Eight

by ThunderChaserCreate

Soarin's Shining Moment *Soarin*

Honestly, it was hard to form an opinion on the Doctor. He was stuck between being really cool and being a complete idiot. To be frank, he was probably the worst alien in the universe. To be honest, I didn't like the way Rainbow Dash was acting around him.

Normally, Rainbow just wanted to whup the flank of anypony that challenged her. In the presence of the Doctor, however, she was not as much competitive as she was eager to please. She kept acting like she wanted to impress him, trying to be the hero or the best or the bravest. And, when it was only the three of us like this, I was left feeling a bit like a third wheel. If I was her coltfriend, why was she attached at the hip to the Doctor?

In fact, at the moment, Rainbow had taken an unprecedented lead, hovering bravely in front of the Doctor's jaunty steps. I plodded a bit behind them, trying to stop myself from feeling so inadequate and failing rather miserably.

"What's that?" Rainbow asked out of the blue. She squinted into the mist, but I couldn't see anything. "Lemme do a fly-by and check it out."

"Hm?" the Doctor was pried out of deep thought. "Oh, yes. Yes, fine."

"B-be careful, Dash!" I called after her, though she didn't seem to notice. I snorted gently in a sigh.

The Doctor, who had already slipped back into his contemplation, looked up at me. He stared at me, looking me up and down, before murmuring, "You really like her, don't you?"

"W-well--"

"Why are you upset with me, Soarin?"

"I--"

"Don't deny it, I know that look you have in your eyes. I've seen it one too many times. Though not, I must say, from an equine." The Doctor sat down, looking rather ungainly as he figured out how to arrange his limbs. "Now, tell me: what have I done to make you angry?"

My wings drooped and I hung my head. "I just... I don't want her to get hurt."

The Doctor raised a single eyebrow in an accusing look.

"Well, you just... I mean, you-- gah, you're so... like, intimidating. You make other ponies want to impress you. You make ponies dangerous to themselves just by being there! And Rainbow is so susceptible to that type of thing..." I blurted, trailing off when I lost the proper words to explain it. "I just... I don't want to lose her. It hurts... just thinking about it, it hurts."

A look of sadness crossed the Doctor's face, and his eyes seemed to age a thousand years. He stared at me for a moment like this, and it was like I could see the very deepest reaches of his soul. Then he whispered, "You don't have to tell me that. If anyone knows that, I know."

We were both silent. I was afraid to say anything more.

"If you love her, don't let her go. You're lucky. You're a perfectly normal bloke. Soarin, you can do anything you want. And look at me: I'm eleven hundred years old, but you'd never know it. I'm going to live for much, much longer but I can't do it with anyone else. It's just me," he murmured.

I still didn't utter a word. I just watched him. He wasn't what you would expect, not really. On the outside, he was this huge dork , but it was in that moment when I saw who he really was. He was old, sad, and lonely.

"But you don't want to hear about me!" He grinned, back to his usual self. "Don't worry about Rainbow, she can handle herself." I saw the Doctor's ear prick. "Oh, speak of the devil! Love that sensitive hearing..."

As if on cue, Rainbow emerged from the fog. "It's all clear up there. There's this big pile of boulders, but it's kinda hard to search in the dark..."

"Sounds good. Tell ya what? Why don't you hang back with Soarin, here?" the Doctor trotted forward, leaving us to work out our differences.

Rainbow chuckled. "He doesn't need a foalsitter!" She gave me a playful punch on the shoulder. "He can tough it out. Right?"

I gave a half chuckle, and Rainbow took that as a sign to plow forward. It didn't take long for me to be left completely alone. I shivered, whirling about, but saw nothing. That was just the feeling you got in these woods, that something was constantly standing right behind you, waiting to pounce. It made me jumpy, and I couldn't help being marginally scared. Another thing Rainbow seemed unaffected by.

I took to the air, rocketing forward to catch up with the other ponies. The boulder pile slowly came into view, and it was literally just an stack of enormous rocks. Rainbow seemed rather pleased with herself, however, for finding the next landmark.

"I don't know about this..." I muttered, looking at the precarious heap of heavy stones.

Rainbow scoffed. "You're such a worry-wart. We'll be fine."

"Mmph..." I huffed uncomfortably.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Oh, I'll do it."

We waited impatiently as Rainbow gave the boulders a thorough inspection. I could swear that there was a rattling sound echoing through the trees, but no matter where I looked there was nothing there. Even the Doctor was a bit on edge, and he kept reaching for a pocket on his chest that he didn't have.

"There! I found it!" Rainbow called in a sing-song voice, ready to show off once again.

"Brilliant! Bring it down here!" The Doctor looked happy to have a distraction.

"Hey! There's something on the back..."

The Doctor rolled his whole head along with his eyes. "Well, get it down here so we can look at it!"

Rainbow flew out from behind the rocks, holding the paper in her mouth. She muttered something around it, but it was lost through the object in her mouth.

The Doctor yelled something to her about not understanding, but I wasn't listening. A thin, dark shape was wrapping itself around a boulder toward the middle. I was frozen with fear, knowing that the creature on the other end had already tried to kill us once before, and nothing was stopping it from trying again.

A fuzzy, faraway voice called my name several times. My field of vision seemed to be narrowing, and the world was slowing down.

I watched, immobile, as the boulder was slowly removed from its position, the one above it beginning to topple over. Rainbow's wings appeared to be moving at a quarter of the normal speed, so slow that it did not seem possible for her to remain suspended in the air.

Suddenly, I found that I was able to move. I rocketed forward, tackling Rainbow Dash midair. She lost her balance and fell to the ground, rolling through the grass a few times before she came to a complete stop.

I was not so lucky. I felt something snatch my tail and pull me, roughly, to the ground. It knocked all the wind out of me and my lungs struggled for air. I gasped like a fish out of water, trying to crawl away from my fate, but I could barely even see what was going on. My vision was blotched and tunnel-like as I took one last glance at the ponies standing away.

I caught one last glimpse of Rainbow's face. She was angry. So angry, and a bit sad.

I wanted to scream her name, but my voice wouldn't come. I was vaguely aware of a hollow thump, followed by a wet-sounding crack. And that was it.

I was dead.

~~~~~

I took a sharp breath. It echoed strangely. My eyes were open, but the landscape before me was black and blotted with swirling, subtle variations of color as if they were closed. The edge of my vision was red, and it pulsated with the resounding beat of my heart.

I saw dark shape shift just out of sight. It was accompanied by two tiny blurs of color: red and white. There was also a rattling sound of heavy, labored breathing, almost exactly like I had heard earlier.

I vaguely wondered how long ago that had been. Minutes? Hours? I suppose it didn't really matter.

Don't be silly. Everything matters. I scolded myself, taking a few wobbly steps forward. Aren't I supposed to be dead? Is this what death is? I broke into a gallop.

I closed my eyes, but was met with a series of flickering images, odd symbols that held no meaning or relevance.

Except one.

The circle and the 'X.'

This symbol was frequent, and became more and more clear as I thought about it. It was exactly like the one on the silo.

But this time, I knew what it meant.

Author's Note:

The stupid chapter is still broken. I figured out how to publish a new one, though.

Yay...