Trixie stared at Dark, while Dark stared back at her through his black helmet. Twilight, who was still asleep, moved in her sleep, either disturbed by the voices of Trixie and Dark or her own dreams. Dark had no idea who Anim was, but whoever Anim was… he seemed to be a very important pony toward Twilight and Trixie… so important that he was a martyr for Equestria… but how come Twilight never mentioned this Anim pony toward Dark. That’s when Dark remembered, when he first met Twilight, she asked if he knew somepony by the name of Animatorsnake… why would Dark know a pony by that name, nevertheless why did Twilight ask him? “Not to be rude… but who’s Anim?” asked Dark.
Trixie sighed, as she stood from her seat, and moved to the opposite of the train cart from where Dark sat. As she stared out the window, she continued to speak… still not using her name, and using words like, “I, me, myself,” and so forth. “Anim was the first being to ever come to Equestria… from another world,” said Trixie.
Dark who was somewhat shocked, continued to listen not interrupting Trixie once. “He was honest… kind… loyal… generous...an excellent unicorn… and I suppose, a good sense of humor,” said Trixie, smiling. “He did always made some way to make myself and the everyone else with him laugh. Anim didn’t had any hidden intentions… he was simply lost, and he yearned from friendship… or maybe something more.”
Trixie turned to face Dark, realizing that she was crying this whole time. Even though more tears continued to flow down her face, she didn’t make any noise, not a whimper, not a sniffle… nothing. “He was my friend… her friend,” said Trixie, looking at Twilight. “He didn’t care what happened to him… he lived for so long… seen things nopony… nobody could ever comprehend… Anim would the one hero Equestria… will never know,” said Trixie, keeping in her tears as best she could.
Before Dark could respond, Trixie ran and left the train cart, entering the one further ahead. Now alone with a sleeping Twilight, Dark sighed and left Trixie to herself. He then turned down toward Twilight, who continued sleeping through this whole ordeal. “You must be having one nice dream to not hear us...” said Dark. “Sweet dreams.”
As Twilight slept, she dreamed… her being in Ponyville… but something felt different. Opening her eyes, she found herself inside her library… which was destroyed by Tirek. Surprised to find herself inside her old home, she realizes something. Looking at herself from a nearby mirror, Twilight sees she has no wings, which means… she was back being a unicorn again. Now ponies who dreamed could tell they were in a dream, and Twilight knew she was in one. But for some reason she wanted the dream to last… but she also wanted it to end… why would she want a dream that seemed this peaceful to end?
Twilight then heard a knock on the door, heading downstairs, she found nopony on the other side… except a piece of paper. The slip of paper looked familiar but Twilight couldn’t put together where she seen it before. The paper then flew onto her face, and after levitating it off her face, she noticed a note written on it. The note says, “Come to the empty cliff, with the two lonely trees… an old friend is waiting.”, after reading the letter… it gave Twilight shivers down her back. She wasn’t sure where this letter wanted to lead her… that’s when she saw it. It was small but it glowed bright enough for her to notice… it was a white light, floating harmlessly in mid-air. For some reason, Twilight felt a warmth of memory… a memory she didn’t want to let go. Twilight followed the light, not realizing the warnings that go by her.
As she trotted down the path and followed the light, she noticed strange symbols and words… but they all had some meaning that Twilight knew… or maybe, something she didn’t want to remember. Turn back. What you will find is pain. Why must you insist on continuing. Do not follow the light. In the end… The warnings were jumbled up and confusing… but there was one phrase that caught her eye than the rest… and this word made her heart stop. He, is, gone.
At first Twilight stopped, then continued to trot but as slow as a crawl. When thought appeared in her head, it shook her being… What could it have meant… who was gone? Twilight did not knew but yet… she felt she die. The town was empty, not a single soul spotted, only her and the strange light that led her to her destination. After following the light for a while, the light vanished and before her was the location she was brought to… the second she saw it… she froze.
She stood in front of a cliff, and below was a large valley, thousands and thousands miles deep. In the distance were two mountains, and an endless forest that seemed to stretch forever. The sun was setting or was it rising? There stood two lonesome trees on the cliff, with the nearest trees being some meters away… but that’s when she saw it. Between the two trees and near the edge of the cliff… was a wooden cross, sticking out of the dirt. Twilight knew what was the cross’s purpose and who’s it was… she knew the pain, the suffering it showed. The cross was a reminder to her… to somepony that wanted nothing more than to protect his friends… for his whole life this pony was alone… an immortal curse cast down on him. Twilight didn’t wanted to be here… she didn’t wanted to be here the slightest. Turning around she began to trot away… until, she heard a voice.
Why must you strive toward a dead memory? He will never come back… must I make that clear to you.
Twilight wasn’t sure where the voice was coming from but it sounded like it was coming from all directions. “Who’s there?” said Twilight, looking at all directions.
You don’t know me… I’m just… how you say… “the truth”. He is gone and will never come back, don’t make this difficult for yourself… just give up.
“Give up? On what, just what exactly do you mean?” asked Twilight.
Why him that’s who I’m referring to.. but of course you can’t comprehend who I am talking about… I’m speaking about Anim.
Twilight kept still not responding… not wanting to hear what this voice had to say. It wasn’t that the voice was lying… it was just that it was too painful to listen. Anim is dead and you know it… you saw it, EVERYPONY DID! Even Trixie knows it, and you don’t see her wanting to see the dead again, now do you? Return to the castle, go back being a princess, and quit wasting your life chasing a hopeless dream! Must you cause pain toward your friends… the princesses… your family?...He wouldn’t want this… Anim wouldn’t want…
That’s when Twilight snapped. “WHAT DO YOU KNOW!? YOU KNOW NOTHING, NOTHING! ANIMATORSNAKE WAS MY FRIEND, HE AND I MAY NOT HAVE BEEN CLOSE LIKE TRIXIE, OR LUNA, OR MINA! BUT HE WAS SOMEPONY SPECIAL TO MY HEART, SO DON’T YOU EVER SAY THINGS HE’D EVER SAY!” screamed Twilight, her ferocity in her voice growing.
Twilight felt the anger in her voice… manifesting to a powerful flame. This has happened to her before once, when she was figuring out how her friend Pinkie, Pinkie Sense worked. Engulfed in flames, her eyes red with burning rage, she would of tore this bodiless voice to smithereens… if it weren’t for the voice lacking a body of course. Hopelessly screaming and flailing her arms, Twilight shot out one or two blasts of magical energy toward the sky in frustration. When tiring herself out… the voice spoke once more… but with something that both frightened and made her doubtful.
Well then… why don’t you ask him yourself?
Suddenly for some unexplained reason she knew the voice wouldn’t respond again… but why? Her reason may come more quicker than expected… for she felt a familiar aura… and voice behind her. “Hey Twilight, long time no see.”
Twilight kept on standing there… it felt like eternity for her. She then had the courage to turn around and see… she wished she didn’t had the courage to see. Staring right at her was the last pony she wanted to see… but it was also the one pony she’s been searching for. Like a ghost or a distant memory, it all felt fake to her… all senses felt like they were lying to her… nevertheless she ran forward and lunged herself at the pony.
“It’s good to see you too,” said Anim, chuckling. “You sure did miss me didn’t you.”
Twilight didn’t want to speak, she kept on holding on tighter and tighter… His scent was the same since the day they met. Every feeling she felt, every emotion that came flooding within her wanted to burst into a flood of an emotional tidal wave. Tears swept her face, wetting both her, Anim, and the grass beneath her hooves. She wanted this to last forever… it didn’t matter if it was a dream… she just wanted it to last forever… just a little longer… but things don’t always go her way.
One moment in her hooves was Anim… the next… nothing. It was so sudden, she fell to the ground, muzzle first. For a dream it felt pretty painful… but it wasn’t the pain that worried her… it was the sudden realization that everything was lie… the dream was a lie, the Anim she saw, touched, heard was a lie… all of it was lie. Was this what the voice wanted to tell her… that everything is a lie, and striving forward to a false truth would lead to nothing but painful memories, and despair… it didn’t matter. Twilight kept her face into the “fake” grass, staining it of her tears, not wanting to move, not wanting to wake up from this torturous dream… not wanting to even live… not wanting to live… not… living.
She slowly raised her head, then her gaze, she stared at the edge of the cliff. The two trees were gone, the wooden cross was gone, the sun was gone, even the two mountains were gone. All that was around her, was the grass, the cliff, and the eternal drop below. She had not wings… and she has no knowledge in using any advanced levitation spells that would allow her a small chance of flight of any kind. The dark, deep valley looked more of a blessing than an endless drop… she kept staring… and staring, and staring, and staring… then gone.
Just like that, Twilight stepped off the cliff, and began to fall down the valley… quicker as time passed… she thought it last forever, but she saw the drop… and knew what would happen, splat. That would be the end to Twilight… she wished it was this easy… it’s just a dream, it’s not like she would die or anything, she would just wake up in the train, and sitting beside her would be Dark and Trixie. It be that simple… it always was… it was simple for her to forget Anim’s death… this was simple too… if she weren’t lying to herself.
She knew that the death of Anim caused more of impact than everypony had first imagined, to others Twilight seemed perfectly fine… but her friends saw through her facade. Spike had some knowledge of how Twilight felt… but to go as far as… “that”… well, nopony expected this of Twilight. Maybe when she was a unicorn it be possible but she was an alicorn princess, indeed there was the stress but there were benefits. It didn’t matter anymore, whether she was an alicorn or Princess Celestia’s personal apprentice… Anim was whole another story. He was “special”, he was more of a friend… to be honest Twilight may had feelings for him… but she knew that it wouldn’t work out with him. Back then she was bookworm unicorn, who herself was learning how to make friends and what friendship truly means. Anim was a being from another world, who was also immortal, a skilled unicorn, honest, loyal, generous, kind… and maybe his jokes were funny at times, and he never would let down a friend… ever. Now look where Twilight was… she’s an alicorn, the highest thing you could ever accomplish to be… while Anim was dead… or was a state-of-death, in which his return would take years… maybe even a century to pass.
Nothing mattered… neither her, this dream, nothing… for the last months after his death, Twilight was in despair… so much that she held it in which only made things worse. Now… she was actually thinking of… “this”… of suicidal thoughts. It was a dream… the drop was only a few meters away, and no harm was coming to her, to anypony at all… that’s when she heard a voice. It wasn’t the voice she heard before… it sounded familiar… too familiar… and too close.
Twi...light...Twi...light...Twili...ght...Twiligh...t...Twilight…Twilight. Twilight. Twilight. Twilight! Twilight! Twilight! TWILIGHT!
And then… she woke up. “TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT, WAKE UP!” shouted Dark, shaking Twilight viciously.
Now Twilight had some rude awakenings before… but Dark was probably the most rudest… and dead in Twilight’s thoughts. The second her eyes were fully open, and she had full control of her body… the firs thing Twilight did… was stare at Dark, and began to strangulate him with her hooves… which again… was inefficient. “WHY DID YOU WAKE ME UP!? I WAS ABOUT TO… to… WELL I WAS DOING SOMETHING!” screamed Twilight, exploding in a fury of rage… or annoyance.
After Twilight settled down, quicker too since Dark had grabbed both her hooves around his neck, and placed on her sides. Twilight realized she was sitting up and not laying down on the seat, which meant Dark lifter her to a sitting position… but how come… not to mention… Dark seemed… freaked out. Not freaked out like how he and Twilight were chased by Luna and her guards… like as if Dark almost saw somepony die… what was his deal. Well after Twilight calmed down Dark spoke… real quickly too… and worried, really worried.
“Holy mother of the deities! You were… ‘this’ close to… well… you were close,” said Dark, frantically.
“What in Equestria are you spatting about?” asked Twilight. “What was I so close to?!”
“TO DEATH YOU IDIOT!” shouted Dark, nearly scaring Twilight.
When Twilight heard Dark mention death… she thought Dark was reading her thoughts, so in result to what he said, Twilight asked a simple question. “Were you… were you reading my mind?” asked Twilight. Twilight was grossed out by the idea of reading or seeing others dreams… well unless it was Luna, it was her responsibility to do this, but when somepony else does it… then it feels slightly awkward.
“What? NO! I mean, when you were asleep you were shaking, like shaking really badly. I thought you were having a nightmare… until I heard a loud thumping noise, at first I thought it might have been the train. However when the thumping got louder, I looked around where it was coming from… that’s when I found out the noise was coming from you. So I placed you into a sitting position, placed my head on your chest to where I assumed where your heart was… and yeesh, your heart was going really quick, not to mention loud. It felt like somebody turned on the hyper-drive for your heart or something… that’s when I did a scan on you… when I began to freak out,” said Dark, showing a device with a pony on it. “This device allows me to scan a being’s bio-information. It even works as a translator where I can… I’m getting out of track, but as I was saying. So I scanned you and when I look at your information… that’s when I saw this.”
When Dark showed Twilight’s information, she thought this was silly what Dark was saying to her… that’s when she saw what was on the device. There were a bunch of symbols and numbers and such… but she saw a heart symbol, and beside it said, 200 beats per second. Twilight’s heart was that fast! Something that quick would of killed her, but since she was an alicorn maybe it allowed her to live… but after seeing such a high number… it only made it worse for Twilight. The small device made a beeping noise, as a light shrouded Twilight, and made another affirmative beep. Looking back what the device said, the two were shocked what they saw, Twilight’s heart was now producing 300 beats per second now! Twilight was hyperventilating now, and she could hear her own heart now. Twilight was in a frenzy panic, clutching her heart as her eyes began to pop out, bloodshot. That’s when Dark grabbed Twilight into a hug, it surprised her but Twilight began to slowly calm down… for some reason this worked out so well… Twilight felt her heart began to a crawl, Dark’s voice helped too as he tried his best to be soothing… which was efficient.
“Hey, hey… no need for that. Just… calm down… I don’t want you to have a heart attack, so just… shhhh,” said Dark. Dark petted her mane, and sometimes her tail, which sort of made her uncomfortable, but Twilight simply nuzzled a little around Dark’s arms, and closed her eyes and breathed in and out… as her breathing began to slow down. Once they were both sure everything was fine, Dark let go… except, Twilight continued to nuzzle a little… which now made Dark felt awkward. “Uhhh, Twilight… you can stop now,” said Dark.
“Oh, s-s-sorry… I just...” said Twilight, quickly moving to the other seat opposite of Dark.
The two sat awkwardly apart from one another. It wasn’t because Twilight nearly had heart explode… but because of the sudden “moment” the two had awhile ago. Twilight kept looking out the window while Dark… well Dark did whatever distracted him, which was anything. However when Twilight looked outside, she realized instead of the desert scenery she saw when they left the station, all their surroundings was either plains or some mountains here and there. “Uh, Dark… where are we?” asked Twilight.
“Oh right I forgot. Well since the train we took is directly going to Manehattan, which meant the train won’t stop until we reach this city you and Trixie mentioned...” said Dark. Dark kept quiet again after he mentioned Trixie. Did something happen when she was sleeping with Dark and Trixie? Curiosity taking over her, Twilight decided to look at Dark and ask what happened when she slept.
“Did something happen when I was sleeping?” asked Twilight.
At first Dark didn’t respond… but he then looked at Twilight and sighed. “Well, she asked me something about why you were here and all… I didn’t understand what she meant… but she sounded so… serious and worried. She also kept talking without using her name and instead used ‘I’ or ‘myself”. Not to mention, she kept talking about something about… a ‘promise’ you made to somepony called...” said Dark.
“Anim… it was Anim I made the promise too,” said Twilight, interrupting Dark. Twilight never thought Trixie would become suspicious and put two together that Twilight helped Dark escape Canterlot, because she wanted to see Anim again. Twilight felt bad and ever worse after the death of Anim… but she couldn’t say something like this in front of her friends… nevertheless Trixie. She just wanted an excuse or maybe a way to see Anim… but that would never come true, and most of all she’s practically using Dark for such a selfish reason. “Look… Dark… maybe I shouldn’t have freed you… that maybe this isn’t worth all it should have been. You can go ahead with Trixie… I’ll return to Ponyville and bring myself forward to the authorities and...”
“Shut… the hell… up… YOU THINK IT’S GOING TO BE THAT EASY FOR YOU TO GIVE UP LIKE THAT!” shouted Dark, slamming his fist to the side of the train. Since the train was empty, with only her, Dark, Trixie, and the train engineers, the train echoed the sound of Dark hitting the train, as a thunderous noise spread out across the cart they were in. Twilight was startled by Dark’s sudden response to what she said… she thought Dark thought she was abandoning them, but really she didn’t wanted to be a bother to Trixie or him.
“Wait, Dark, I just think that you two would do better without me and...” said Twilight.
Dark placed both his hands on Twilight, shaking her for a few seconds then, whacking her forehead with a single finger. It hurt but it wasn’t “AHHHH THAT HURT!”, it was more like “Ow…”… wait why am I explaining this? “Don’t be stupid, I don’t think your worthless. Your instincts are at the right place, but don’t give up hope so easily… I may not know who this… Anim character is, but it’s my privilege to help out anyone, whether their human, robot, or a pony. For my entire life I had no idea who I was… or what I am… but I never gave up hope!” said Dark, placing one hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “Have faith… on yourself… on your friends and allies. Wherever we go, we’ll work as a team, and face any obstacle… now… try not to feel sorry for yourself, and stay strong.”
Twilight just was amazed from how easy Dark was able to cheer anypony up… that… it reminded her a lot of Anim. She shook her head and smiled, with the determination to keep on going. “I may have been an alicorn for a few months, but I’ll fight for my friends and family!” shouted Twilight.
“Atta girl… now… you uh, mind helping me with… finding Trixie. She kind of ran off to who knows where, I don’t want her hurting herself or anything,” said Dark, back to his usual dumbfounded tone. Twilight sighed and nodded with helping. So once Dark and Twilight searched every cart they could enter, they couldn’t find Trixie. After two or three carts later, they enter one cart which was the train’s luggage room… they heard sobbing. The sobbing came from behind some boxes in the back, and deciding to look they found a blue unicorn bawling under her cape. Dark moves the cape and finds Trixie, her nose all runny from crying who knows how long, her eyes wet as well as her face and cape, her hat was okay, but her mane was all frazzled and messy. Twilight sits down beside her while Dark kept standing.
“Hey Trixie… you okay?” asked Twilight.
“What does it look like to you...” said Trixie, sniffing. “I’m not okay, I feel terrible.”
“Look… I know I made a promise to… ‘him’ and I know what I’m doing isn’t what he would of wanted...” said Twilight.
“THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE! HE MAY HAVE BEEN SOMEPONY SPECIAL TO ME, BUT HE CARED FOR YOU AND THE OTHERS LIKE FAMILY! DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE FOR SOMETHING THIS STUPID!” shouted Trixie, her voice hoarse. Trixie then began to cough, it sounded even worse than imagining what her coughing felt like. Trixie tried her best to not cry but she continued, whether it was because of the dust in the cramped space, or the emotional breakdown she was having now.
Twilight had no idea what to say to Trixie, she had no right to say anything to Trixie… at of anypony she lost the only, ONLY pony who ever cared for her existence. However she knew how much Trixie in turned loved and cared for Anim… in her own special way. All Twilight could of done for Trixie… was say she was sorry. “I’m sorry I was an idiot… that I broke a promise to the one friend… that we both lost. But I still believe, there’s a way we can find him… bring him back… I want to cling to some hopeful chance there is a way for him to come back to us… For now all we can do… what you can do… is not lose hope of yourself,” said Twilight. “Don’t give up on yourself… you know Anim wouldn’t that to happen to you… he wouldn’t want you to go back to that lonely unicorn anymore.”
Trixie wanted to shut Twilight out… but… she was right. Trixie calmed down, and after some tissues, and carrying later, everyone returned to their cart. Trixie rested, Twilight watched the window… Dark… he watched both the mares before him. Even though he was a complete stranger, he had no idea what these two had gone through… but for some reason he felt like the situation they were in… almost reminded him of something… something from his past. When all was quiet, a small voice perked up. “Trixie… Trixie is sorry, for acting like a filly back there… Trixie promises to keep herself together. Trixie won’t give up… not ever again,” said Trixie.
Even thought Twilight seemed to focus on the scenery outside… a smile crept onto her. Dark too was happy, he never wanted to see anyone in such a state like that, ever again… unknowing to him, he seen something like that before.
As time passed, both Trixie and Twilight slowly fell asleep, it was good sense too since it was dark already… possibly 7:00pm. Though even it was becoming evening, Dark was still awake; indeed he was a soldier, but Dark had realized he haven’t slept for days now… now that he thinks of it… how long and what date was it now? Either way, it was dark and it would become darker… especially where they were going to.
The train arrived to it’s destination, Manehattan. Since Dark, Twilight, and Trixie were the only passengers inside, they embarked… well Dark embarked. The two mares were sleeping and Dark couldn’t wake them at all… they must of tired themselves out from all the drama that happened on their way to Manehattan. Nevertheless, Dark had to carry both the girls, and Trixie’s wagon, the train however left… heading to some train dock for the conductors to rest or something. With Dark left under the grim light of a nearby lamppost, with two sleeping mares, and a wagon at tow… this wasn’t how Dark expected to start off his first visit to a foreign city, now did he.
Looking around to where to stay, most of the nearby buildings were completely dark, though some buildings had their lights on. Which meant only buildings or shops that work best at night were still active… but Dark wouldn’t attempt to enter any of this buildings… he was after all an escaped criminal, not to mention something that looks like came out of a nightmare of some sort… well for this ponies of course. Deciding to find somewhere for him and his friends to stay… one “particular” spot, was free for them to stay… so, he headed off and rested. Well maybe not rest, his friends did… he watched the dense darkness… protecting himself and his companions from what he considered, the unknown.