Take the Pain Away

by All of the Above

Chapter 1

Author's Note:

I've said it once, I'll say it once more. This is my first attempt at a romance fic. I would really appreciate some critique. Also feel free to tell me if I'm doing this right or if I'm doing this wrong.

This has been edited slightly so that some of the dialogue doesn't feel awkward. Though, I can't fix it entirely. The damage has been done and there's not much I can do. If I try to edit it in any further, I may damage something that's near being completely destroy. I wrote this story when I had a poor grip on writing and not a really good way of telling a story. I can only hope that I improve as this story progresses. If you don't like it, I completely understand. I barely like it, and I wrote it.

So, let's see how good of a writer I can become, shall we?

Have a good one.
-All of the Above

The nightly ritual had begun. Celestia lowered the sun once again to make way for the night. The sunset was a sight that nopony could had enough of. It was just... beautiful. But not everypony had the time to admire it. Some were running for their lives.

The pair of ponies were running as fast as they could down a path in the Everfree. One of them was carrying an oil lamp. The Doctor was running alongside a grey pegasus mare with a blonde mane. They shared the same look of fear on their faces.

"Ditzy, is he still behind us?" the stallion yelled.

"I don't know, and I don't care to look behind me!" They continued to run, not saying anything else.

Ditzy tripped on a rock, knocking into The Doctor. The Doctor stumbled and dropped the lamp. The glass broke into several pieces, but the flame was still burning.

Ditzy cursed to herself. "Doctor I'm sorry. I'll get the lamp."

"Leave it! It'll provide a distraction. Now let's go!" The Doctor got up. Ditzy turned around and ran after him.

Soon after the two ponies were gone, the fire caught some shrubbery nearby, setting it ablaze. The smell of smoke carried throughout the entire forest.

---

Ponyville quickly found out about the fire. Those willing to help out had already reached the flames, in hopes that they could subdue them. All efforts, of course, had failed. The fire was getting closer to Ponyville. Pegasi were gathering rain clouds so they could try and subdue them. This seemed to be the best method.

Twilight Sparkle arrived on the scene quickly. "Was anypony in the forest when the fire started?" she asked Raindrops, who was gathering up rain clouds.

"I don't know. I just barely got here." She quickly flew towards the forest.

Twilight asked around, but nopony paid her any heed. 'I guess I'll have go in alone. Wings, don't fail me now.' Twilight thought.

She spread her wings, took a running start toward the Everfree, and jumped up in the air... only to fall flat on her face. She lifted her head off the ground to make sure nopony saw her failure. Sadly, a great number of ponies were staring at her, trying to hide their smiles.

Twilight stood up in a hurry. She trotted backwards, away from the residence. 'I guess I'll have to go on hoof.' Twilight ran to where there weren't any flames in the forest.

A straight and narrow path was what was not on fire just yet. On this path, two familiar looking ponies were running towards her.

---

Lightning Dust was still fast asleep. She was buried underneath her blanket, trying to shut out the noise from the outside world. It worked for her. It wasn't until Dust smelled the strange scent in the air. It didn't matter to her what the smell was, she just wanted some sleep.

After the tornado fiasco at the Wonderbolt Academy, Lightning Dust had no where else to go. Or, that's what she believed. She could've gone back to the family and friends that loved her and would understand her situation, but she didn't. She knew that they would have some disappointment bottled up inside, just aching to be opened by a thirsty pony. She couldn't bear to disappoint anypony else.

On several occasions Lightning Dust would fly from her apartment in Manehatten to the Everfree Forest. She would sit in the Everfree, contemplating whether she should go apologize to Rainbow Dash or never see her again. The thought always made her cry and she slept in a tree until it was morning. Then she would fly back to Manehattan.

She shifted her position, getting more and more comfortable the more she moved. It was surprising that she could get this much comfort from a tree branch.

Her eyes were still shut. Tight. She must have been trying to force herself to sleep. Something was bothering her. Was is the sudden heat that she felt on her stomach?

'I guess I'm not gonna get much sleep after all. Maybe a quick little exercise. That'll make me tired.' She reluctantly got up from the branch, throwing her blanket off of her. She opened her eyes just in time to see her blanket reduced to ashes.

The fire that surrounded her nearly gave her a heart attack. She nearly fell off the branch. 'What the hay happened?' She thought.

Lightning didn't have time to wonder how this happened. She had to get out of there. She flew up into the air, going above the trees. She noticed Ponyville over in the distance. A dozen other pegasi were already doing their part to stop the fire. Lightning thought she might as well help out in the effort.

As she was going to assist in their efforts, something caught her eye. A lone stallion with a hat walking down the path, looking like he was in great pain.

The stallion didn't seem to care that flames were blazing right next to him. 'What's he doing?' Lightning thought to herself. She dove towards him.

The stallion seemed pretty content on continuing down the path when Lightning shouted at him. She was pretty sure he heard her. He even shifted his head towards her to acknowledge her existence and yet he continued down his path, acting like he was even deterred in the first place.

Lightning sped up, reaching the ground in a matter of seconds. She ran towards him and tackled him, making the both of them fumble to the part of the forest that wasn't burning. "What the hay are you doing?" she asked.

The stallion got up, looking angry. He tore off his hat, and threw it to the ground. He was about to say something, but he stopped himself. A little smile appeared on his face. "Lightning Dust. An entire country of ponies and I happen to run into you."

"How did you know my name?"

"That doesn't matter. My name is Arkane Vander."

Lightning looked over the stallion. He had a head of black and red hair, his body was white with the a subtle hint of red. But the thing that caught her eye was his broken horn. This wasn't unheard of, but she hadn't seen anypony with an actual severed horn before. She couldn't help but stare, knowing full well it was very rude.

"I can't help but notice that you're ogling at my missing appendage." The stallion said.

Lightning said nothing. She just stared.

The stallion kept his smile. "My horn."

"What about it?"

"Stop looking at it."

Lightning awkwardly let out a little laugh. In her mind, every memory of her doing something stupid in her younger years somehow felt like professional aerial maneuvers compard to that.

Lightning remembered the current situation.

"You need to get out of here. You might-"

In a matter of seconds, a tree fell to the ground. Lightning had years of aerial acrobatics under her belt, and yet she was defeated by a tree. The tree pinned her foreleg under it.

The tree separated Arkane from Lightning, which made him have to jump over the log to do what he had to do. Arkane wasn't a very strong stallion, and he couldn't do magic without his horn. At least, not very well.

Lightning's screams persisted as Arkane tried to figure out what to do. He tried lifting the tree up with his own strength, but he couldn't manage to lift it one inch. He tried to push the idea of using his weak magic. It wouldn't work, and it would probably end up with tragic consequences. But what else could he do?

Arkane walked over to the pegasus. "Lightning!"

"Arkane! It hurts. It hurts." She struggled to speak as her cries of pain were constantly interrupting her.

"I know it does. But right now, you have to listen to me. I'm going to try and use magic on this tree."

"How? Your horn is broken!"

"My magic is very weak. If I do this right, I can lift the tree off of your leg and we can go get help."

"No! No, we can't do that!"

"And why not?" He raised an eyebrow.

"We just can't."

"Listen, help is what you need most. Something bad could happen to you if we don't do that."

"I don't care! You can't make me go there."

Arkane growled in frustration. "I want to help you, but I can't do it if you won't cooperate."

Lightning's persisted crying, sounding even worse than before. She must've done something to damage her leg even more. Arkane walked over to her. "You need to calm down."

"I can't calm down!"

"Please, you have to try."

Lightning's cries got louder and louder, as well as Arkane's shouting. He couldn't handle anymore shouting from either of them, so he stepped in front of her, holding her head with a firm grip.

"Let me go!" She tried her best to get away from him. She threw several kicks to his body, a failed attempt at a headbutt, biting, and a plethora of physical infliction, but he stood as stoic as a royal guard.

"Look at me," he politely asked of her. As Arkane expected, Lightning looked away from him, fighting back another wave of tears. "Look at me. Please."

"Why?"

"I need you to trust me on this."

"Trust you?! I barely know you!" She started to thrash around. Her eyes shut tight.

"Look at me!" Arkane shouted. Lightning nearly jumped at his sudden force. She opened her eyes and turned to him, ever so slowly. She took a gander at his beaming, beige eyes.

"I want you to hold me. I want you to hold onto me until you feel your fear, your anger, your sadness, every emotion that you have, slip away from you. Until you feel safe in my grasp. Will you do that?"

Lightning felt her tears vanish. She didn't know why she held onto him, but she did nonetheless. She put her hooves around his body. Arkane felt warm. She seemed to fit in his grip perfectly. She closed her eyes once more. Along with the sound of magic in her ear, there was also the sound Arkane's voice. "Sleep," he said in a whisper.

Lightning could feel the tree lift from her leg. Arkane repeatedly said sleep as each moment passed by. Lightning started to feel tired. His charms were working. Lightning drifted into sleep.

---

Lightning slowly awoke. The first thing she did was examine her smashed hoof. Luckily for her, she didn't have to see the damage that the tree did. It was bandaged up and hanging from a little string.

A few minutes passed, and Lightning wasn't exactly enjoying the experience. She didn't have a roommate on the other side of the curtain, so she didn't have anypony to talk to. Until her door opened.

"I see you're doing well." It was the stallion from last night.

Lightning wasn't sure how to react. A part of her wanted to give him a big hug, but the other part wanted him to leave. She decided to ask him a question. "How did you know my name?"

"Pardon?" Arkane asked.

"My name, how did you know it?”

“Like I said. It doesn’t matter.”

"You don't just know my name and act like it's not a big deal. I want a straight answer. How did you know my name?"

Arkane got closer to her bed. "There are some things in this world that are better left unknown. That question is one of them."

Lightning scoffed. She had the feeling that she would find out sooner or later. 'Maybe it was because of the tornado incident. Maybe it got spread around.'

"Now I have to go. There are some things that I have to do," he said. "Get well soon." He walked outside the door.

"Wait!" Lightning called. Arkane walked back inside. "Am I going to see you again?"

He didn't say anything. He walked back outside. His hoofsteps eventually faded away, but were replaced by others. Except these were lighter and a tad bit faster. 'Must be a doctor,' she thought to herself.

She fell back to her bed, only to come right back up when she realized who was standing in the doorway. "Rainbow Dash!”

Comments

[Warampharos]

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