//------------------------------//
// The Storm 
// Story: A New World 
// by Dream Searcher 
//------------------------------//

I stood again in that large field from a week ago, it was the exact same spot. I looked around, farm: check, village: check, forest: check, wolf: oh no, not again. I saw Rainbow going to the forest. “Not this time”, I told myself. I sprinted towards Rainbow and grabbed her, running as far away from the wolf as possible. I managed to save her, but then I saw that large white pony with her long mane.

“Give my pony back.” She yelled and flew after me. I ran as fast as I could, sometimes looking behind me, only to see that she was getting closer to me. Like the clumsy person I am, I tripped over a rock while letting go of Rainbow. She fled and I laid on my back. The white pony landed in front of me. “Now you die.” She pushed her horn in my chest and again everything went black.



*****



I immediately awoke, but I couldn’t move my arms, Rainbow was holding them. I was covered in sweat and I looked at her, her face had a very worried expression. She let go of my arms and laid herself on my chest.

“I had to hold you, it seemed that you were having a spasm. Did you have that dream again?” I moved my hands through her mane, I knew this dream had to mean something, otherwise it wouldn’t return. After I calmed down, I spoke.

“Yes, thanks for holding me.” She just shook her head.

“This time it seemed much worse, I want to know the dream. It would get better if you would just tell me.” She looked at me, her beautiful pink eyes had the ‘please’ look. I moved my hand over her back and began, but I didn’t know how she was going to react.

“Well, I stood in a field, a farm to my left, a village just in front of me and behind me a forest. In the forest is a wolf, it’s made of timber and there’s a pony walking near the forest, that pony is you.” Her eyes widened a bit, but I continued with my story. “In the first dream I walked towards you, but you didn’t see and hear me until I you were just in front of me. You looked up at me and ran away, towards the forest and the wolf. I saw the wolf sprinting towards you. I screamed, but I was too late, it had already grabbed you and dragged you into the forest. Then, a large white pony/horse landed next to me, she pushed me on the ground and pressed her horn against my chest, everything went black.”

“Oh my.” That was all she could say, her look changed to a shocked look and her hoof was in front of her mouth.

“Wait, now comes the second dream. The second dream was in the same place, the wolf was there and so were you. I decided not to risk it again and just sprinted towards you, I grabbed you and ran away with you under my arm. But then came that white horse/pony, she wanted you back. I tripped and landed on my back, you fled. The white horse/pony came towards me and said I was going to die, then she pushed her horn in my chest, actually killing me, after that the dream ended.” Rainbow was silent for 10 seconds before she finally spoke.

“Well, I think that white alicorn is Princess Celestia, but why you have that dream, I don’t know. We should ask Twilight later this day, but for now let’s get some sleep.” Instead of just lying on her normal side of the bed, she snuggled very close to me and put her wings over me. I thought this dream couldn’t be good news, and, not wanting to think anymore about it, I pulled Rainbow closer to me and drifted again into a sleep.



*****



Rainbow and I stood before Twilight’s door, our morning was a normal morning, waking up, showering, breakfast and getting ready for the day. However, today everything was earlier than normal. Rainbow wanted answers, even if she had to wake her friend. She knocked on the door and kept knocking until she saw Twilight coming down the stairs, with an expression that could kill people. She opened the door and Rainbow ran inside, I followed.

“Rainbow, it’s 6AM. There are some people who still want to sleep.” I looked at Twilight, she was very pissed. Rainbow just sat on the couch and began talking.

“Jack has some dreams that always return, normally this is nothing to worry about, but the strange thing is he dreams about me killed by a timber wolf, Princess Celestia killing him and somehow this all takes place in Equestria, but he’s never seen Equestria, so how can he know how it looks?” Rainbow was freaking out. Twilight looked at me, she was studying me.

“Lie down.” That was all she said, I just did what she wanted me to do and lay down on the ground. She came towards me and pressed her horn against my head, she was searching for the dream. After 5 minutes she broke contact, she shook her head.

“I don’t know what the dream means, the only thing I can deduct is that something is going to happen, it can be something good or something bad.” She looked exhausted, it seemed that diving into my dream had taken quite the energy. Just when she was about to pass out, I grabbed her and went with her upstairs. Spike was still sleeping and Twilight was at the edge of unconsciousness. I laid her in bed and put the blanket over her, she immediately slept. I went downstairs and motioned Rainbow that we were going to leave. It was then that we bumped into Applejack.

“Hey Jack, ah was just searchin’ for you. There’s a storm comin’, ah can feel it, but ah need help with picking the apples before the storm is here.” She looked nervous.

“Fine by me. Rainbow, delay the storm as long as you can, I will help Applejack.” Rainbow showed a salute and flew away.

“That’s mighty nice of ya. Now come, we don’t have much time.” And so we both ran towards her farm. She didn’t have as much apple trees as in Equestria, but there were at least 50 apple trees, this was going to take some time. 

With the calculations in my head, I figured we had about 2 hours to pick every apple before all hell broke loose. We worked as fast as we could and when the storm arrived we still had to pick 15 apple trees. I saw Rainbow flying towards me.

“Well, the storm’s here. Can I help?” She landed next to me.

“Do you really have to ask?” I replied sarcastically. She pointed her tongue at me and got to work. She picked the apples I couldn’t reach. I looked at Applejack, her sweat was merging with the rain. I looked behind her, streams of mud and water were forming. If don’t hurry we would be caught in a muddy swamp, this was one hell of a storm.

After five minutes the storm grew in size and strength. The wind became harder and there was more rain, but there was one positive thing, we were busy with the last tree. But then came the inevitable, a large branch broke loose from a tree and hit Rainbow on her back, breaking her left wing. She fell down and splashed into the mud. I immediately rushed over to her, she was crying from pain.

“Aaahh… it hurts.” I had never seen her in so much pain, I felt really sorry for her.

“Shh…” I comforted. “Applejack, I’m going home, Rainbow needs medical attention.” Applejack nodded, every apple had been picked. I took Rainbow and placed her over my shoulder, like with a baby. I had never run so hard in my life, Rainbow was still screaming in pain. 

Rainbow and I were completely drenched when we arrived home, but that didn’t matter, all that mattered was helping Rainbow. I placed her on the bed, she screamed less, but she was still in pain. I grabbed my first aid kit and took out a stick, some bandages and some tape. I touched her wing and she almost bit me. I looked at her.

“Rainbow, please. I’m going to help you, just calm down.” She gave me an angry look.

“Easy for you to say, you didn’t break something.” She growled back.

“No, but I did get shot. Trust me, I know in how much pain you’re in.” That shuts her up. I touched her wing again, but she stayed calm.

I placed the stick under her left wing, so she couldn’t pull it to her side. Once the stick was in place, I wrapped it up in bandages and to make sure everything stayed that way I taped it. I took her up and placed her on the ground. She looked at her wing and tried to move it a little, but it didn’t move, I was proud of my work. It was a little inconvenient to move around the house with an extended wing, but she managed to maneuver through the house. Then it was time to wash her, she couldn't do it herself, because otherwise she could hurt her wing. I washed her and she didn't feel embarrassed, she trusted me, after 10 minutes she was as clean as a pony can be. When it was time for bed, we had a problem. It was hard to sleep in a bed with a Pegasus who’s wing easily occupies the whole bed. 

“I’ll sleep on the couch, you can have the bed.” I said to her, we were both standing in the bedroom. I looked at her, she was shaking her head and smiled at me.

“No, I want you near me, when I’m with you, I feel safe. Even now with the wing, I screamed in pain, but you just kept your cool and patched me up and I’m very grateful for that. So, don’t you have a cot or something? I need you near me.” Her words made me blush a little, but she spoke from her heart.

“ Maybe in the garage, I think my father’s army cot is somewhere over there.” 

I left the bedroom and went to my garage, my garage was a mess. After 5 minutes of throwing stuff around I found my father’s cot. Memories began flooding my mind, memories of when he played baseball with me when I was 10 or the memories when he taught me how to ride a bike and then came the memory of the day that I received a letter that said that my father had died for his country. My mom was broken by it and on one night, when I was 16, she was driving home and she committed suicide by driving off a bridge, leaving me alone. I’m just 18, but I’ve seen many people pass away. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I returned to the bedroom with the cot. Rainbow was looking at me.

“What took you so long… Did you cry? I put the cot down and sat on the bed. She sat next to me.

“I… just relived some memories, when my father was still here.” I said, looking down. My vision towards the ground was interrupted by two pink eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry. You said that he died in a war?” She kissed me on the cheek and rested her head on my shoulder.

“He died in Iraq, he and his squad were ordered to attack some Iraqi soldiers in a building. They didn’t know the building was full with soldiers, it was a massacre.” A tear dropped on the ground, another tear wanted to fall, but Rainbow placed her hoof on my cheek and wiped the tear away. I looked at her and smiled at her. We both leaned in and gave each other a kiss. After 10 seconds we broke the kiss.

“I’m sure he smiles from the afterlife, because you found happiness.” She smiled at me.

“I think you’re right.” With that I got up and placed the cot next to the bed, as close as possible to her. I went to the bathroom and changed into my pyjamas, I took a blanket and placed it on the cot. Rainbow was already under her blankets. I did the same, only I needed to lie on a cot. When I was finally lying comfortably, she extended her right fore hoof to me, which I gladly accepted, so that way we would still have a connection. I really had one special girlfriend.