I Always Wanted to be Like You – Part 5
Three days had passed since the conversation, and Jecht’s family had never been closer.
Scootaloo and herself were still not officially together, but they were closer than they’d ever been before and, somehow, word had gotten around about it. Elderly ponies would frown at them whenever they went passed, while adults and teenagers would either pass them by without a word or congratulate them. This wasn’t helping, seeing as they were now almost constantly training.
Jecht had worked out a diet plan to give them maximum energy by the end of the week while Scootaloo had worked out a training schedule. They were given nine hours a night for sleep, and three hours a day for everything else from eating to relaxing. They would wake up, have breakfast, train for six hours, have lunch, train for a further six hours, then have dinner and talk with family until bed.
After six days of this somewhat antisocial schedule, they rested an entire day with no training to work up enough energy for the competition.
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Rainbow Dash had been living in this world for what felt like a month now. On the first day in her strange world, she had met Scootaloo. The words of their conversation, even after this slow month, had burned into her memory. She had told Scootaloo to go above and beyond. She had told her to exceed her in everything she had ever strived to do, and she believed Scootaloo could do it. Then again, she was just a figment. This world couldn’t be real… but then why did it seem so? This was the only world she ever knew…
After a few days, everything seemed to go a bit slower, and she was joined by Applejack. The other world had become forgotten, and only Applejack remained. They had sat and talked for hours and hours on end, or rather, Applejack had talked to her. Rainbow Dash didn’t really know what was happening anymore, but she couldn’t speak. She had trouble walking, could barely fly, and now she was mute. Only Applejack kept her sane.
Every once in a while, one or more of her other friends would come into her dream, too, but would always leave after an hour or two. Whenever Rarity visited, the colour of the sky would change and the clouds would resemble a different type of flower. This seemed somehow strange to Rainbow Dash but, as before, this was the only world she knew, and no matter how strange anything was, it must have been real; for what else could it be?
She had once gotten extremely tired. So tired she felt she wouldn’t wake up if she slept. Oh, how she wanted to sleep, but Pinkie had kept her awake with one of her parties. She didn’t object, she liked Pinkie’s parties, but she just wished Pinkie had picked a better time. She had heard yelling from somewhere and Pinkie disappeared, along with all the colour she had brought to this white and grey cloud world. Just after Pinkie left, she heard words faintly in the distance… or was it one word repeated? She heard ‘clear… clear…’ and something she assumed was an unseen thunder cloud struck her a few times and she was awake again.
Whenever any of her other friends visited, they only ever sat quietly. She tried to interact with them, but while their gaze would follow her around, she couldn’t start a conversation with them.
After a fortnight in this world, Scootaloo had brought somepony else with her. She couldn’t remember who, she couldn’t even remember what this pony looked like; only that they had come with Scootaloo. She had a feeling it was a mare, but it might have been a colt… was it a Pegasus or not? She wasn’t sure.
When Scootaloo spoke, her heart had soared. She had felt better than she had in the fortnight since her mind had started recording memories. Scootaloo had learned to fly. She flew so well, she had joined the Junior Speedsters. This was what Dash had wanted. After this visit, Dash was able to fly again. Not much, but she was able to. Somehow, Scootaloo having come one step closer to their shared goal had made her somewhat better… she didn’t know what this meant, but she knew Scootaloo had to complete the goal for… something… what would happen if she completed the goal had slipped her mind, but she knew it was important.
Her friend had spoken, too. They had wished for her to get better. Why would she need to get better? She couldn’t fly too well, but she felt fine. But then again, since the visit she had been getting steadily more tired again.
Applejack was almost always there. If she disappeared, she would come back after what felt like half an hour. Having Applejack there made her feel better… why, she didn’t know, but it helped having a friend as close as Applejack. Wait, why does it help? What do I need help with?
That was a fortnight ago. She hadn’t seen Scootaloo since, but Applejack was still there, and her other friends were still visiting. She was content, but still uneasy with the world she was in; she just didn’t seem to be able to pick what was wrong with it.
AUTHORS NOTE
From here on in, you need to choose what ending you want to read. I’m going to write a happy ending, and a sad ending, to keep everyone happy. I know a lot of you will read both, but whatever.
There will also be a happy and sad epilogue. I don’t think I’ll continue this story after that. I’ll move on to something else, but I promise to continue to write! I can’t leave you like that. I never realised just how many people would like my style of writing, hahah! I actually thought I was bad at it… Well, I’ll write more in the post-epilogue authors note.