R3fl3ction Chapter 6

noitcelfeR|R3fl3ction
Chapter 6
Swimming in the Smoke
The flames of history make up the past. The smoke of those flames makes up the present that we must stumble through, in hopes that we can rise from the ashes in the future.   
                                             
Dinner at 6pm, so wash up at 5:55. 6:24 help wash the dishes. 6:30 until sunset work in the fields. Dessert of apple pie when returning from the fields. This was the previous night's agenda. Derpy, having visited Sweet Apple Acres found it too tempting to get a taste of the country lifestyle to go home that night. Instead she agreed to stay for dinner and then offered to pitch in helping the others finish their chores for the night. With an extra set of hooves working that night the dishes were finished faster and more work was able to be done.

At 7:30pm Derpy was getting set to head home, when Applejack insisted that she stay the night. Derpy declined the offer saying she would need to get packed in the morning. The country mare asked where it was that she lived and of course she answered. The pegasus was then assured by the earthen pony that they would have plenty of time to stop by her house. With that in mind, she agreed to stay the night at the farm only if she could briefly borrow a pencil and a few sheets of paper. Her request was met with some curiosity but her wishes were granted without question.

Later, after Apple Bloom had gone to bed, Applejack and Derpy both stayed up late downstairs sipping on some cider, which they kept in their cellar. There they sat downstairs talking about their lives and other things of interest that they could come up with. Derpy did her very best to avoid the topic of the past as much as she could. She was having a peaceful night and she preferred to keep it flashback-free. The last thing she needed was to have an episode right there on their floor.

Despite her attempts to avoid the subject, the talk was inevitable. As the night went on, Applejack went into deeper descriptions of her own past, especially around the time when she found her cutie mark. Then at the end of her own story the orange mare asked Derpy about her own cutie mark. She most likely did so to be courteous, not knowing the awkward tension that was doomed to follow.

From then on Derpy had explained her situation of poor memory and various details of her quest to find it. In the discussion it became clear to Applejack as to why she had asked for the paper, and also why she was writing as they spoke.

The country mare had said how awful it must be to be in Derpy's position. Truly, Derpy reasoned, it is true what they say about Applejack. Her way of thinking was in fact brutally honest. But the pegasus could see plainly by the look in her eyes that she meant no harm by what she said, only support. With that observation she felt safe in sharing her own personal opinions to the mare, even more that she had shared with Fluttershy that first, awkward day.

Derpy felt safe with the information that she shared with her new friend, or at least she believed they were friends. Of course they were friends, for if they were not, the pegasus wouldn't have told the earth-mare about the way every vision filled her with a sense of fear that somehow managed to be awe-inspiring. She also wouldn't have mentioned the way that she felt every morning having to look into her book to find memories. Most importantly, she wouldn't have told her about her encounters with the mare in the mirror.

Applejack took every word that was spoken to her as if it were a treasure. She never laughed or scoffed at her guest's troubles. Instead she merely smiled kindly, nodding her head every once in awhile and uttering phrases such as, "Ah see."

From the way that her host handled the information being distributed, Derpy felt like she trusted the right pony.

After that, they both cleared off to bed.

When they got up in the morning to leave it was still dark outside. Derpy went through her normal routine of reading her notes about the previous day, she didn't have her journal with her so she could not read of other days.  She was still tired, but she managed to keep up with the others. Fluttershy was also there when she went downstairs.

The large group all sat down to an early breakfast of apple-related treats after which, the girls went to check their inventory for the trip. When they were satisfied with what they had, they said goodbye to Granny-Smith and headed off through the orchard, into the wilderness behind it.

---

An hour after the sun had pushed from above the horizon, the group was still hiking in the direction that Applejack led them in. By now the three younger foals were all tired of walking with their 'heavy packs' on their backs, which of course in reality were not so heavy at all. They moaned and they whined, confessing to being bored. Scootaloo even went so far as to comment on how there was nothing interesting about the woods.

Applejack didn't want to hear it. "Now y'all wait just a minute. The great outdoors is one of the most excitin' places to be."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "What could be exciting about these woods?" There was enough sarcasm in her tone to cause Fluttershy to angst.

"There's plenty of excitin' stuff out here," Applejack said looking around. Her eyes searched for something to capture the girls' interest with, the question being, what in these woods would be big enough to do so?

The orange mare started by looking at the ground then slowly shifting her gaze to other objects as they walked. They were walking on a dirt path that nature had so kindly carved out for them to walk through; of course, dirt was not all that exciting. Ahead of her she saw a large oak tree, which had to have been over a hundred years old. Despite the marvels of this ancient spectacle, she knew that a tree would not be enough to wow the three uninterested fillies. What she needed was to find something that resembled danger and excitement.

A few more steps and Applejack found just the sort of thing she was looking for. "Look at that tree up ahead to the left."

The three foals did as told, as did the two elder ponies. "Yeah," replied Scootaloo, "what about it?"

Applejack smiled a bit and motioned for them to take a closer look. "See how the branches of that tree jut away from the center?"

"Uhuh…" the three said in unison.

"See how the color of the bark changes as you look down towards the trunk?"

They all repeated their first response.

"That tree was struck by lightning durin' a thunderstorm, all the middle branches went flyin':

Sweetie Belle's eyes widened. "Wow! Really?"

"Big whoop" said Scootaloo, still not caring.

Applejack still took it as a success. One filly down, two more to go. Once again her eyes searched the surroundings in hope to find something to catch their attention.

"See that pine tree up ahead?"

The remaining two nodded.

"Look closely at the trunk. See the claw marks?"

They didn't respond, for they were both taken by surprise at how large they were.

"What left them?" her younger sister asked curiously.

"Ah ain't sure. Hey Fluttershy, do those marks look like bear claws to you?"

"Bear claws?" the three foals all said with wide eyes.

Applejack continued, knowing that she had them right where she wanted them. "Or do they look more like wolf marks to you?"

Fluttershy seemed to be catching on to Applejacks game. She quietly giggled and played along. "I'm not sure. They are really far away. They could be, uh, panther marks…" Her face was as inconsistent as her tone, and she was afraid that she might give herself away.

To her relief, the girls took it for the truth and began quaking in fear.

"Uh, sis," said Apple Bloom, "there aren't really bears or wolves or panthers out here, are there?"

Applejack shrugged.

"Oh my." said Sweetie Belle quietly.

Now the three foals were far less concerned about their own boredom and were far more involved in looking for dangerous creatures, which more than likely, were either not native to this part of the woods or were still hibernating.

Derpy smiled at the way Applejack handled the situation. She could feel that this was going to be a fun trip.

---

By 8:00am they had arrived at the campsite. It was marked by a number of large rocks arranged in a large circle at the top of a hill. Inside the ring of stones the grass was far less abundant due to extended use as a campsite. In the center, was another circle of stones that made a place to start a campfire, around which there were five logs for anypony to sit on if they desired to do so. There were a few trees at the hilltop but they were not as thick or randomly scattered as the trees below, rather these trees seemed to be in just the perfect places to provide a harmonic balance of shade and sunlight in the campsite.

The hill had two dirt paths leading up and down it. One of these paths, on the north side, was the one they had used to climb up the short hill. The other pathway, was located on the west side of the hill, and led to a large blue lake where they could swim and play.

Looking rather satisfied with one of her favorite campsites, Applejack used her teeth to pull the strap that held her supplies to her sides and let it all fall to the ground. "Alright," she said taking charge, "We should all set up our tents and then go gather the rest of our supplies."

Everypony agreed, and they began unpacking their tents.  Applejack called over her little sister to help her set up the first tent, which was similar in color to her orange coat.

For anypony that wasn't well acquainted with unicorn magic, setting up a tent was much easier with a partner. A tent consisted of two long poles of equal length and of course the tent itself. To set up the tent, one had to run the two poles through the two tunnels that made the frame. After doing so, the poles would be arched to form the shape of the tent and give it volume, and then it would be staked to the ground.

In order to do this task, both Applejack and Apple Bloom managed one pole each, and they worked together to slide the poles through the loops and then bend and drive the poles into the ground. Then Applejack held the tent in place while her little sister found the stakes and drove them into the ground.  

Only a couple yards away, Derpy and Fluttershy used the same two-pony method to set up a second tent, which was yellow with pink trimming.

While those four had devised a better plan for setting up their tents, the other two fillies had decided to try and do it themselves with little success.

Scootaloo on the one hand was starting to grow frustrated. The stupid tent wouldn't work. At that moment, all she had was two poles in the ground on the left hoof side and the tent looped around them. She was having trouble pulling down the other end of the poles and stabbing them in the ground as well. She had tried to do so using brute force, but that had resulted in falling on her back and causing her mouth to be sore. So she then tried a different approach.

The young pegasus climbed the nearest tree and leapt onto the side of the tent that was sticking up in the air. She landed, bringing the side of the tent to its proper resting place on the ground. Satisfied with handiwork, Scootaloo backed away from the tent. Then she remembered she needed to stake the poles into the ground first.

Suddenly she heard a familiar whooshing sound. Quickly her head darted back, but she was too late, the tent had been flung towards the sky. She could do nothing but watch as the tent flew through the air and landed right behind Sweetie Belle and staked itself down.

The young unicorn had just unpacked her own tent and turned to see one set up right where she had planned to set hers. She dropped the tent out of her mouth and just stared at it. She began to question the very possibility of such a thing. "How did this get here? Was it magic? Was it my magic? Can I even do that kind of magic?"

Scootaloo came galloping up, and stopped to stare exactly as Sweetie Belle had. "Uh... Sweetie Belle..."

The unicorn stopped her pacing to see the befuddled look on Scootaloo's face. It was then that she knew what was going on. "Let me guess, you were having tent trouble."

"Yeah, I was." Scootaloo answered. "Hey, wanna help me move this back to where I was?"

"Hmmm," she answered, "Why don't we just leave it here by the path to the lake. The three of us will just end up camping in the same tent anyways." They nodded in agreement and laughed.

In the end, Sweetie Belle's tent functioned as Derpy's for the trip. The three older mares set it up together at a very quick speed while the foals chased each other in circles.

Once all the tents were set up and the girls finally tripped over one-another, the group split up to do their own designated tasks. Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo went down to the lake to clean up any debris from the trees to "eliminate potential hazards" as Fluttershy called it, while Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Derpy all went looking for firewood.

Derpy could not remember a time where she had gone camping, nor did she remember a time when she needed to collect her own firewood. The pile by her fireplace was there when she woke up, she never had to go gather it, at least not since her memory started to come back.

Applejack led the two down the north side of the small hill towards the less thick section of the woods. This confused both of her followers very much, as they thought that they would be heading either to the east or to the south where the forest seemed to thicken.

"Hey, sis?" Apple Bloom asked with the curiosity of a young filly ready to learn. "Why aren't we goin' to the other side of the hill to find wood?"

Applejack smiled in a way that let Derpy know that she was happy to have been asked such a question. "Because this campsite actually borders the Everfree Forest. There is a lot more wood down there, but there are some trees we just shouldn't bother with."

That was all that was said on the matter as they came to a part of the woods where some of the trees still had branches that had no leaves.

This time it was Derpy's curiosity that had gotten the best of her. She wondered why there were these sections of the woods that were less developed than others. Applejack explained it in the simplest terms possible, mainly because she wasn't actually certain. She argued that it was just the way nature was. Most likely, some trees absorb more nutrients or water from the ground before other trees have a chance.

When they returned to the campsite they had collected a fair amount of wood for the fire.

The six ponies later took a breather and glanced at the surrounding area, each for their own reason. The three foals were looking for something fun to do, Applejack was noting the place to start the fire, and Fluttershy was checking to see if she could find any birds to impress the young fillies. Derpy, glad to have some time with these girls, just sat on a log and stared, taking it all in.

Fluttershy, whispering to Applejack and Derpy, said "the girls look bored already, maybe we should go bird-watching."

Derpy, being lost in thought, did not hear her at first. When she did she stumbled out a quick "Okay, sounds good" and got up to follow. She asked herself why the three hyperactive fillies would enjoy such a patience-testing activity, but decided to just sit back and watch and see how long they would before becoming bored.

Fluttershy's rattling off of bird names filtered in and out of Derpy's thought process. At one point, she thought Fluttershy called a bird a "great influence laughing fuss" but in reality she was pointing out a "Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush" which snapped Derpy back to attention. She listened more as Fluttershy showed them a "Eurneighsion Three-Toed Wood-Pecker" but zoned out afterwards.

Around noon, as the heat of the sun was reaching its peak, and was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, the six ponies decided to do something else. The three young fillies, sweat dripping off each of their faces, immediately suggested to go swimming.

"Come on, it's really hot out." Scootaloo complained. "Going for a swim would be awesome right about now."

"Ah agree," said Applejack. "A swim does sound a mighty fine idea."

Derpy didn't really want to swim, but she decided to go along with it, just for the others. "Sure, a swim sounds nice."

So they trotted over to the lake. On arrival the three foals immediately jumped in, and began to splash each other. Derpy took one look at them, and realized that distance from the fray would be best, and settled with floating in a shallow indent at the edge of the lake, where it was easy for her to stay in one place.

Fluttershy, not much of a swimmer, voiced her idea, "Um, maybe I should, uh, you know, stay out of the water. Like here at this rock, it's not so bad, and besides, the water is probably too cold for me anyway. That's okay, right?"

Applejack, sounding quite sarcastic, responded as she rose slowly out of the water and headed towards Fluttershy. "Sure Shy," She said. "We understand. But are yah certain yer not the slightest bit warm in this sun?"

"Oh, no. I'm quite comfortable." she responded. "I really don't think that a swim is necessary."

Applejack trotted right up to her, as she laid back to avoid looking at everypony else, which made her unaware that Applejack was grabbing her and tossing her into the cold, refreshing lake.

"OH MY!" Fluttershy yelled, causing Derpy to sit up. What she saw was actually quite shocking. She saw Fluttershy being splashed on by the young foals, as Applejack jumped back in. And she was laughing! The sight was so hilarious, that Derpy soon found herself laughing along with the rest of them.

Time passed quickly and the party eventually grew tired and hungry. Applejack looked at the rest of the ponies and suggested that they all go back and make some s'mores. The three foals smiled and agreed.

On their way out of the lake Apple Bloom happened to wonder aloud why they were called s'mores.

"I don't know,"  said Scootaloo, "maybe cause they always leave you wanting s'more?" She smiled awkwardly as she waited for a response. The other two foals just stared at her creating an unsettling moment of silence.

Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo, and slowly shook her head with open eyes. "That was just awful." Then without another word Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle walked away, leaving Scootaloo there to ponder this response.

"Oh come on," she called after them, "it wasn't that bad was i-"

"Yes it was" the other two said in unison.

So they dried off, and headed back to the campsite. Derpy and Fluttershy prepared the graham crackers and chocolate, and Applejack, who might not have been thinking correctly, showed the three young fillies how to start a fire. They all gathered around the safe, much to Scootaloo's disappointment, and small fire. They devoured the delectable and delicious s'mores. And had an all-around group connection together.

This was one of those subtle moments where a pony didn't really care about anything but enjoying the tranquil moment. Nopony was worried about school or work, nor was anypony concerned with the hour of the night. Nopony cared that the sooty smoke was sticking to their coats and that they would need baths. Nopony cared about the dirt on their hooves or the pine straw in their manes; all that mattered at that moment was relaxing and enjoying the peace and silence of the great outdoors - together.

As they progressed into the later hours of the night they found themselves exchanging a variety of different stories to entertain with. Upon repeated requests from her sister, Applejack started off with some riveting tales of her experiences in the rodeo. For what must have been half an hour they all sat and listened to her talk.

It all sounded like so much fun to Derpy, the concept of course. While she would never imagine being a part of the festivities described to her, she found the tales themselves to be quite enthralling. She could imagine it all. Applejack standing in the center of ring of dirt, cautiously sidestepping while keeping eye contact with some dangerous bull character. He would try and taunt her with a snort of his nose and a kick of his hoof, but she would not be intimidated. Applejack would wait for the bull to rush at her before whipping out her rope into a lasso and hurling it around her opponent's neck and then swinging onto his back, biting onto his horns with no intention of letting go. The bull would no doubt kick and stomp to try and throw her off, but he would have no luck, and with a sharp twist Applejack would bring the bull onto his side in victory. The crowd would burst out in excitement, and the whole undertaking would be remembered by fans in the crowd.

After Applejack was done sharing the details of her escapades with raging bulls, exhilarating races, and the suspense of friendly competition, the rest of the group was still in awe at all the exploits of the country mare. The country mare produced an all-knowing smile, almost smirking at their admiration. Beneath her pride however she was quite embarrassed by the adoring stares and it showed on her face, her orange coat unable to hide her blushing.

Unable to handle the silence any longer, Applejack looked to her sister. Her expression and tone of voice as she spoke to the filly seemed to challenge Apple Bloom in a way that siblings so often did. "So," she started off, "how about you?"

The little filly didn't immediately realize she was being spoken to, and thus waited a moment before awkwardly asking "Wha- me?"

It was final in Derpy's mind that Apple Bloom had the most adorable country accent in all of Equestria.

Applejack nodded quickly and began messing up her little sister's hair with her hoof, not caring that the enormous bow was coming loose from the filly's hair. "Come on sis'" she said, her voice still portraying a challenging tone, "Don't y'all have any stories about them crazy adventures y'all have?"

Apple Bloom shook her head, rejecting the hoof messing up her bow. She scooted back a little then hesitated. Her face then lit-up with a sort of enlightened passion which Derpy and Fluttershy found quite entertaining. Applejack must have felt the same way, because she made an attempt at an expression to try and urge her younger sister into a sort of sibling-rivalry attitude. It worked.

"Why yes we do, don't we girls?" her head snapped quickly to the other two fillies, who had been watching in silent laughter the entire time. Suddenly their faces hardened, and they rose to their feet, Scootaloo being the first of the two to verbally agree.

The next half hour seemed to fly by. Every few minutes the three foals had the entire group in an uproar of laughter. Even Fluttershy was unable to keep quiet at some points.

From their escapades in tree climbing to their utter defeat at squirrel catching the entire camp was in a riot.

After the tenth story, which was about trying to earn cutie marks in 'duck whispering', Applejack noted that the wood pile was officially depleted.

Apple Bloom, being one of the only ponies not feeling the crashing effects of the depleting adrenaline supplied by constant laughter, verbally noted how quickly the wood burned. "Y'all found it last time," she said to her older sibling, "ah can do it this time."

The elder of the sisters was still having random spells of giggling, which at this point was becoming painful to her sides. She nodded in agreement, flicking her hoof to notion for to head off. "Alraight," she said gasping for air, "just be… be careful!"

The young filly beamed and merrily made her way from the site.

Derpy, who was still shaken up from the show, decided to tag along.

---

"Wood," chanted Apple Bloom to herself, "gotta find wood. We need wood to burn for the fire.  Wood comes from trees. Trees are wood…"

Despite this mumbling to herself she was actually being quite strict in her search for usable firewood. She wanted to make sure to get the best firewood for everypony to enjoy.

Derpy was curious as to where they would be looking for firewood, for it was dark now, and it didn't seem like they were likely to find any loose wood around in the direction they were going.

"Hey," she said after ten minutes of searching. "Maybe we should call it quits. It is just way too dark to find anything useful."

Apple Bloom sighed. "But we gotta find something to use. We can't go back empty-hoofed. Wah don't we try the swamp? There's bound to be some dead wood down there!"

Derpy shook her head in the darkness. "I think your sister told us not to go get wood from there. I think we should just head up and enjoy what's left of the fire."

Apple Bloom nodded, and agreed, but seemed a little hesitant. "Why don't you go up, ah'll be right behind ya. Ah wanna look just a little bit more."

Derpy hesitated for a moment, and then decided that the foal could handle herself. She departed from the woods and regrouped with the rest of the camp.

Apple Bloom however did not return immediately, and the rest of them started to worry. But their fears were put to rest when she showed up with three large sticks of wood with her.

"Ah found some wood!" she announced loudly.

Applejack looked at her with some suspicion. "Derpy said you couldn't fahnd anythin' in the dark."

"Oh," the filly stammered, "ah found some anyways." She smiled inconspicuously.

Applejack shrugged and took the wood, adding it to the fire. Almost instantly the flames jumped up, but nopony paid any mind to it.

A few more minutes passed and they were telling stories again. The fire however was putting off an unusual amount of smoke.

It smells so… sweet! Thought Derpy, and she took a deep breath of the smoky air, embracing the aroma as if it were a new friend. Friends; she felt so lucky to have them.

Time continued to past and Derpy began to feel dizzy, but at the same time she felt happy.

Nopony was watching her, and she felt like she needed some air. So without a word, she walked away down the east side of the hill.

---

Derpy Hooves was doing nothing less than prancing down the hill. Her path seemed distorted, and she felt like there was no friction when she touched the ground. Her wings flapped rather awkwardly as she skipped, until suddenly she tripped on a rock and fell to the ground, sliding a few feet with her wings still flapping as her eyes rolled back to a wall-eyed position once again.

Derpy…

She heard something call her name. It was sort of high pitched in a way that seemed to resemble the voice of a creature much smaller than her.

She rose to her hooves, and looked around. She heard her name again, and looked up to see fireflies above her.

"Oh hi" she said, her words much heavier than normal. "Where did you come from?" They didn't respond, but they seemed to trail off towards the lake. "You want me to follow? Okay." The pegasus trailed off towards the lake, tripping once again.

Suddenly she was babbling to herself.

"I'm a pony, a pegasus pony with wings. I fly. I like flying, flying is to pony as… muffins and I'm alone…"

"Why am I always alone?"

The words she spoke then seemed to be coming from some other pony, despite her having said them.

"I'm not alone." she said, smiling proudly. She pointed at herself with her hoof as she sat down and stared at the water. "I have friends."

"Then why am I alone?"

This time Derpy stopped. She could have sworn that somepony else was asking the questions to her. It was only her speaking under her breath. Yet each word felt as if it were a dagger piercing her metaphorical heart, her emotions, and her conscience.

Conscience?

What did conscience have to do with anything? She hadn't done anything wrong.

"Then why do you choose to forget?"

These thoughts were not her own and she knew it, or at least she believed they were not. No these were only echoes; the echoing voice of the mare in the mirror.

The puzzled pony leaned over the side of the water, staring into her reflection.

Nothing happened. The mare in the mirror did not speak, and neither did she. There was just silence. Unbearable, deafening silence.

She leaned downward and splashed some water on her face. "This is so painful" she muttered. "The emptiness inside."

There was a voice, this time coming from behind her that seemed to echo in the air like the ripples in the water.  She turned to see who it was, but all she was met with was a silhouette of a pony.

"Appleja…?" she started to say, but stopped as the figure took a step forward. The shadowy silhouette instantly transformed in shape into another familiar face. "Cheerilee?"

The mare said nothing, gave her no message of greeting, she only stood there. If it were any consolation the mare didn't have to say anything, for her expression said it all.

Cheerilee's expression was filled with a sort of empathy. At least that's what Derpy believed it to be. The pony looked as if she was tired, the kind of tired that ponies often confuse sadness with.

No... she is staring at me with pity...

Her eyes were locked with Derpy's. The two of them exchanged equally soft glances of understanding at first, then Derpy started to cringe in anger.

Understanding… the word echoed in her head. She was suddenly filled with a feeling of insecurity. No one could possibly understand her, and it became clear to her what she was staring at.

For the first time Derpy directed her gaze to the ground around Cheerilee. It was familiar, and Derpy turned around to find that she had indeed seen it all before. Only a moment before she had been staring at Cheerilee standing in the exact place she was standing then.

It was a reflection, as if when she turned around she was staring into a mirror image of what she had been staring at moments ago. In this reflection however, there were no ponies.

Derpy turned her head back to meet the eyes of Cheerilee once more, but found herself staring into her own eyes.  Even though she knew that it was a reflection, this caused a sense of confusion in her, and she turned back around to see the lake again but this time it was gone, and behind her was the direction from which she came.

She turned back around to see herself once again, still mirroring her movements. Her heart raced as she began to feel a sense of fear. Something was off here.

Get it together, she thought. It's only a reflection.

"Am I?"

Derpy's eyes widened. It was not her who spoke, but the supposed reflection of herself.

"I can't control who I am… or was." The image said.

Derpy felt more pain in her head than ever before now. She had said that very thing to the mare in the mirror the day the incident happened. It was an echo from the past.

There was a moment of strange discomfort coming over her.

She shook her head and turned around; once again she was at the pond. In a moment of confusion she turned around, but nothing was there everything was as it should be. She was alone.

Alone…

Vision left her, as she fell to the ground unconscious.

---

Where am I? Why am I here? How did I get here?

The world around seemed so blurry so strange.

A strange distortion floated around her, causing what seemed to be ripples of sorts in the very air.

She tried to breathe, but for some reason it didn't feel right. Something was off about this place, and she didn't know what.

She tried to move, but her motions seemed to be slowed by some unseen force. She looked down to find that she wasn't standing; rather she was floating; wafting in midair. It had to be air; she could feel no liquid around her, her pony skin was dry. Yet every move she made caused more and more ripples in the air.

I smell smoke… I can feel it stinging my sinuses and clogging my lungs. The soot is sticking to my coat, my skin, my hair… It's getting thicker…

Indeed the smoke was growing thicker, to the point to where it seemed to swallow her whole.

Where is it coming from? I have to get out of here… who are you?

A shadowy silhouette had appeared in the distance behind the smoke. It was moving, running towards her, but it didn't seem to be getting any closer. Yet still she could hear it, rather she could hear him. It was a stallion, and he was coughing, panting, gasping for air. Was he trapped like she was? Was running pointless for him too? Was also immobilized by this dark haze which had enveloped her?

"Derpy!" the figure called, but the sound was muffled. "Derpy…"

"I'm here!"

Her own voice was even more muffled than the other. Sound didn't seem to be working properly, as if her words were being trapped in bubbles, unable to break free.

It was the smoke, she was sure of it. The ash and soot in the air was so dense that she could practically wade in it. The smoke was thick enough that she could swim through it.

The voice called again and once more she responded. Her voice was once again muffled, but the call of the stallion grew even louder.

"Derpy where are you? Derpy!"

Suddenly she felt as if she was sinking, and she could feel the ground beneath her hooves. The smoke lightened, not in weight but in color, and the scene glowed a haunting red. Just moments before she had been observing the scene from above, now she appeared to be in the very center of whatever chaos had befallen this place.

I'm burning up! Somepony please help me!

Now the stallion's voice was closer, louder. There was a sense of panic in it that caused Derpy's heart to sink into a pit of despair. She suddenly felt very alone, and very afraid.

Now she was on the floor, trying to find air that had not been contaminated by the smoke. Walls and furniture surrounded her. The objects that she felt would have normally given her comfort now threatened her with fire and ash.

Now she could feel the flames upon her. They flickered and danced in a devilish manner almost as if they were celebrating her fear and pain.

Was she, going to die?

No, of course not. He wouldn't let that happen. She felt the stallion's teeth on her mane, pulling her away from a fiery grave. The motion hurt, but she didn't care, she was too afraid to care.

The stallion used his foreleg to grab hers, and with a mighty tug he pulled her to his side. Without a moment to lose, the green-coated stallion started to push through the smoky room with her at his side.

Derpy shrieked in horror as two burning planks of wood fell from the roof and blocked the doorway, missing their heads by mere inches.

The two ponies quickly jumped back, and Derpy began looking for another way out. The stallion did not. Instead, he let go of her leg and charged at the blazing blockage, smashing through the barrier with great momentum. The stallion swiftly returned to the mare's side and pulled her through the doorway.

Only a few more steps were taken before Derpy heard a sharp snapping sound. The stallion must have heard it too because he tackled her and covered her body completely. There was a loud crash followed by the sound of shattering glass. She heard the stallion let out a suppressed cringe in pain. When he got off of her it was clear what had happened: the chain to the glass chandelier had popped, sending the object to the hard, marble flooring where it shattered into thousands of pieces on impact.

Despite a few pieces of glass in his back the stallion still pulled Derpy to her feet and tugged her along through the burning building.

The smoke was starting to condense, and she could hear him wheezing. But he did not stop.

A few more moments and they found themselves at a spiral staircase, the structure of which was still intact but the metal rail used for hoof support was obviously very hot by the way heat waves surrounded its surface.

Without taking any time to think the stallion grabbed her by the mane and began running down the staircase, the roof of the floor they were departing collapsing behind them.

They were running out of time, the building was starting to fall apart. He had to have known it too, because he took no self-precautions in running down the staircase. Instead, he practically thrust himself against the hot metal of the railing in order to provide enough space for Derpy to be unscathed.

The pain must have been excruciating.

"We're almost there," he said to her between heavy breaths, "just one more floor. We'll be safe in a minute."

But they didn't have a minute, the clock was ticking.

As soon as they hit the bottom of the spiral staircase the roof began to drop heavy wooden beams upon them. He could no longer risk holding her, he had to shield her.

She felt herself being swung around to his front, her legs wrapping around his neck and beneath his forelegs. The additional weight slowed him down, but when the debris began pelting the ground around them it seemed like the only safe place to be.

"Right through that doorway over there…" he said gasping for air. "Just have to get you to the staircase…"

Time was out…

The roof above them collapsed in completely as they made it to the doorway. She let go and made it to the other side only with his strength holding the frame together. "Go through!" he yelled.

She ran and made it to the balcony but the stairs were covered with flaming debris. Below her were two other stallions waiting frantically. They called for her to jump, but it was too terrifying.

There was a loud crash behind her that was followed by the sound of stomping hooves. Suddenly she felt the snout of the green stallion lifting her off the ground and lobbing her over the edge of the balcony and into the forelegs of the other two stallions. She looked back, her heart still racing and her head weary from the effects of adrenaline.

The green stallion looked over the edge of the balcony, and without giving himself time to reconsider what he was about to do, he jumped.

The stallion hit the ground hard with a loud thud, and rolled across the floor for three yards before coming to a stop. He shook his head repeatedly to dissipate the dizziness he had accumulated from the action, and then rose to his feet. The party of four then continued the dash for safety.

They were only a few feet from the door when suddenly the green stallion stopped. When Sandman looked at him for a moment but said nothing. Then they both nodded in what seemed to be a silent agreement. Then the brown pony said to his friend "I'll see you on the other side."

The green stallion nodded, and they locked forelegs in what seemed to be some sort of special hoof-shake before letting go. Then he ran back into the smoky building.

Sandman grabbed Derpy and the remaining three of them ran out.

Another few ponies waited outside for them.

Sandman stared at the doorway, waiting for his friend to come out. They all did.

In the distance she could see a group of Pegasi pushing rain clouds towards the scene.

It was chaos… pure chaos…

One of the Pegasi was faster than the others. The pony looked at the crowd which Derpy was in, and then a shocked look appeared on his face. He looked towards the blazing building and without a moment to lose he flew through the doors of the building and into the smoke.

Not even a full minute later they heard the balcony collapse inside before a cloud of smoke burst out of the double doors. With the smoke came a single pony, a pegasus, cradling a small music box. The other stallions helped him away from the building as it started to cave in on itself.

Derpy didn't know what was happening, but she could tell there was much grief being shared by the small crowd of ponies.

The pegasus looked at the object he was holding, and then he put a key into the box and wound it up. Then she could hear music…

Music that was more beautiful than any other she had ever heard before…

She began to sing.

"Hoof in hoof together, together we will stride. Forever we will stride, and we will remember…"

We will remember…

6 retpahC dnE|3nd Chapter 6