Falling Down

by RoccoRoccs

Chapter 10: A View Of Nothing Else

I was shook awake by a clap of lighting, the resulting boom shook pictures and trinkets from our bedside shelf, waking me from an otherwise peaceful mid day nap. What was with the Pegasi!? This has been going on for days now, the ground was beyond saturated and we were experiencing flooding in some places. If they kept this up the least of our worries would be Zebras, we would need boats. If this was a tactical advantage then it was the strangest I had ever seen in all my days.

I threw the covers off me in anger so that I could storm my way down stairs to make a pot of coffee. I hated being woken up from a good nap, I always felt tired and grumpy when it would happen. Trotting downstairs I noticed a faint glow coming from our home terminal in the corner. Sleepily, I fumbled my good wing around to pull up the mail file to see what junk we had gotten in today. I was surprised to see that for once I had not gotten another offer to reverse my receding mane line, but an audio file from Rose.

I eagerly hit play, If nothing else hearing her voice would help calm me down a bit. With a pop and a whistle, the screen cam to life and the speakers gave birth to that tell-tale static that these damn things always made. Seriously, we have tech to replace body parts lost in combat, but a clear signal was beyond our comprehension.

Hi hunny! I made it safe as houses to Hope! I'm staying at Lilly's house for the night, I hope you don't mind. Oh it has just been so long since I had a chance to catch up with her. They canceled the rail service for the day, I asked if I could get a return train home in the evening but they are not saying one way or another. Typical Equestria Transit for you I suppose... I did however get the cake ordered and finalized the arrangements! I just wish I could be home with you tonight, Lilly is awesome but I need my snuggle buddy to keep me warm at night. I requested a ticket home first thing in the morning for the inconvenience, no telling if I will actually get it but... I hope I do.

I miss you, Chance. Love you!

Aw, how sweet of her to check in! I had forgotten how nice it was to have somepony worrying that you are worrying about them. I need to be sure to reply to her... right after some coffee so I don't sound like a withered old buck that smoked twenty packs of cigarettes a day. I trotted to the kitchen and started a fresh pot and looked out the window. Damn that pink spear looks VERY pink today.

I guess that Golden Bloods execution was cause for added measures of security, but I had never seen so much pink in my damn life. It was positively glowing with a ghastly hue that painted the mountains around it with a sickening glow of... just freaking pink! It gave my stomach an uneasy feeling just staring at it. It made me anxious, I know Luna herself said it was to be seen as a glow of strength, a slowing of how strong our defenses were, but why not blue? She was blue, I like blue, just make it frigging blue!

I pulled myself from the window and took my coffee to the front porch. I just couldn't look at it like that any longer. Residing myself to leaning on a railing and looking out over the countryside, I sipped my coffee and took in the view of ponyville far off in the distance below. At least it wouldn't change with it's happy little houses and patch work roofs. Far beyond it lay the town of Cottonwood, even in all the rain I could just make out the faint glow of street lamps glowing away. I could even nearly see the edge of Hope from here.

I had to give it Rose, when we sold both our homes and move to the country, she knew exactly were to pick a location. Situated at the foothills of the mountains on a rolling hillside, our little home was surrounded by wild flowers and trees that bloomed in the spring time. For her it was heaven, a garden of joy that needed little tending to and plenty of visual praise. It was beautiful here, even the air felt better with it's sounds filled with babbling brooks and soft rustling of trees. Even when I was in a full blow panic attack, just sitting out here on the porch could take all the worry away.

Rose was happy, I was happy and more importantly, we were happy together. But Cherry... The poor mare. Despite telling me repeatedly to stay away from her farm, had sunk to MY little hide away multiple times. You would think that she would ease up on the whole 'distance' thing especially since she herself did not abide by her own rules. But no. She maintained that I was exactly where I needed to be, right here in the mountains with Rose.

Maybe she saw something change inside of me that I couldn't. I know that I am happier here, that much is undeniable, but even still, why keep up the weird act? She kept telling me I was 'safe' here. That keeping distance from every aspect of what happened would help me recover and that she didn't want me to go back to that dark place. Honestly, I was in fact feeling numb to the feeling of what happened. I was still sad, don't get me wrong, but at the same time I was still sad. The loss still hurt to the point that I had been avoiding the topic of having more foals in my life.

Even with my recovering going well, somethings still felt like they were miles from ok with me. But maybe, just maybe if I keep my mental door open, I could take whatever life throws at me. I want Rose to be happy and I know that foals are something she wants... but I just need more time.

I sat staring at the cities' skylines, willing the stress away when suddenly, the rain stopped. Wow, that was abrupt, I mean I'm super happy to see the freaking sun for the first time in forever, but still. Usually, the Pegasi tapper these storms off softly, not just flip a switch. Staring at the sky wondering what on earth was going on, I felt that warm glow of the suns rays on my face. Oh this is just amazing! I had forgotten just how good the sun feels.

I closed my eyes and let the soft patterns of light dance through my eyelids. The quick moving patterns were bright and intense as the clouds were parting, beautiful in their own way. I cracked my eyes open only to close them quickly again due to the intense light. I had forgotten the sun was that bright! It had been so long since I had saw it that my eyes were not adjusted in the slightest. I raised a hoof to block my eyes from the pain and...

Everything was dark around me, trees cast long shadows, too long for four P.M. The mountains to the east and west were also dark, holding that grey tone from the cloud cover. Everything was dark, except Cottonwood. I squinted my eyes and tried to focus in on the bright light that was coming from the town. Was I imagining things? Had the coffee gone bad? The whole town of Cottonwood seemed to glow with a bright light that was slowly fading to a green hue.

I watched as the light began to fade to a sickly green hue as it expanded further and further outward from the town's center. Soon, I could see what it was making the light, but I wish I couldn't. How? How could they!? We had defenses in place that detect these things! How could they have found a way into the town center undetected? Despite my fractured thoughts, one fact stood out in a see of many, many questions.

"That's not the sun. That's an explosion!"

I let out a sharp gasp as the reality of what had just happened just hit home, and buy home, I mean my old home. The blast had spread as far as the outskirts of Ponyville, leveling everything in it's wake beneath a sea of balefire. Cottonwood was none-existent, nothing but a sea of fire and green glowing plasma. I watched as the blast wave raced across the hills, ripping trees from the root and throwing them like match sticks high into the air. Everything that it touched was destroyed seemingly instantly.

I stood in awe, I knew what I was seeing, but my brain refused to put this all together. The fear flooded my body, gluing me in place. I could feel the heat all over my body growing more and more vivid as I watched homes filled with ponies being simply vaporized into nothing. My heart broke as I realized that those homes had ponies in them, helpless to what was happening in the world around them.

It felt like hours passed by in seconds, but I looked on in horror for all of it. It wasn't until I watched the blast wave crest the hillside only a mile or so from my home that I finally moved. My wing flew open in panic to carry me away, but it did little more than throw me closer to the wave of destruction that was coming my way. I scrambled to my hooves and ran towards the mountains behind our little home.

That's when the sound wave hit me, nearly knocking me from my hooves and forcing me the few steps I had left to make it the cave ahead of me. The concussive force was so extreme that I felt it in my soul and it left me dazed, confused and my vision blurry. No other thought crossed my mind other than getting to the limestone caves and somehow getting as deep as I could. I raced down the dark corridor, smashing into every wall along the way. Guided only by memory, I found the little alcove in the rocks I had remembered and threw myself into it.

I covered my ears and braced my body for impact with the wall as I jumped. Sitting in my curled up ball, I was reminded of this feeling. I was the same as the night I had stood on the tracks, but this was so much worse. I wanted to live, I knew I didn't want to die and I was sitting and waiting for it to happen. I felt the tears begin to fall as the world began to tremble beneath me, every small pebble that fell atop me sent a shiver through my frame.

The blast hit with a massive force. It was as if the world jumped a few meters into the air, throwing me side to side. The air was press from my chest and I felt something my my face pop as the pressure grew. My ears felt like they were about to explode the more I was being crushed, my guts hurt and my eyes began to swell. I was in agony. Everything hurt as if I was being crushed by some invisible force that pressed down on everything around me.

I felt my right ear give way, the sharp pain sending me towards the ground in search for any form of salvation. I could feel warm blood every were I moved, I could taste and smell nothing but metal and adrenaline and my couldn't breath. So this was it, I was going to die and this is what it was going to feel like, brutal and out of control agony. Even in the dark cave, light found it's way through to show me how red my vision was becoming. The blood was rushing to my head and squeezing my brain.

As suddenly as it happened, I felt the pressure begin to fall away. Slow at first, but it began to rush away faster and faster as the blast pressure resided, creating a vacuum in it's wake. I was now being suffocated, my ear popped again but this time the dull pain that was persisting was sharp and immediate as blood began to flood down the side of my face. Air from deep in the cave whooshed by the alcoves entrance, pulling with it dust, rocks and musty air as the elements fought for balance.

I kept my head down just as we had been taught in the academy in the event of an explosion. My body was being sand blasted, it felt like my skin was burning and my every hair was being ripped from my body, but that was nothing compared to my feathers being pulled one by one from the root. I screamed in pain as the world went from pressurized to vacuum over and over again. Seconds felt like days, I prayed for death to end the torture, but the relentless onslaught was beginning to calm.

I laid there for I don't even know how long, trying to find the strength to stand. But every time I got the courage to move, I will feel another explosion rock the ground around me. Mercifully, the blast waves were either too far away or on the wrong side of the mountain from me. My thought were left to wonder about Rose and Cherry. I was crying harder than I ever had that I had ran for shelter. Nopony could have survived that explosion, nopony.

What had they gone through in terms of pain, what had they had to see themselves? I was hiding in a cave like a coward, would they have had the chance to get away? What if Rose was hurt somewhere? What if she was dying? What about Cherry? She's my only friend! The thoughts that raced through my head were just as every bit painful as what I had gone through.

I wanted to run to them both, I wanted to storm out of this cave and find them. I needed to know if they were ok. I just wanted to hold Rose one last time, I wanted to see Cherry's stupid face one more time! I can't go out like this, ponies need me! I need them! Once the earth's trembling had slowed, I pushed myself to my hooves and used a wing to guide me through the pitch black cave. What would I see once I was outside? Would there even be an outside?

I peaked around the corner of the rocky entrance and saw my worst fears. Our home was still standing, if only that. The roof had been ripped from the wooden trusses and disintegrated into every direction but up. Large beams were thrown so hard that they had broken the stone around the cliff face, making massive dents in the landscape. Even the air was tainted a dirty brown that hung like fog around me. Everything was just... brown.

I peaked around the corner of my home and was left in shocked horror. Everything was gone. Cottonwood was nothing but a burning crater off in the distance. Ponyville had been nearly leveled in the outskirts where my old home was, but looked to have not taken the full force of the blast thanks to the geography of the land. Parts of the Everfree were burning and a small corner of it was nothing more than a bald spot of what it once was. Everything I knew was nearly evaporated into a cloud of dust.

My worst fears realized, my worst nightmares lying ahead of me and my panic at full blown attack, I looked away. I couldn't look at it, it was too much. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of ponies were dead or dying ahead of me in my once beautiful view. I felt my guts wrench in pain as I threw up a pool of blood at my hooves. But the ground was not the only thing that was bloody. In the reflection of a nearby broken pain of glass, I saw myself. Blood had been pouring from my hurting ear, my nose was a waterfall but my right eye...

One of the blood vessels in my right eye must had ruptured, because all the white around the purple iris was now bright crimson. I stared at the reflection for far too long, this is what I had once wanted, I wanted to be dead but I had never imagined what it might feel like. But this was it. Nothing but pain and sorrow.

I glanced back at the burning town and took a step closer. I felt my legs wobble and give out beneath me, sending me to the still warm and wet grass. I was so weak from blood loss that I couldn't even stand or sit. I had been through so much in a manner of moments that my body was shutting down. I gave a bloody sniff and began to cry again.

"R-Rose... I don't know if you're out there... But If I don't die on this hill, I promise I will find you."

I tried to blink the tears from my eyes, but they kept my vision blurry still. In front of me I could see three shadowy figures. One tall, two short. Try as I might I could not see them, but I could... feel them. Even though I couldn't see them, I somehow knew them, they were my old family. I closed my eyes and waited for death to swallow me whole. I waited for the pain to fade, but it never did. The world was growing dark around me as I began to feel weaker by the second.

Just please make this quick. I want to go home, I want to be with my family again! Don't tease me like this, just let me let go of everything so I can see their smiling faces when daddy comes home for the last time. Please, I will give anything, my life, my body, my last breath. Just as the world was nearing total darkness, one of them spoke.

"Not yet Chance... Not yet... Not like this."

It sounded like Lolly. No Lolly, don't leave me. Please, not again, I can't... I... I can't... But before I could speak, I felt myself fade away to nothing as my eyes closed one last time. Please make it quick... Please.

Author's Note:

There are more chapters coming, I promise.

Comments

[Idoubledareyou]

I knew something was going to happen, still that caught me off guard.

I don't have much to say, I hope Rose and Cherry are okay, but it is not that simple, is it?

I'll be waiting for the next chapter, good work as always.

[RoccoRoccs]

9546952
Thanks for the praise! The next chapter will take some time to get right, but it will be worth it! He will be heading out to find 'one' of the girls in the next chapter. I will have to toss the ideas around as to who will make it through the explosions... as of yet, i have zero idea who myself so no need to read into that lol. Stay tuned, i plan to write tonight and depending on the flow, maybe release one.