Hearths Warming Grief.

by BronyNathan

Sleep in heavenly peace

Woodwind continued down the path to the next challenge. But he wasn't prepared for what he saw.
The cave twisted and morphed into beautiful clouds, arranging themselves like a puzzle across the blackness.
He found himself standing in Cloudsdale General Hospital.
Woodwind walked down the empty halls, feeling like he was in some sort of horror movie. The place looked like it had been deserted for years.
The cloud walls and ceilings were riddled with holes and the rooms were a mess of medical equipment and garbage.
He continued on until he reached a room untouched by age.
It was pristine condition. The setting sun shone through the window, painting the pure white cloud wall in a deep orange/purple. A pony was laying on the bed, they were covered by a blanket. He inched closer as he heard a light cough from underneath. the blanket pulled back on its own to reveal a malnourished, sick mare.
It was Fluttershy.
She was pale as a ghost and sickly, but still alive. She leaned over to a bowl of water on the table, but she was too weak to get it herself.
Woodwind rushed over and placed it on the bed next to her.
She stared at him with clouded eyes.
"Is that you, Woodwind?" She asked, her voice hoarse and dry.
"Yes, sweetie, it's me. I'm here." he said barely holding back the tears.
"I thought i would never see you again..." She said weakly. She began to cough up blood and bits of flesh from her mouth. he wiped her face with a bare arm, not caring if he caught her disease.
"I would never leave my number one mare hangin'." He said smiling to reassure her.
she frowned. "I guess you don't have the cure?" she asked, slipping her hoof around his.
Tears began to flow freely, but he quickly stifled his emotions.
"N-no.." he croaked. "I'm so sorry..."
She held on to him as tight as she could, but as tight as she could felt like Squeak was wrapped around him.
"I tried so hard... so hard to save you... every step i took, every breath i took. The thought of you pushed me forward."
"Woodwind. It's over for me... I haven't the strength left to fight it anymore." she rasped, choking on her own words.
He grabbed a cloth off the table, wet it in the water and put it over her scabby forehead.
"No, don't talk like that," He said forcing a smile. "You're strong. I know you can beat this."
She looked him dead in the eyes, cutting through his lie with her barely lifeless stare.
"I-I need you to tell the truth for me, Woodwind. I need your honesty. Am i going to be ok?" She asked him.
The words stung like knives. He wanted to say it would all be fine, that she'd be ok, and that she'd get better soon.
But she asked for the truth.
He inhaled deeply. No words escaped his mouth. Only sobs of anguish and pain. She pushed his mane out of his face and locked eyes with him. "I need to hear you say the words, my Woodwind. pretty please? for me?" She asked imploringly.
He grabbed her hoof and kissed it.
Why was she asking him to do this? To tell her that she was going to die a horrible painful death and he couldn't find one measly stupid flower to save her life. His rage began to boil to the point of exploding, but the rage quickly turned to anguish as it came out. How could he tell the one he loved such a horrible thing?
"Woodwind?" She called to him again.
"You're... you're..." he stammered.
"Please be honest with me, sweetheart." She said with tears in her eyes.
"There's n-nothing that can be done for you... I'm sorry."
The words rolled off his tongue like acid. He felt his stomach ball into a knot with thousands of braids. His face fell into the cloud bed and he let it all out. Every emotion he had held back the entire trip; now flooding out. It was as if someone had turned on a faucet. He couldn't stop crying.
She pulled him close with her weak arms and the two lay their, hoof in hoof in the comfortable cloud bed. He sung her the song he used to sing to Squeak whenever she was upset and stroked her mane.
He felt her breath slow and her hoof began to slip from his. She let out a low shallow breath and with the last of her strength, nuzzled as close as she could to his neck.
She slowly drifted off to sleep.
Never to wake again.
He felt her heart cease and her chest halt. She lay limp in his arms as he continued to sing the song.
After about an hour, he lay there in silence.
Every nerve in his body was as knotted as his stomach.
He wanted to throw up. But he just sat their and continued to stoke her mane, sobbing.
The world faded and he was suddenly sucked back into the cave and reality.

He lay there, the tears still streaming down his crusted cheeks. The voice came back, but this time it was right behind him, he whirled to see it.
A strong cloaked stallion walked towards him. "Congratulations on completing my three tests. You're the only pony to ever pull it off. Well done!"
Woodwind stood, stared at the stallion with a look of pure hate;
And let a hoof fly square into his jaw.
The stallion stumbled back, but was otherwise unfazed. Woodwind got right up in his face. "You sunofabitch! Why did you do this to me?! Why did you put me through hell?!"
"Because you need to save your wife! The one you love most in this world!"
He stared at him with unblinking eyes.
"She needs Feather Free, yes?"
He leaned down, as if he'd pick the flower off the stone floor.
And just like that, the magnificent flower grew right under the strange stallions nose.
He plucked the flower and handed it to him.
"You have passed the tests of Bravery, Loyalty, and Honesty." He continued. "You have proven to excel at these three emotions."
He smiled and patted Woodwind on the back. "These three emotions together, represent the element of love. It is stronger in you than I ever felt from anypony, past or present. You truly are worthy to be called the element of love's new master!"
Woodwind rose from the floor. Crystals shot from the strange stallion's robes and encircled Woodwind like an atom.
He was the core of an atom in the Element of love.
The crystals morphed together and transformed into a neckless, hooking itself to Woodwind. It was a light green crystal shaped like a shield, and inside the crystal in the center were three tiny pink butterflies.
Just like Fluttershy's cutie mark.
"Thank you. I-"
But the hooded stallion was no where to be seen.
Only an empty cloak on the floor was the only sign he was ever there.
The cave began to rumble and fade out like one of the tests.
A brilliant flash exploded from the darkeness.
Woodwind shut his eyes as tight as he could, a familiar sense of vertigo crept into his stomach as he fell into nothing. He hit the ground with a painful thud.
He strained as he opened his eyes, the harsh light making him see spots. He was on the surface again right where he was before he fell into the hole.

But where were Twilight and Squeak?

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authors note-*-Since i write freely, as in when i think, my hand types the first thing to come to my mind, I wasn't prepared for the way this chapter would effect me.

I put myself in the hooves of Woodwind, as he watched the one he loved die slowly in front of him, and i broke down. The entire chapter was spent sobbing. i kept writing and writing and the pain got worse and worse. I balled like a baby. It's usually the goal of the writer to make the reader cry, not the other way around. I hope you all felt the impact i did when you read this.