• Published 23rd Apr 2012
  • 18,674 Views, 951 Comments

Scorched - Kody910



[2nd Person] You, a thief, winds up working for the Apple Family.

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Chapter Thirteen

You open your eyes to find yourself standing. Where? You're still not sure exactly where, but it's a familiar location nonetheless.

Over the course of the last few weeks, this place has become a regular visit for you each day. Or, rather, every night. The same gray landscape, the same bone-chilling cold, the same everything. It grew monotonous fast.

You waited. You knew how this played out. It was a little performance you had rehearsed every night for the last several weeks. You could look around all you want, but until you had that sound cue, you weren't going to find anything.

Within a few moments, you heard your sound cue. Turning around, you spot the same filly that had been invading your dreams every night for quite some time. You begin to trot up to her to begin the next step.

This scenario...it seemed strange this time. You felt like you were more in control of your actions then you had been in previous iterations of this nightmare. In fact...you were aware you were in the nightmare now. Every other time, you only realized it when you woke up. Maybe it's because you weren't just asleep...could you be dead? You remember having escaped from a terrible disaster, but maybe you hadn't made it out unscathed.

Perhaps you had perished after passing out. Perhaps this was your life after death, being in this cold, unforgiving landscape of constant floods and colorless ground. Maybe you were being punished for not having made it out of that disaster quick enough.

Whatever the case may be, you felt the desire to fight back.

Trotting up to the filly, you wait patiently for her to begin the next step. Same as always, she had the solid black coat and solid white mane and tail. Slowly, she opened her solid white eyes, and spoke with her solid white mouth.

"You shouldn't do that. Even for m-"

"STOP!" You suddenly yell. You didn't even mean to, it just slipped out.

The filly visibly flinches at your sudden outburst. Her body flickers like an old television screen. In the distance, a loud boom not unlike thunder echos through the area. A sudden silence hangs in the air. Whatever you did, it caused the usual cycle to break, it seems.

With no other options, you decide to say what has been on your mind every time you suffer this accursed nightmare.

"Look...you don't understand. I had to do it. If I didn't, you and I would never have made it as far as we did." You tell her.

"It still isn't right," she responds coldly. "Mommy wouldn't have been happy if she knew."

"There is a fine line between right and wrong. Give a crime a good enough reason for being done, and it can be justified as right!" You try to defend your actions.

"Still...I didn't want you to..." She closes her eyes once more.

"I know you didn't, and heck, I didn't even want to...but you have to understand, I was only doing it for you!" You begin to raise your voice. She merely stares at you with her cold, blank eyes. "If I hadn't, you and I wouldn't have lasted a week...I had to."

"...It doesn't look like it did much good though." She says. You can feel the air around you growing more and more frigid.

"Don't say that! Do you realize what I did for you!?" You are yelling at this point. "I could have been caught! I could have been jailed! Heck, I might have even been killed! I can't even count all the times I risked my life for you!"

"I still don't understand why you would do something so foolish..." She responded. She always tried to make herself sound intelligent using words that were out of her age group.

"You don't know why? Why!?" You trot forward and pick up the filly. Her body is cold as ice, and you can feel your hooves slowly absorbing that cold. You refuse to put her down. "Because I love you!"

Her eyes shoot open, and she merely stares at you. That booming sound happens again, and the ground shakes slightly. Her mouth hangs slightly agape, and her lip is quivering.

"...W...What?" She asks in disbelief.

"I didn't even think I had to tell you that. I loved you more than anything in the world. Did you think I didn't love you?"

Though she has no irises, you can tell her vision is darting between your two eyes. "B-But..."

"How could I not love my little Sky Line?"

At the mention of her name, the filly gasps. After staring at you in disbelief for a few moments, she closes her eyes. You set her down. The moment she touches the ground, her monochrome colors begin to melt away. Underneath was the familiar filly you knew. The same purple coat, dark purple mane, and small wings. And, of course, her bright, orange eyes.

Tears begin to well up in her eyes. "B-But you ignored me...you would leave me all alone to go an-and steal things..."

"I know...and I'm sorry...I was only doing it for you..." You look away for a second. "What I did...or, rather, what I have done is wrong. I should have stopped, but...somewhere down the line, it all spiraled out of control."

"But why did you do it?"

"Sky...please..." Your lip begins to quiver. "I had to. I had to do it to keep us going. It was all we could live on, what I was able to get us. I didn't ever expect it to get as out of hoof as it did. Now I have this to remind me of it forever." You gesture to your Cutie Mark. "It's not something I want to wear. It never was. But I had to bear it, to keep you happy, to keep you going."

"But..." She looks distraught. "I wasn't happy...you lied to me."

"...I know I did. And I'm so, so sorry...Nothing I can do will ever make up for that. And...what happened to you was my fault."

"What!?" She suddenly yells. "No it wasn't!"

"I could have done better. I could have saved you. I'll never forgive myself for what happened to you..." You feel a tear run down your cheek.

"No!" She suddenly gives you a light punch in the chest. "It wasn't your fault! It never will be!" You can't help but simply stare at her. "I...I'm not happy with what you did...but, you really did try your best! You did what you could! I just wouldn't get better...I don't want you to live thinking you made me d...move on." She begins to choke up.

"Sky...I'm sorry. But I'll always believe-"

"Don't! I don't want you to! Mommy wouldn't want you to! She wouldn't want you to live thinking that!"

"Mother..." You say quietly.

"Mommy loved you, and I love you! I don't want you to do that to yourself! It wasn't right what you did, I'm sure we could have found another way...but it was like you said. You only did because you loved us. You just wanted to help as much as you could, right?" You nod. "Even if it was a bit of an...unjust way of helping, you still did everything you could to help. And for that..." She leaps forward and wraps her hooves around you. "I'll always love you, big brother."

Tears began to stream down the filly's face, soaking your chest. You have to fight back the sobs that were now trying to pry their way out of you. The cold air around begins to dissipate, and it is replaced with a genuine and very welcome warmness. You could feel Sky trembling in your hooves as you returned the embrace.

"I-It wasn't your f-fault." The little filly says through sobs. "I'll always love you..."

"...And I'll always love you, my little Sky Line..." You close your eyes, and simply enjoy the embrace.

Beep...

Your eyes shoot open again. "What was that?"

"What was what?" She asks confused.

Beep...Beep...

"That beeping noise! It almost sounds like..."

Beep...Beep...Beep...

"Like a...heart monitor?" The realization hits you. "Wait, I'm not dead!?"

"No, of course not." Sky Line says in a point-of-fact manner. "And if you're hearing things from the real world...That must mean it's time for you to go back..."

"W-What!? No!" You lift the filly up. "I don't want to go back, not yet!"

"It's okay, big brother." She gives you a light kiss on the cheek. "It's time to. You have ponies waiting on you out there. Go to them."

You merely stare her in the eyes, with tears streaming down both of your faces. You didn't want to leave, not when you were finally going to make amends with both her and yourself. You couldn't leave, not yet!

A thought hits you. "Wait...I'm dreaming, so that means..." Your face lights up. Not wasting a second, you close your eyes, and begin to envision. You envision a sunset, like the ones you and Sky enjoyed every evening, years ago. Actually, no. Not like the ones you enjoyed years ago. You envisioned a sunset on Sweet Apple Acres. The most beautiful sunset you had ever seen.

Suddenly, you begin to feel the earth around you shifting and warping. You feel grass spouting up beneath you, and the land reforming to the familiar hill you enjoyed the view from. You heard the tree you liked to lean on sprouting up next to you. The calls of birds and chirping of cicadas bombarded your eardrums. Through your eyelids, you could see the sunlight blooming.

Opening your eyes, you find yourself and Sky Line on the Acres, in your favorite spot. Or rather, her favorite spot. The sunset was just in front of you, and it never looked more glorious. It was funny, it was like you were playing Celestia, controlling the sun like that.

You look to Sky Line, who was now sitting beside you, staring at the sunset in awe. Her mouth was agape, and she had a look of complete disbelief across her features. She looks up to you with a great, big smile and tears in her eyes.

"Brother...?"

"Before I leave...let's just enjoy this, one last time."

She simply smiles, and leans into you. The two of you watch the sun slowly descend, and the rainbow of fading colors across the sky changes in accordance. Even if it was an artificial sunset, it was easily the most beautiful one you had ever seen.

A light breeze flowed through the area. Looking down to the small filly, you see her mane rustling slightly, and she unfurls her wings. Though you never got to see her properly use them, you were fine with the moment at hoof. Everything about this moment was perfect.

Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep...

Well, almost everything.

"That sound...it's getting more frequent." You say to her.

"I guess that means your time is almost up..." She brings her head up and nuzzles you. Wrapping her small forelegs around your chest, she brings you in for a tight hug. "Go. They're waiting on you. And brother? Can you promise me something?"

You look down to her. "What is it?"

"Well, it's actually two things." She pulls herself off of you and looks into your eyes. "First, can you please promise me...that you won't do it anymore?"

This was it. You had felt like the 'thrill of the hunt' was lost before, but now, it was time to make it official. You could either throw everything from the last few weeks away right now and keep all the skills you had accumulated over the years, or you could finally respect her wishes and end your career. Keep going, or end it all?

Looking into those eyes, you knew you couldn't choose the former.

"I think it's time I retired anyway." You give her a sheepish smile.

Her eyes well up with tears and she smiles back. "And one more thing?" You nod, encouraging her to go on. "Promise me you will tell her." You recoil slightly in surprise. "No matter what happens, I'm sure she would stay, one way or another."

She was dead serious. She wanted you to see this to the end. You still had no idea if that mare reciprocated your feelings or not. Yet your own sister wanted you to at least try. Even if she had never met her and never will, she wouldn't have told you that if she didn't think something was there. She had never steered you wrong. Even if this is all a figment of your dreams and imagination, you couldn't let it all go unfinished.

"...Of course. I will." You reply.

She smiles once more, and hugs you again. "I love you big brother."

"I love you too, my little Sky Line."

Tears begin to stream down your face, and you close your eyes. This might be the final time you would ever see her. This could be the end. Yet...you were at peace. You had finally made amends. You finally got to see her happy. Even in the end, you held up your responsibility as an older sibling, and were totally satisfied.

You feel the earth tremble around you. The land, trees, wind, animals, and sun were all fading away. The air turned to a very neutral temperature. It was neither hot nor cold, just borderline between the two. Without opening your eyes, you can feel the filly in your embrace slipping away. It felt like her body was disintegrating in your grasp. You didn't want to see her go, yet you knew this had to happen and accepted it.

Once the last fragments of her had slipped away, you open your eyes. Looking up, your attention is brought to a bright, white light. You lift a hoof to it, and it begins to grow brighter and brighter. At last, it is far too bright for you to keep your eyes open anymore.

Through your eyelids, you feel the light fading to a dimmer glow. Opening your eyes, you find yourself staring at a white tiled ceiling. You can hear a steady beeping sound to your left. Craning your head, you find a heart monitor, with a steady pulse displayed on the screen. Only now do you realize you are laying in a bed, with needles and monitors attached to your limbs. You can feel bandages tightly wrapped around your head.

Looking around, you find yourself in a well-kept room. A small table and a few chairs lined the walls. Through the curtains on the window to your left, sunlight weakly streamed into the room. It was a faded orange, and you figured it must be later in the day. Looking to your right, you see a digital clock on the wall that read 6:09 PM.

A throbbing pain in your head reminded you of everything that had happened. The fire, the piece of lumber that struck you, saving Applebloom, the-

Wait, Applebloom! Where is she, is she okay? Did she-

Your train of thought is cut off as a white, unicorn stallion opens the door and trots in. With a clipboard levitating in front of his face, he doesn't seem to notice you.

He begins talking. "Day three since incident. Time: 6:10 PM. Patient is..." He lowers his clipboard and looks at you. When his eyes meet yours, he looks stunned. "...Awake?"

"Uh...hello?" You reply weakly.

He sets his clipboard on the edge of the bed and trots up to you. "Well, well, good morning, sleepyhead! Or rather, good evening! Seems you took quite a spill!" He spoke with a very hearty voice

"Yeah...I'll say." You reply.

"That was a nasty concussion you suffered there! I can only imagine what that must have been like, going through that ordeal." It seemed like he was trying to be funny.

"Ordeal? You mean you know what happened?"

"Yes, yes, of course! I was informed of everything through your friend Applejack!" Your eyes widen at that statement. "In fact, she's the one who brought you here! You and her little sister."

"Applebloom!" You suddenly exclaim, making the doctor flinch. "How is she, is she alright!?"

"Settle down, my boy, it's alright. She's going to make a full recovery. The worst of her injuries was a simple fracture in her leg. Nothing life-threatening."

You breath a sigh of relief, knowing your efforts were not in vain. Leaning back, you rub your forehead with a hoof that isn't wired to anything. "Thank Celestia..."

"Hm. Now I can understand why she was so concerned." The doctor says under his breath.

"What?" You ask, puzzled.

"That mare, Applejack, was absolutely beside herself with grief. She was so heartbroken to see both you and little Applebloom in this situation. So much so that, well, we can't get her to leave." He sounded displeased as he said that last line. "She's been here for the last three days, constantly shifting back and forth between your room and hers. She won't listen when we tell her that it's time for her to go."

So...she really does care for me that much. You think to yourself.

"With her sister having woken up two days ago, I think she would like to see you awake now. Would you like me to go fetch her?" He asks.

"...Yes, please, if you wouldn't mind, uh..." You realize you don't know his name.

"Ohoho, it's alright. You've been out for days, of course you wouldn't know who I am. I'm Dr. Coachen."

"Nice to meet you. Well, properly, that is." He gets a hearty chuckle out of your joke.

"Very well, I'll see to it that she knows of your condition." With that, he exits the room and closes the door.

Three days...you were out for three days. If Applejack cared for you as much as it seemed, just how much heartache have you caused her by being out for that long? She must have been filled with anguish, waiting and wishing for you to get better. You felt terrible, having put her through that.

After a moment, the door opens again. At the doorway was a familiar mare. Her hair was scraggly, her eyes were sagging, and she looked absolutely exhausted. But to you, she was the most beautiful creature in Equestria.

She trots forward and sits next to your bed, tears in her eyes and a weak smile on her face. "...Howdy." She says weakly.

"Hey...you look terrible." You say jokingly.

She chuckles slightly. "You ain't much better yerself."

"Heh, tell me about it." You look into her eyes. You could feel yourself slipping into them ever-so-slowly. "How is Applebloom?"

"She's awake, and doin' fine. She told me what happened." She looks away. "Her 'n her friends went out to the barn to try doin' what you 'n I were doin' that day. She wanted to get her Cutie Mark in repair, or somethin'. I just don't understand why she had to sneak and do it without my permission...I dunno if Sweetie or Scootaloo are gettin' punished for what happened."

"What happened was a freak accident." You reassure her. "We should just be happy they're alright."

"Yeah...and as for you." She props herself up and scoots a little closer to you. "I...I can never thank you enough, or repay you for what ya did...I mean, when I saw you in front of the barn, I thought that..." She begins trembling, and her tears increase.

You reach a hoof out and stroke her mane. You can feel her shiver under your touch. "Don't think that. Everything is fine now. We're all okay, and it's going to be alright."

Rather than respond, she leans forward and wraps you up in a hug. Her cheek brushes past your as she wraps her forelegs around you. You can feel her shivering slightly. "Thank you...I'm so glad you're okay..."

"It's fine...hey, c'mon, I've been through worse." You joke slightly, trying to lighten the mood. She lifts her head, and stares right into your eyes. Her face was close enough that you could feel her breath on your muzzle. It almost seemed like she was drawing slightly closer to you by the moment.

It was now or never.

"Applejack...I-"

You're cut off as she presses her lips to yours. Closing your eyes, you pull her closer, and she shifts her hooves behind your head to do the same. Her tender tongue dances across your lips, begging for entry. You gladly accept, and she goes right in, lavishing in every crevasse of your mouth. She tasted like apples, which came as no surprise, but it was a much warmer, sweeter taste. You swing your tongue around and wrestle with hers, the two of them performing a sort of dance.

After a few moments, she breaks away, and the two of you take a much needed breath. She opens her eyes, and stares longingly into yours, a smile on her face.

"I...I think you can consider yer debt payed."

"I couldn't be happier." You reply.

With that, she pulls you in for another kiss, which was even more passionate than the first. The two of you held this one for even longer.

Two broken souls, devastated by the actions and fates brought upon by those close to them. Now, the two were finally getting the much-needed repairs they required for so long. A broken tool should not be considered useless, but rather, it should be considered re-purposed. Though it may no longer serve one function, it could possibly serve another, given the right circumstances.

With all that had happened to you over the last few weeks, you felt like you finally had found that purpose. A new reason to carry on. A new reason to keep going. You had someone to care for. Someone to be cared by. You for her, and her for you. The price you paid for giving up your career was one that was well worth it. The price she paid for putting up with you was well worth it. The two of you found someone new to lean on and rely on. Through the disaster, you had found something incredible, that neither of you would trade for anything.

It was just how the two of you emerged from the ashes.