could do little to force my body to obey my commands. I could only watch as the growing black thing grew nearer and nearer with every passing second. I squeezed my eyes shut, preparing for the worst.
Then a sound. Thunder? No, it was too high. Rain, then? Couldn’t be, there was no rhythm. Then what? Crying.
My eyes darted open, searching the now blackened space around me for the source. There was nothing but the oppressing blackness of the clouds. But, even then, I wasn’t sure that it was the clouds that had overtaken me. This appeared to be a... void of some sorts.
Once again, there was the faint sound of crying and pain. I felt my feet come into contact with something hard. I dropped onto the ground with a tap on the bottoms of my shoes, nearly toppling over from the sudden change of weight.
The crying continued on and on even after I began searching for the source of the saddening tune. As if to make matters worse, it began to echo off of the non-existent walls. I turned around. No, not that way. Back around. No, no, I’ve been here before. Then finally...
I began to stumble towards it, the noise. It mocked me, growing louder and louder the closer I got. It was soft, but it was loud, and it only got louder the further I went. Louder, louder, I covered my ears with the palms of my hands, but it didn’t help.
Then I saw her, even through the darkness that surrounded me, Pinkie Pie. As soon as my sight caught her, the cries ceased. She stood about thirty feet away, staring. Her face was full of tears, having been the cause of the crying. “Pinkie!” A blink, then gone.
Then I wasn’t in the void anymore. I was in the middle of a field of grass, nothing around for miles, it seemed. The moon shone high against the sky, watching over me, ensuring my safety. I spun to ensure my solitude, but came to face my only other company in this plain.
Only a figure greeted me in return. Black, like the void, but human. “Do you understand?” Its voice was feminine, regal, powerful. It felt familiar, yet I was completely sure that I had never heard the voice in my life.
“W-what?” My voice came out stuttering and shaky. “What do you mean?”
“Do you understand why you are here?”
“N-no, I don’t.”
“Every dream is had for a reason,” She spoke in simple sentences, yet I was certain of what each word meant. “You must discover the reasonings for your dreams, Sky.”
“H-how do you-” Too late. She had vanished before I had a chance to ask her my questions, nothing left in her place.
Only a moment of peace resulted before the wind rushed against my body, threatening to blow me away at any moment. But it didn’t. It threw the tall grass around me around, forcing it to swirl in the new air, but I was left on the ground. For a brief moment I considered slapping myself across the face in an attempt to bring myself back into consciousness. Instead, I settled for covering my eyes with the palms of my hands, attempting to shield them from the sudden burst of air.
After only a moment of howling winds, everything was still, quiet too. I moved my hands, but only slightly before I caught sight of where I had been teleported to: my school. I finished my arms’ movement before I could see anything more than the blank hallways around.
I saw myself, along with Henry, talking near a hallway. It was the scene where I had hurt Pinkie, but she was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t hear anything more than faint ringings and swift movements, as if I had suddenly lost my hearing from some sort of blast, even though I was only a few yards away. It didn’t matter though. I didn’t need to hear any of it. I still remembered every word of it.
I watched in horror as I was the one in a rage, not Henry. I was the one who was furious, not Henry. Why was I so angry? so shockingly horrifying to look at? I had never meant to be, but it happened anyway. Why?
Pinkie then made herself known. I was so concerned with my expressions, I hadn’t even noticed that she had become present, just as before. Her bag dropped, the angry one turned, then she fled, tears falling to the ground. My face had since turned to the ground. She had every right to act the way she did, but did I? I threatened their happiness, for what? To help some girl I had only met a few days before.
I expected to awaken then, but there seemed to be more, for as the boy filled with rage stamped away, everything returned to darkness. I was left alone, nothing alongside me, save for my thoughts, which I wished were gone.
My expression twisted and gnarled into one of fury. But who was I angry with? Henry? I hadn’t been angry with him all day, even though he was in my mind for most of it. The strange, yet familiar lady from the field? She had no part in this. She was only a messenger of sorts. Then... it must have been myself. I was a fool for thinking I could ever have helped Twilight, or anyone else. What could I have done? I was just the quiet kid in the back of the classroom who did what he was told. I wasn’t a threat, or aid, to anybody.
Then the world swirled once more. I was fueled, ready for the next event that my mind could possibly force at me, except for one. I was in the treehouse with Rainbow Dash. She was lying on her back, the same as before, the other me on his back next to her.
The anger fled from my veins. Where it had gone I can never be sure, though I am infinitely happy for its departure. I watched as the two spoke, the ringing having found its home in my ears once more. Then the girl raised her fist in a mock threat. I smiled, so did the other me. Rainbow intrigued me. She seemed as if nothing would ever bother her, like nothing anybody could say or do could possibly get under her skin. I was jealous of that ability.
My thoughts were interrupted by the blaring of my alarm clock, which woke me from my slumber. I jumped up, my body soaked in sweat and my chest heaving. It still gets to me to this day, why I woke up in such a state, that is. I was by no means scared, or angry, after my last vision.
I cast any ill thoughts I had aside and went on with getting ready for school, though I was against going in every way imaginable. When I got on the bus, I decided to sit alone, away from Henry, and even Rarity, who decided it would be unkind of her to leave me be.
Not cushioning her intentions in the slightest, she forced me to the side of the seat and sat. “Hello, Sky. What happened yesterday?”
I looked at her and immediately thought about putting my headphones on, though I quickly realized how that would have impacted my situation. Instead, I settled for a simple, “Nothing. I just felt bad, so I asked a friend to take me home.”
She sat back against the seat a bit, her face scrunching just enough to show her disapproval of what I had just uttered. “Alright,” she said simply. “Well, I hope you feel better,” And with that, she went back to her own seat, though I hardly noticed.
I took the opportunity to put on some music, something loud and repetitive to drive away my thoughts. It did little to help, however, as a few glances in her direction revealed that I was under a certain girl’s watch.
----------------
The lady at the office was much more kind than I had figured she would be, giving me my bag and simply warning me against misplacing it a second time. I took it, thanked her, and went back to my table. Of course, Rarity and Fluttershy were there, but Twilight was also sitting there, eyes steadily running over pages in a book.
I sat beside Twilight, leaving Rarity and Fluttershy across from us. I must have broke Twilight’s concentration, because the next thing I heard was “Hello, Sky,” She didn’t seem at all concerned that I never returned the previous day.
“Hey, Twilight,” I looked towards Fluttershy and gave a simple raise of my hand to acknowledge her presence. From the smile she gave me afterwards, she didn’t seem to mind.
That was how the morning went, Twilight reading, Fluttershy and Rarity talking between each other, and me silently observing. I suppose it sounds a bit strange that my first thought was to observe my surroundings, looking back, but that was simply what I did when I was lost in thought.
First block went relatively slow. Fluttershy and I sat in our usual spots, leaving Henry to find a new spot. Of course, even looking at him sparked my anger, so I had no idea where he ended up sitting, nor did I particularly care.
Second block went even slower. Twilight and I spoke a bit, but not about anything in particular. We talked about the book she was reading that morning, but neither of us were planning on bringing up Jennifer, so neither of us did.
Lunch is what brought the highlight of the day. Applejack was already there when I sat down at the table. She had no food, so I simply assumed that anything in line wasn’t worth getting. “Hey, Sky. Have you seen Pinkie?”
She wasted no time in getting to the point. “No, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she didn’t come today,” I guess two could play at that game.
“How come?”
I thought about my answer carefully, but soon realized that any way I put it would sound terrible. However, I still withheld some information. “She overheard me talking to Henry. She heard me tell him to leave her alone, and I kind of... threatened him with it.”
“Sky...”
“I know, it was stupid. I just didn’t know what else to do! Henry is beyond hurting her, now Pinkie’s mad at me, and Twilight’s going to keep getting bullied, and-”
“Wait,” I hesitated, but stopped, only then realizing what I had just revealed. “What about a bully?”
My heart sank. I didn’t want anybody else to know. It was just supposed to be between Twilight and me, and she already didn’t want me to know. I sighed. “A friend of mine is getting bullied and Henry was supposed to help her get out of it.”
“Well, how is Henry supposed to help?”
“He used to date Jenni, the bully, and I told him that I’d turn him in if he didn’t break up with Pinkie and tell Jenni to leave Twilight alone.”
She paused, clearly thinking over her next choice of words. “I think your heart was in the right place, but what you did was the wrong way of doing things, Sky.”
I released another sigh. “I know, and now I...” I stopped, unsure of what to do, even in this situation.
“Look,” she started in a “matter-of-fact” kind of way, “I know you’re tryin’ to let everyone down easy, but if you want my opinion, you should just tell Pinkie the truth. The worst that could happen is that she won’t believe you, then you’re just back where you started.”
I’ll admit that it wasn’t going to be very fun, but she was right. The only thing I could do at that point was to tell Pinkie everything. It was her in the situation, after all. She had every right to know everything there was about Henry, and I didn’t intend to hold anything back. That is, until I became a bit uneasy about the whole idea, something that Applejack took notice of.
“Don’t worry,” she reassured me. “Pinkie’s a reasonable girl. She’ll at least listen to what you have to say,” And that she was.
After that was over and done with, we began talking about our classes, and general other happenings around the school. Applejack seemed to always be there when I needed someone to talk to. Albeit, many times I was forced to talk, but I didn’t mind it because I knew she would just listen, and only give advice where she knew to give it. I had to say that I admired that about her. Nobody else would do that for me.
The next class, I discovered that Pinkie really was at school. She was in her usual spot next to me, and, of course, it was very awkward sitting there. But there was no plausible explanation for me to sit anywhere else. Besides, I wouldn’t have wanted her to take any sort of offense to it.
Though I would have loved if it did, the world wasn’t going to stop on account of me. We had to work in partners that day, and with who else but with the person sitting next to us. We began in utter silence, something I can safely say I was far from comfortable with. After hearing her voice nearly every second of her company, it becomes a kind of routine, one that you never want to change. Sure, at times it could be a bit annoying, but in a good way, as in you would never ask for anything different.
We said little to each other throughout the rest of the class, only speaking when absolutely necessary. Of course, we were some of the first done, but that didn’t change anything. We simply sat there in silence until everyone else was done, at which point Chef pointed out the wrong-doings she saw, particularly that some of us didn’t communicate as much as we needed to, and I swore she looked directly at Pinkie and me as she said it.
The bell seemed to take its time with ringing, but I was one of the first out of the door, for a change.
So then came Gym. I went through the usual routine of changing and waiting in the gym, when I was surprised to see Rainbow come in and stride towards me. “Sky, please tell me you’ve already heard.”
I was, clearly, a bit shocked, as I was completely clueless as to what she was talking about. “Huh? Heard what?”
Rainbow groaned a bit and dragged me off to one side of the gym, almost literally, where nobody would hear us. “What is it?” I asked before quickly being cut off.
“You seriously don’t know?” she questioned before I shook my head. “Henry dumped Pinkie.”
My first thought was “That’s good, right?” However, I then remembered how Pinkie was acting only an hour before. “Wait, so how’s she taking it?”
Rainbow sighed. “Not well. But Henry kind of...” She trailed off.
“What?”
“He put all the blame off on you,” She broke eye contact for a second before admitting this, but our eyes quickly met again.
I was stunned for a moment, but I had to ask. “Well, how do you know all this?”
“Pinkie and I have a class together, and she told me. But don’t worry about it too much.”
I was taken by a bit of anger at that last comment. “How could I not worry about something like that?”
“Because Pinkie stood up for you,” I couldn’t believe what I heard. Why would Pinkie stand up for me like that? Luckily Rainbow caught on to my confusion. “I don’t really know all the details. She just told me the main points.”
I was, understandably, a bit taken back by this. Pinkie, the girl who only the previous day didn’t want anything to do with me, was now standing up for me. She was on my mind for the rest of class. I even lost by more than usual to Rainbow in our usual game, which happened to be basketball that day.
On the bus ride home, I was a bit happier than I had been all day. Rarity certainly took notice. “Have a good day?” She seemed to already know what happened.
I smiled. “Yeah, kind of. I just got some good news,”
Rarity smiled in return. “Oh, good,” She then proceeded to put on her headphones, completely blocking me out. It was a bit odd, but I ignored it for the most part, brushing it off to her having had a particularly tiring day.
I slept well that night, no strange dreams or anything of the sort, and being out of school the next day never hurt. After waking up, I took notice of the white envelope beside my alarm clock. It had been mocking me for nearly a week by that point, Sunday making it a perfect seven days. I left it alone, seeing as I was already in a good mood from the day before. I already suspected it was bad news, as there was no return address.
The day crawled by, at least until eleven o’clock, when my phone went off. I checked it, happy to see that Rarity and Fluttershy were out, and were curious as to whether or not I wanted to join them. I supposed it was a bit odd, as it sounded like just a girls’ day out, but, even still, they offered, so it would have been rude of me to decline, right?
I received another message a few minutes following that said, “Great! We’ll be there soon,” in addition to asking for my address.
‘Well, this is turning out to be a nice day,’ I thought as I prepared for my outing with the girls.