>>42224911
>The question makes your head snap up to look at him again
>He's bouncing slightly on the tree
>Friends with a kid less than half your age
>Your mind is setting off more red alerts than you can process
>Then they start to calm as you remind yourself the things you've seen
>Rainbow has Scootaloo
>And his parents trust you for some reason
>That sounds nice
>A smile crosses your muzzle as you go to reply
>Then there's a sinking feeling in your chest
>Why did such a heavy breeze flow in?
>Why is there a hole in your wall?
>Where's the tree?
>Where's Mach!?
“KID!”
>You feel your give as you launch yourself off the couch
>Nothing's broken so you force the muscles to snap your wings correct and soar down
>You can't see any pink, only the brown trunk
>And it's getting further away
>It feels like you're setting your wings on fire as you force them to fly faster
>Faster than you ever have before
>You finally start to catch up to the tree
>Latching onto it, the wind tries to rip the air out of your lungs as the fire in your wings burns hotter with each second
"MACH!?"
>All you get in response is a fearful scream that gets whipped away by the wind
>You're forced to awkwardly scramble through the tree as it flips, turns and spins through the air
>Tears get pulled from your eyes from the wind speed but you see a blur of pink squirming in the tree
>You force yourself towards him, your wings, unable to click to your sides getting tangled in the branches
>The pain doesn't stop you as you reach up and grab hold of something soft and fuzzy
>With a small yank you pull him into you and he clings to your chest
>You look around but you don't know which way is up and your wings are still snagged in the branches
>Bracing your hooves against the trunk, you simply push
>It takes a few of whatever precious seconds you have, but your hooves win out
>You let out a yell of pain as you feel your wing tear itself out from how it tangled itself around a branch and you launch yourself through snapping twigs and branches out of the tree
>You're in the open air
>But your wings refuse to talk to you anymore after what you did
>All you can do to orientate yourself is realize you're about to crash into a very familiar forest
>The one that's haunted your nightmares since you got here
>The one you swore you'd never go back to
>You tuck Mach close as you curl into a ball and turn your back towards the trees
>This is gonna hurt

https://ponepaste.org/10481#2747
an extra big update because I haven't updated in a while and to welcome the beginning of a new thread
admittedly, this part went a different direction than I initially intended, but when I write I tend to let my brain flow instead of stay locked on one thing