35 - Games, Part 6 of 11
Pixyglitter’s heart raced as she shouted, "Cloud Blazer!"
She had become alarmed when he stopped responding, and the last thing he’d said was something about looking at stars. This may not have been so upsetting had they not been in a basement. It took her a minute to find him, groping about without the use of sight.
The stallion was standing perfectly still; she couldn't even hear him breathing. Whatever it was that had his attention, she could feel it growing stronger. It was almost as if another pony were in the room. She shook Cloud Blazer; he didn't respond. Panic began to take over rational thought. She slapped him. But for the warmth in his flesh, it was like touching a corpse. Pixyglitter pushed against his body, which stood there rigid and motionless.
“Wake up!”
Crouching low, she sprang forward, plowing into him with as much force as her legs could muster. He toppled over, and the two of them fell in a tangled heap on the floor.
The stallion let out a cry in pain, ”You're kidding, right? What did you do that for?"
Relief flooded Pixyglitter as she tried to get off of him.
"You were in a daze," she answered. "I panicked."
He grunted, apparently sitting up. His breathing had returned to normal, and the other presence that Pixyglitter had felt seemed to have gone.
"I was looking at..." he sounded as if he were getting far away again.
"Hey!" she clapped.
"I'm fine," he sounded annoyed. "Help me up."
She struggled to lift him, but between the two of them, they got each other back up onto their hooves. He leaned on her as though he was keeping weight off of one leg.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," he replied. "My leg is acting up again. Next time, just leave me until I come out of it, okay?"
The thought of a next time was somewhat unsettling.
"Deal," Pixyglitter answered. "Where were you? Was it another dream?"
"No, it was different. It was..." he seemed to be searching for words. “The room kind of stretched out, and I was in between here and there. I’m not sure how to describe it, but I know what we have to do. Let's go."
"Where are we going?" she asked, confused.
She heard him cross the room and begin rummaging around in the junk pile.
"These will do nicely."
As he walked away, she followed. Using her cane to search the way ahead had become second nature. They went up the stairs and back through the hallways to exit the castle. The outside air was warm, but much more fresh than the dusty cellar they had just left. The bends in the terrain told Pixyglitter that they were going to the hospital.
“Why are we heading to the hospital? What are we doing?”
He spoke over his shoulder, “You know how something looks totally different when you see it from a new perspective? It’s like that. You know how you think you know what a town is when you’re walking through, but then you fly over it and understand it even better.”
"Are you feeling alright?" she asked.
"Perfect," his tone sounded strangely glib.
The lack of answers combined with the coy answers frustrated the mare. She decided that she’d had enough.
"Stop right there!" she said emphatically. "You need to tell me what's going on. You froze up like you were in a trance or something staring at that... that whatever-it-was, and you're acting a little crazy, which isn't that strange for you, but if I’m coming to crazy town with you, you have to tell me why."
"Hey, I'm sorry," he replied as he turned, his voice a little softened. "I'm just so, it's... Everything just makes so much sense in my mind now. I'm afraid if I don't hurry, I'll lose it. Do you know what I mean?"
"No," she said flatly as frustration redoubled.
"The orb; I finally understand. It's them. I have to get the others to open it."
Tilting her head to one side, she asked, "What are you talking about?"
His voice grew quieter as he closed the distance between them, “The dreams, I was always trying to find things. Then the one we had together... The entity said it was what remains when everything else is ash and dust. It was talking about the explosion in the Everfree Forest. The orb is that which remains. Remember?" he sounded a little shaky.
"I remember the dream," she said, trying to recall it fully. "I remember the voice said to bring the others. Do you know who they are?"
A deafening silence answered her for what felt an eternity before he leaned close and said, "Yes, but there are too many ears around to talk about it here."
They stood there, somewhere in the middle of town for another minute while she processed this. It was exciting, but mostly terrifying. She very much did not enjoy feeling like a pawn in somepony else's game, but the dream had been compelling. If Cloud Blazer was determined to do this, that was enough reason, even if they got themselves killed on a fool's errand.
"Okay," she replied. "Are you just going to stand there, or are we going to go get... them... out of that orb?"
He smiled, she couldn't see it, but she knew he did. She heard him continue walking and followed after. Her mind raced through these new developments while she tried to bury any fear of this unknown. From learning to fly together, Pixyglitter had come to have as complete a trust in Cloud Blazer as one pony can have in another, but that part of their relationship was different. It was clear and direct, and their objective was easily understood. This was much darker territory, and the motives behind it were not yet clear; this is what scared her.
While she thought on these things, the pair made their way into the hospital and to the third floor. The hallways were still lined with makeshift beds; she would have felt them with her cane even if she hadn't heard them. The sounds of the living and the dying were unmistakeable. As they approached their destination, Pixyglitter could hear unhappy voices shouting. She quickly determined that it was a patient and a nurse.
"I told you I have to go!" the patient shouted.
"Sit back down!" the nurse replied rather emphatically. Pixyglitter recognized Nurse Redheart.
"I can't be cooped up in here anymore!" the patient continued. "I feel fine!"
"Either you will sit, or we will make you sit," Nurse Redheart retorted, her voice having become fiery. "Out there, you may command other ponies. In here, you are under our charge, and we will tell you when you are well."
The distinctive sound of bedsprings squeaking under somepony's weight could be heard.
"Thank you," Nurse Redheart said.
By this point, Cloud Blazer and Pixyglitter had reached the door and were entering the room.
"I don't think shouting at the nurses will be all that helpful," Cloud Blazer said, almost cheerfully. "Besides, isn't that behavior unfitting a colonel?"
Pixyglitter's heart jumped into her throat at the mention of the rank. It was fine to make jokes, but officers tended to not find those sorts amusing.
"Commander," the patient said flatly. "Apparently I got promoted while I was unconscious."
"Well, congratulations, Commander," Cloud Blazer said with a smile in his voice.
“Are you here to spring me?” the commander over enunciated her words at Nurse Redheart.
“I’m afraid not. I have someone here for you to meet. This is Pixyglitter; Pixyglitter, meet Commander Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts.”
Pixyglitter fidgeted and nodded slightly in the direction from which the voice had come. She felt rather intimidated to be in the room with a Wonderbolt Commander, injured or not.
"Hey," Rainbow Dash greeted. "Is that a combat harness?"
When Cloud Blazer didn't reply, Pixyglitter quickly stood at attention and said, "Yes ma'am."
"Relax," Rainbow Dash said. "I apparently don't have any authority here."
"Push the button if you need any actual assistance," Nurse Redheart said with smug confidence as she walked out of the room.
Pixyglitter sighed relief.
"So why is a blindfolded pegasus wearing a harness?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Kind of a long story," Cloud Blazer answered. "To keep it short: she was blinded in combat, and I can't fly on my own anymore, so we've been learning to fly together."
"Wow, that's really... insane. Cloud Blazer, I never really took you for the thrill-seeking type," the Wonderbolt sounded impressed.
"I'm not; I just love flying,” he answered. “Anyway, that's not important right now. I'm glad you're still here."
"Oh? Why's that?"
"I need your help."
The commander scoffed and then loudly said, "Good luck getting me past the guards."
"No, not right now, maybe in a day or so, but we have to keep this quiet."
"What is it?" Rainbow Dash asked, a tone of boredom in her voice.
The bed creaked as Cloud Blazer leaned in closer and whispered, "I know where the princesses are, and I know how to bring them back."
Silence followed this declaration. Pixyglitter could hear nurses in the corridor, patients were coughing, and a foal was crying somewhere, but not even the sound of shifting on the bed in front of her could be detected.
"What?" Commander Rainbow Dash finally said with a tone that felt ice cold, devoid of the warmth and familiarity it had contained only moments before.
"They've been reaching out to me," the stallion advanced. "I just didn't understand at first."
"Go on," she sounded unconvinced.
He took a breath before continuing, "It was only days after I fell down the cliff into Ghastly Gorge that the princesses went missing. At the time, I slept almost constantly, and I started having bizarre dreams. They were vivid in a way that's hard to explain. It was almost like a different level of consciousness. When it happened, I thought it was just a result of the medicines. But they didn't stop. They were always about searching and finding things that I had to bring to the castle, where there was a locked door.“
"So let me get this straight, you think that the princesses are alive and trying to talk to you in your dreams?"
Pixyglitter thought it sounded insane when stated so bluntly. Had she not experienced the dreams herself, she wouldn't believe him either.
"If it had just been those dreams, I wouldn't have come to you with this," Cloud Blazer said. "There was another one that was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It was like being awake in another world. Pixyglitter and I were on the moon, and these stones spoke to us; there were five of them. They spoke to us and told us to bring the keys. Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Twilight Sparkle, Hopes Glimmer; five stones, five princesses, five keys."
Rainbow Dash took a breath and countered, “First of all, there were six of them that went missing. Discord was also there. That aside, your dreams sound interesting and all, but I think they let you out of the hospital a little too soon.”
The moment the words were spoken, a powerful defensive instinct welled up inside Pixyglitter. She steeped forward and heard herself practically shout, "Don't you dare mock him! Not ever! That last dream he mentioned, I shared it with him. We had it at the same time; the exact same dream from our own perspectives,“ she shuddered. “We were in it together.”
The Wonderbolt sighed as if she were defeated, “I want to believe you, kid. I really do. But the princesses are not coming back."
The flatness in her voice was only a cover. She had been hiding something which was now unmistakably sadness.
"I was briefed on their mission before they left. They used their combined power to destroy the mirror pool so nopony else could ever use it. Why do you think that Shining Armor was able to take complete control so quickly after that? They knew they weren't coming back."
To call that knowledge unsettling would have only been the beginning of the feeling that flooded through Pixyglitter.
"I don't believe you," Cloud Blazer said defiantly. "There's no way they would have gone on a suicide mission and not left more behind than a note."
The sadness and coolness in Rainbow Dash's voice gave way to hostility, "Well, it doesn't really matter whether they knew it was a one-way trip or not. You know Twilight; they made every precaution she could think of, but it didn’t matter. The fact is, we all knew it was going to be a dangerous mission, and they didn't come back."
“They’re trying to,” Cloud Blazer protested.
“Look, even if I did believe you, they’re not letting me out of here. But I don’t, and this is why. What have they been eating while they’ve been gone?” the commander’s emotions ran high. “How could they have sustained themselves for months on end without any support? If they had survived somehow, they either starved, were captured... Five alicorn princesses and Discord. Unable to find their way back? There’s just no way.”
Cloud Blazer grunted something unintelligible and stomped out of the room. Turning around and sweeping the way with her cane, Pixyglitter followed him. He moved so quickly that she couldn't keep up. When she reached the exit, she could hear him muttering something to himself.
Woohoo! Longer chapters because plot develops! Also... not driven by Scootaloo and Sparklefly! Whee! 
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do i get an cookie for saying that that orb in twilight castle will bring back all the princesses?
8585900
Yes. I'd say your prediction was on target. You get a cookie!
🍪
I was back in Nam
"What didn't you see me pointing," Cloud said.
Those were that last words he spoke before the blind mare pummeled him to death with her hooves.
To the Hospital
Where are we gojng , to the hospital.
First we need to travel past the broken apple trees, over the bridge and through the town.
I told you people I don't need a doctor damn it I am a doctor
Sir you need to get back to your seat
I had one in the bathroom with no windows
You need to get back to your seat now
I suffer from aviaphobia that means fear of dieing in something that flies
Sir for your own safety sit down or else I'll make you sit down
...fine
Thank you
Guess this movie
No Kirk stay a Captain, don't let them take the enterprise from you
Rainbow, let me be as condescending as possible, what does Princess Luna control
DREAMS.
Did you forget your entire prewar life, maybe be sceptical but don't treat it like an impossibility.
Element of loyalty my bum
Your right, good point, their is not a single person on your list who can supply food, except twilight who can turn things to food, she changed a frog to an orange
But more significantly DISCORD
Chaos comes with chocolate rain you guys
Choclalate rain
8750736
1) Hah, back in Nam...
2) Hahaha! That's when the fight started!
3) Past the rock that looks like a longneck, and beyond the mountains that burn...
4) I honestly don't know that one! You got me stumped!
5) Ah, that takes me back... Kirk is best captain
6) She's... on her period?
7) But not a dollop of whipped cream in sight!
8751205
I'll finish the scene, but leave out the names, and see if you get it
I may through up on you
I think these things are pretty safe
Don't pander to me kid, one tiny crack from the hull and our blood boils in 13 seconds,solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats and wait until you sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles, see if your still so relaxed when you eyeballs are bleeding. Space is desease and danger wrapped in danger and silence
Well I hate to break this to you but _________ operates in space
Yeah well got no were else to go, the ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce, all I got left is my bones
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-----, ---------- ------
Rainbow Dash sounds like she's being obstinate for the sake of plot. Even from the viewpoint of what's normal and abnormal in Equestria, something like Cloud Blazer being communicated to through dreams isn't farfetched. Well, I'm sure Dash'll have a moment sooner or later where she changes her mind.
8783821
My thought was that she is so convinced that the princesses died that she just can't accept what Cloud Blazer is saying... It should also be noted that while he was friends with Scootaloo, and he knew Rainbow Dash, they were never close. Several others have pointed out that Rainbow Dash should be so dismissive... and y'all are probably right. Should I ever do another rewrite, I'll have to consider addressing it.
simple, it's called being in a bloody orb, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL HER THIS? IT COULD CONVINCE HER!
8840725
Yeah... not my best written scene...