Since they had gotten back to Fluttershy's cottage at least an hour ago, Kevin had remained seated on the couch where Dash had dumped him, staring at the letter in his hands.
“...you're heavy, you know that?” The pegasus panted out. “What's she been feeding you...?” Wiping the sweat off her forehead with a front leg, Dash sat leaning against the wall to the left of the couch.
It had taken all of her strength to carry him away from the campsite and through the Everfree Forest all the way back to the cottage. Why she didn't bring him to Zecora's, Dash wasn't completely sure. No, actually, she knew exactly why.
Thinking back to two hours ago when she found Kevin screaming and bawling in the abandoned tent, the image of a terrified Fluttershy flying all over Equestria flashed through Rainbow Dash's mind. It wouldn't be fair to the other pegasus to have her go through all that a second time. Especially not when Dash had no idea where Fluttershy was in the first place.
The letter, which Dash took a glance of that was pinned tightly behind the diary Kevin held close to himself, was written in hue-men. Of course.
Rusty brown splatters adorned the interior. There was also a smell that she only came across whenever she had run-ins with carnivorous predators. That is, the smell of their devoured prey in their breath. It was faintly similar to Kevin's smell. A hue-men. The odors trapped within the tent reeked of decay as well as that of such a predator. But that was all perhaps from long ago.
Rainbow Dash looked back at the two legged creature sitting on the couch and drew only blank thoughts. She simply didn't know what to do.
Fluttershy was still out on her errand and none of the other animals were being particularly helpful. A few of them had left to go in search of the yellow coated pony but had yet to return. Kevin didn't even react when Angel tried to slap some sense into him...literally.
He just continued that vacant stare at the piece of paper that was written in a language Dash simply didn't understand.
A shiver rushed up her spine from both his eerie stare as well as a chill coming on from her still-wet coat. Dash shook her head and body to get rid of the excess water then stood up on her fatigued legs. If it weren't for the fact that she was heading to grab towels to wipe off a clearly traumatized creature, Dash would've felt proud for the fact that she probably demolished both her dead lift and long-distance carry records. Then she promptly smacked herself for even humoring those thoughts at a time like this.
---
Staring at the mostly dry letter in Kevin's hands for the past minute hadn't magically given Dash the ability to read the scrawls. Although it was better than seeing that devastated look in his eyes. The glass of water and plate of food she put together from what was left in the fridge remained untouched. In fact, Dash couldn't remember the last time either of them had eaten. Or when Kevin had even last blinked. She shuddered at the thought.
Opting instead to look through the diary left on the couch next to him, Dash stood on her hind legs and flipped through the pages with her forehooves, which had been persevered from the Everfree's unpredictable elements by the binding material. Again, it was all written in hue-men, but the organization of the scribbles and loops matched that of Kevin's own book. The one that contained notes and observations he made of Equestria. Although the lines and loops in this one looked much different than the statue currently sitting next to her. A different style.
Also differing from Kevin's journal were the amounts of drawings on several pages. Of landscapes and trees in various states during the seasons; of a bird; a plant; a flower in bloom.
As she flipped through several more pages of writing and drawings, of buildings and weird-looking carts and machines, a photo fell from between the pages and fluttered down to the floor at Kevin's feet.
“Oh! Sorry, dude.” Dash hurried to pick the photo up from the still damp floor and whipped it about between her hooves in an awkward attempt to dry it out. The image imprinted on the photo blurred from movement, as the several hue-men faces depicted wobbled about. There were two tall ones, a medium one and a smaller one. However, the smallest of the four hue-mens caught her eye. She stopped her shaking and brought the photo closer to stare at the smile that adorned the younger, pudgy-looking hue-men wearing a green and blue striped shirt and shorts. The four of them were at a beach, and all of them were barefoot.
Dash gulped at the smallest hue-men's face, recognizing it. Regaining her sense to breathe, the pegasus dared to confront Kevin's stare once more and felt her heart sink at the sight of his hollow-looking blue eyes. “It's...you...” She said as she turned the photo around and pointed at the pudgy boy in the photo with her hoof. “Kevin, this is you, isn't it?”
She saw his eyes move upward, away from the letter for the first time in almost an hour and aim toward the photo held between Dash's hooves. In another first, Kevin's eyelids closed and opened in a very drawn out blink before he resumed to staring. She became a bit self-conscious, being cast under his gaze as his eyes acted more like spotlights viewing some far off event than the photo she was holding up, but a set of fresh tears fell down his cheek.
Dash was surprised to find him reaching out to the photo to hold it with his own hand and she let him take it for a closer inspection.
Silence resumed once more, and Dash feared that Kevin had returned to his own thoughts when she heard his voice. “...yeah...” It sounded dry and scratchy and barely audible. The same as when he first woke up after his accident. “...it is.” His lips curled up into a sad smile, failing to uplift her spirits. “We were on vacation. That's my mom, my dad and...” he paused for a moment and lowered the photo, placing it on the couch atop the open diary. He looked toward Dash while offering a warm, contemplative smile.
“...say...I don't think I've ever told...any of you...about why I was in the woods when Fluttershy found me, did I...?”
Dash slowly shook her head. Kevin had let Fluttershy handle telling the story of how they met to the girls but thinking about it now, Dash realized he had never mentioned anything beyond “being lost”. He gave a bigger, lopsided smile, but somehow she didn't feel any more assured by it. Nonetheless she stayed quiet as his smile shrunk and he looked away, moistening his dry throat with a few sips of water upon finding the glass nearby. After setting the glass back down on the side table, he began his explanation.
“...about...six or seven years ago...my brother Liam left to go hiking...he had just graduated college. Got a degree in...uh...studying people...you would call it hue-men...pology...?” He paused to think about the proper term, but then continued. “He got a ton of job offers from all these important places but instead he decided to take a year off. And he just...went hiking around the country.
“I was eleven. I thought it was so cool, the idea of just...going off and not needing to worry about working or paying rent and bills like my parents had to all the time. Like everybody else did. Just living in a tent and sleeping under the stars.
“Every month we'd get a letter from some place he visited. Sometimes a postcard. He'd call us too, whenever he managed to. Though Liam usually reserved that for special days like Mother's or Father's Day. Or my mom's birthday. She was really happy he called, because we didn't get anything or hear from him just the month before...
“But even though it was nice to hear his voice...those letters of his that he sent home...they came with pictures he took and sketches he did and the way he wrote words together to describe what he saw and the people he met...made me wish I could do that too.”
“...He sounds really nice.” Dash noted.
“Oh, are you kidding?” Kevin scoffed with a slow, dry chuckle, then sniffled and rubbed his eyes with his arm. “When I was a kid he was always bossing me around and taking my things. Or breaking them. Growing up...we were like two rattlesnakes in a bag; always getting into fights.
“He lied all the time, too. Saying stuff like monsters lived under my bed, or that we weren't really brothers because mom and dad got me along with an umbrella they bought from some gypsy. I got him back a few times, though. Like this one time I got clear plastic wrap and put it around the door frame of his bedroom, and turned the lights off so he couldn't see it...and he walked into it...and he...he flailed around and screamed like a girl...” Kevin let out a laugh, but coughed from the dryness of his throat.
“Another time, just before he left, Liam asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. 'A skydiver', I said. Then...” he paused to choke back another laugh, “...then the jerk just started laughing...really loud. Which was really embarrassing because we were...I can't remember, like a museum or someplace that's supposed to be quiet so we got stared at...but also I remember blushing beet red because, I-I actually have a fear of heights.
“So for like, a full week he posted pictures...these photos taken from a high up viewpoint all over my room on the ceiling and the walls...and the house and...ugh, just looking at them made me feel so sick...I hated him so much for doing that...
“But he was always there when I needed him. I was never bullied at school because the other kids knew my brother. He was a legend. But he always threatened me to not think or act like I was someone special because of that...and made sure I never got too cocky...
“I can still remember the first time I fought back. To this day I still don't know why but he started this thing where he'd punch me in the arm at the beginning and end of his sentences whenever he talked to me and I was getting really angry about it. So this one time he did it and without warning I just whopped him in the face...and he never did that again.
“He'd still get rough with me after that, but...never to that extent. It became more playful somehow...I'd like to he respected me for standing up for myself because he started giving me advice more. I didn't mind the teasing as much because I figured out that...he was really just trying to toughen me up...”
It was Dash's turn to scoff and she shook her head. “Just sounds like bullying to me...”
“Yeah, but...even though he was a bully he was still my big brother...my best friend ...all of that in one.”
Dash blinked and noticed how Kevin's voice trailed off. “...what do you mean...was...?”
He remained quiet for a moment but then took a long deep breath and exhaled.
“About...ten months into his trip...we got a letter from Liam, saying that he had a very special surprise planned for my birthday. It was so obvious to me what it was because my birthday was just a couple of days before he was supposed to come back...but then my birthday came around, and Liam...didn't...then a couple of days passed.
“My parents got worried, but eventually figured he was just held up somewhere. He was able to take care of himself, and they trusted him since he went on long trips before. Meanwhile I was too busy planning this huge prank to get him back for being late. I don't even remember what it was anymore. But those days turned into weeks and even when my folks called the police those weeks turned into months until...the search was just called off...there were a bunch of leads but...”
Kevin stopped and clenched his jaw tight. His breathing was heavy. His nose was runny and his sniffles became more frequent. He made an exaggerated gulp then started again. “...for the longest time my parents only sort of paid attention to me. They were just so proud of my brother. Always showing off Liam's awards and trophies whenever guests came over. So they were devastated for a good number of years after they got the news. When I said I wanted to be a...humanpologist...two years ago, they got so excited and...it was weird how much more interest they started to have in me. How all of a sudden, they began to notice that I existed.
“They started to smile again. Not the fake ones they had when they told other people they were okay. Though they still got sad every year around the time they got the news, but they stopped shutting themselves in. I started reading from a lot of Liam's old books and I almost even moved into his old bedroom when they wanted to pack all of his stuff...but I didn't.
“I got so mad at them...I thought they were trying to make me into Liam but at the same time I thought...if I did that...it'd be like he never left...and they'd be able to find some sort of happiness...after graduating high school—I thought they'd never support me, but—I told them I wanted to go see the world before heading off to college. Get 'real world experience' to help me with my degree. I lied and said I'd be with other people. And they said...'yeah, go for it' and were really supportive. They must have figured 'hey, he has a calling box' or...I don't know...more likely they were in denial or something and so just like that, I left...
“At first I stayed away from all the places Liam went to. I actually brought the letters and postcards he sent to keep track of where not to go...I lost them in a river a few months back, but eventually I found myself off the highway around where he sent his last letter. A lot of the search was focused around that area and it even got into the big name newspapers and...um...the 'picture boxes' I told you about. And still there was just nothing. But I thought...if I went off the highway and into the forest...that I could find him...because we're brothers...and wouldn't you know it, I did...”
He cast a downward look once more toward the letter in his other hand.
Rainbow cringed at the thought of him closing himself off once more and quickly placed her hoof on his shoulder.
He glanced up at her, surprised by the sudden gesture. He was on the verge of more tears.
“I...” Her voice was shaky. Dash gulped and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She was supposed to assure him and yet she was about to cry. The pony shook her head at the thought and looked at him sternly eye to eye. She opened her mouth to say something, but...what was she supposed to say?
I'm sorry?
Cheer up?
At least you're still alive?
She happened to glance at the diary and photo on the couch next to him. “I know it won't make anything better, but here.” Dash craned her head toward her shoulder and unfurled her right wing. The pinch caused her to twitch but she turned back to him and offered him a feather.
He took it from between her teeth and looked it over, playfully brushing his finger against the side of it.
“I figure with, you know, your whole studying thing...you could use it...”
He gulped and smiled. “Thanks, Rainbow Dash. I really appreciate it.” Setting the feather down, he brushed his hand through her mane, in an almost grasping way and to her surprise he suddenly pulled her close into a tight hug. It had indeed taken her off guard but Dash softly brushed her hoof against the back of his head, similar to how he had just done so.
She could hear him sniffle every now and then, which was making her eyes a bit watery. The way they were hugging however made it difficult to bring her hoof close to wipe away her tears that threatened to fall onto his shoulder. But then his quiet sobs grew more noticeable and his arms grasping around her became much tighter, but Dash took it all in stride. “There, there,” she found herself saying in a soft, cracking voice. “Just let it all out...”
It didn't take long for him to cry himself to sleep. After placing the diary, photo and feather onto the side table, Dash helped lay Kevin onto his side on the couch. She then laid down next to him and placed her head onto his shoulder and draped her wing over his body. As she closed her eyes, she heard him let out a soft contented sigh.
---
Dash woke up on the couch, feeling cold.
“Kevin?” She asked softly, and realized she could not feel his body heat next to her. Immediately shooting up into a sitting position, Dash looked around the room, which was illuminated only by the pale moonlight that came in through the windows. “Kevin?”
Her eyes already well adjusted to the low light, Dash could not see anything beyond furniture and walls within the shadows. “Kevin!” Her hushed voice grew louder and more anxious.
She jumped off the couch and rushed from room to room, then bounded up the stairs with the help of her wings. He wasn't anywhere in the cottage.
The diary, photo and feather were missing from the side table. His bag and lamp and clothes were nowhere to be found either.
Fluttershy had yet to return home.
Feeling uneasy Dash bolted out the door and with heavy flaps of her wings she took off into the cool night air, rising higher and higher until she had a full panoramic view around her.
The sky was thankfully cloudless, letting the moon's light blanket everything. She took a deep inhale of breath and shouted at the top of her lungs “KEVIN!” The name echoed far and wide, but nothing changed the placid sounds of night.
Dash panted, hyperventilated not because of stress but of her ever growing anxiety. She gulped and began to fly, not knowing where to fly to.
“KEVIN!” She circled about in the sky, toward the part of the Everfree Forest close to the cottage, where just weeks ago Fluttershy had found her friend wounded. Dash had no such luck as she grew closer to the forest entrance but let instinct guide her through the trees as she flew in at low level.
Dash thought she spotted movement to her left then dove between two intersecting branches to catch it.
“Kevin!?” She screamed out at the shadowy movement ahead of her. The looming trees and warped shapes made it hard to distinguish the shadows, but even then, there was only one two-legged creature she knew that fit the silhouette profile. “Kevin!”
The solitary figure seemed to turn toward her voice as she approached, but then it appeared.
A blast of wind swirled through the forest, nearly causing Dash to collide into a tree. The turbulence made the gust more of a rapids composed of air, so unpredictable that even Rainbow Dash was unable to manage her wings to stay aloft. Dropping onto the forest floor, the pegaus was forced to pin her wings tightly against her sides to minimize the chance of being swept away by the torrent.
“-----!” Dash could barely even hear her own voice over the wind. Keeping her head low as she struggled to walk forward, she couldn't believe her eyes as the silhouette ahead of her seem unaffected by the forceful gusts. “KEV-IN!” Dash had to narrow her eyes as she screamed out again but was nearly blinded by a flash of light. The pegasus reeled from the intensity and suddenness of the light , almost making her lose focus against the wind, thrown up onto her hind legs.
Growling out Dash forced her way back onto all four hooves and moved to the side to hide somewhat behind a nearby tree.
“AROOOOOOO”
A low intense roar began to emanate from the source of wind and light as Dash moved upwards, using the barren trees as cover. “Get away from him! You're not gonna eat him too! Not on my watch!”
“AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
The monster roared again and Dash struggled against the torrential winds that threatened still to throw her away. She wrapped her forelegs around the next tree trunk ahead of her and held on with all of her strength. “KEVIN!” Her voice strained to shout out under the monster's howl and the force of the wind.
Stepping in front of the light and the wind, Kevin was facing her. She saw now that he was leaning against a large stick to support his weight.
She couldn't hear his voice but only saw his lips move. “Thanks, Rainbow Dash.”
When the wind and the light disappeared, so did Kevin.