Aurora had been gentle, though somehow remaining just as passionate as before. It was with increasing frequency that she amazed me, especially with my recent escapades and foalish mistakes. I felt that I had chosen well in my mate, my lover, and I had hoped that she would be with me always and that she would experience life along with me in all things.

I am glad that she did not, because some events in my life I feel would have broken her completely, though in the coming times I would dare not say so. She would insist that she should have been there, and despaired a little. I did not like seeing Aurora despair because she was far too beautiful and kind and free for it to befit her spirit. Sometimes I wondered why, like a bird, she had chosen to nest her heart and love in me instead of some other “tree,” if you will, what with me being bound to the ground and to reaching up at towards sky.

Then again, is that not what a tree is?

Still, I awoke with a start. I was at home, but the dream had come back once again, and so I assumed that it was not simply a result of the drugs nor the place that I had been in. I had never liked hospitals, you see, and had initially thought that maybe it was by being in one that my dreams were occurring. It was on more than one occasion that my stubbornness had made Aurora forced me to go, but those are stories for another time.

Aurora slept next to me, breathing softly. I decided it was a good time to get up, though my body hurt from the day before. Stretching helped alleviate some of the stiffness, though such actions hurt as well, leaving me limber and awake. I moved towards the kitchen to set myself up with a small breakfast so as to prepare myself for the day ahead. I looked to the table as I prepared some bread for the toaster, thinking on the note that my boss had sent back to me in response to the one I’d sent from the hospital.

Mister Ramp,

I was made aware of your injury upon your admittance to the hospital, but I am glad to hear from you personally. It is good that you are alive and for the most part, in one piece. Take your time with the rehabilitation, and make sure you do it right. If you don’t you could end up injured on the job, and spend even more time away from work. When you return, we’ll start you off slow, and get you back up to spec as the coming weeks pass.

Here’s to your return. I will have many questions when you do.

Sincerely,

Paper Plane

I still had a job, which made me happy to no end. I could continue the life I’d had before, despite the events that had come to pass. The hissing in my head had subsided for the most part, and the unwanted images that had plagued my mind were becoming less and less frequent. Aurora still loved me, and I was recovering. I had even made the acquaintance of a Wonderbolt’s sister! Not many could say they’d done that, right?

Still, persistant was my brain against my will. I forced images of taking to the sky to the back of my head. Somehow, I was certain that it would always be there, the dream, the wish.

But it didn’t matter. Right?

Right.

I stared at my toast with confidence, lost in thought until Aurora startled me with a giggle.

“Dear, the toast isn’t going to attack you.” she smirked.

I shook out of the stupor I’d put myself in, and turned to give her a hug and a kiss on the lips.

“Was just thinking again. It’s not important.” I told her as I pulled away.

Aurora tilted her head and walked over to the toaster, nabbing up one of the pieces of bread. I watched as she nibbled at it, then put it on a plate and retrieved the other for me.

“Needs to be more cooked to be toast.” she said as she wrinkled her nose, “It’s not even a little burnt.”

I think it was then and there that I knew. She was well aware of what I was thinking, no matter what. I was predictable for the most part, and that’s what I believe she took comfort in. Especially looking back on what she really did for a living. Certainly there was the package delivery service but… Well, we’ve all had secrets before right?

I never suspected the truth, not even once.

My blue-eyed, purple-maned pegasus turned the dial up all the way preparing to completely, in my opinion, incinerate the bread. I couldn’t understand why she liked the taste of everything that was cooked to be burnt. I’d asked before, but she’d never given me a real answer. I guessed that it was just one of her quirks.

Our breakfast was silent. A lot was on our minds, of that much I was certain. We occasionally glanced at each other, and I was unsure of what to say. I certainly couldn’t bring up what was still going through my head, and somewhere in the back of my mind I just hoped it would all pass in time and I’d forget the silliness that had overtaken me in the past few weeks.

But as I’d said before, I’m pretty sure Aurora knew everything anyways.

Typically, we’d banter before we left to do things separately. That day, we didn’t. Aurora just kissed me on the cheek as I left to go train with Scootaloo. The whisperings in my head tried their best to invade my mental images and force me to see life without her, but I refused to let them. Pushing them to the back of my head, I forced myself out the door with Aurora smiling softly as I looked back. Training that day would be very hard, I knew, because I was still aching from the day before. Somehow I felt stronger, though, like I might be able to do even more exercises than the day before. With that in mind, I found myself looking forward to my meeting with the young orange Pegasus mare.

We met in the same place as the day before, next to the fountain in the center of Ponyville’s park.

“Hey.” Scootaloo waved at me as I approached, “Ready to get started?”

I nodded, and we began basic stretches to ensure that my bones wouldn’t shatter or crack from the forces that tight muscles could exert.

“So.” I started to ask, “What’s on today’s schedule?”

Scootaloo stretched her wings while she worked on her forelegs, “Just a simple run.” she stated, “Don’t want to overexert the muscle groups we worked on yesterday, so we’re doing cardio.”

I nodded. A run sounded pleasant compared to yesterday, and so I continued stretching. Scootaloo kept eyeing me oddly as I did so though, and it seemed to aggravate the whispers in my head. The last thing I wanted to do is have a meltdown in front of Scootaloo, or cause some kind of harm as a result of it, so I took the prodding as an excuse to ask a question.

“What’s on your mind?” I asked, “You’ve been giving me weird looks since we started.”

Scootaloo made a small surprised noise, “O-oh. Was I? I didn’t mean to, it’s just the bandages. I don’t see too many really badly hurt ponies, you know?”

Certain she wasn’t telling the complete truth, but I decided to let it slide anyways. There wasn’t much of a point in pressing the matter as our working relationship was rather shaky where it stood at the time. The whispering continued though, and I just had to grin and bare it so to speak. But only for a minute or two, until Scootaloo’s curiosity finally got the best of her.

“Why’d you do it?” she asked.

“What do you mean? Are you asking about Trixie and the Dark Magic?”

Scootaloo nodded. It was an odd question, and one that I was not too keen on answering. Why does anypony do anything that they do? Of course I knew the answer to the question, and could put it to words, but I really didn’t want to. If it had gone differently, I’d have been quite happy to answer… but it had ended badly. Still, the whispering urged me to speak, urged me to reveal my reasoning to the little orange mare.

“Have you ever wanted something so bad that you’d do anything to get it?”

Scootaloo nodded. She looked back at her wings involuntarily, something I caught and understood as a direct result of the unwanted images of her being abandoned that had forced their way into my head the previous day. I watched as she instinctively inspected them for only a second and then drew them back in as if she was still somewhat insecure about the subject, despite her being able to fly quite well in those days. I smiled a little, but not because I enjoyed the knowledge that had been imparted upon me, but because I knew that she’d understand.

“Well… I love Aurora more than anything in the world.” I told Scootaloo, “And I wanted her to be able to stay with me without having to give up her home in the sky.”

Scootaloo nodded, listening. She became more attentive the more I explained. I told her that I was going to try to get some wings made by Rarity, hopefully enchanted with a spell that would allow me to fly with Aurora, but that I didn’t want to know if the wings had worked because my dream was silly and I had agreed with Aurora not to seek out ways to fly any longer. I told her of our encounter with Trixie, and of all the strange things that had occurred.

I did not tell her about the whispers in my head, or the dreams. I hadn’t even fully explained everything to Aurora yet, so I felt it would be wrong to tell Scootaloo first Scootaloo seemed to consider the information I gave her for a moment, and then she asked a question that I was all too familiar with.

“If she loves you so much… why did it matter if you could fly or not?” she asked.

I smiled and rolled my neck as part of a final stretch, “To her it didn’t.” I admitted, “But to me, it was everything.”

“Why?”

I blinked, thinking about it.

“Well, I… if we have foals… and they’re Pegasi too, I won’t be able to be there with them when they take their first flight, and I’ll be stuck on the ground, away from their memories.”

Scootaloo stared at me for a moment and then stood. She said nothing at first. The wind blew through my hair, leaves rustling in the grass.

“Let’s get started.” she said without pursuing the subject any further. “Let’s go for a run.”

And so we did. I took up position next to her and we began with a light jog. It felt nice to be up and about, the breeze against my face. Scootaloo and I cantered through Ponyville, picking up speed as we went. The hissing was gone, and I felt almost euphoric despite the pain that lanced through my legs.

It was then that I had begun to look on Scootaloo as a friend.

Eventually we broke into a full gallop, tearing through alleyways and down the city streets. More than once we had to apologize on the run for nearly hitting a stall vendor or a passing pedestrian. Weaving between throngs of ponies, we found ourselves back at the fountain, with mid day sun staring down at us like a spectator. It was lunch time.

“Doing good.” Scootaloo smirked as I heaved where we stood, “You’ll be back to your old self in no time at this rate.”

I returned home after that, finding a note waiting for me. Aurora would be home in a few hours, it said, and would cook something nice when she returned. I wondered what it could be that Aurora was doing out at that hour, but decided that it would be a better surprise to cook for her, instead of the other way around. Again, like I had a few days before, I broke out the grill and started working on making a decent lunch for us both. We typically ate a lighter lunch than breakfast or dinner, so the grilling and preparing was easier and faster than the last time I’d done so.

As I finished up I heard the sound of dragonfly wings, which again, was really odd considering the time of year. It prompted me to look up at the sky, where I found Scootaloo flittering down to where I stood.

“Before I forget.” she said, “Make sure you stretch tonight. More than once, unless you want tomorrow to make you feel like being a pretzel.” she told me, then turned to look up at the sky, prepping to take off again.

“Wait.” I called, “Wait. Aurora should be home soon, and I can cook up some extra food. You want to stay for dinner?” I asked.

Scootaloo stared at me for a minute. I smiled and shrugged a little, the tong in my mouth, offering to throw another cucumber on the grill.

“I guess I could…” she smiled a little, “It wouldn’t be too much trouble?”

I shook my head and threw another set of vegetables on the grill. My orange guest sat on the porch and waited.

“Aurora should be home soon.” I told her.

“Aurora’s a nice mare.” she said, “Kind of reminds me of Rainbow Dash…”

I’d never met Rainbow in person. Sure, I’d had a chance to watch her in the shows every year, and knew that she was Captain of the Ponyville Weather Team in the off-season, but I knew very little about her other than that. So, I figured it would be obvious to ask the next question.

“What’s Rainbow Dash like?” I asked, then took the tongs in my mouth and flipped some of the vegetables to prevent too much charring.

I let Aurora’s char a little more before turning them, though. Scootaloo glanced at the ground, thinking, then looked back up at me from her position on the porch.

“Well,” she began, “Rainbow Dash is… like a sister to me. She taught me to fly, and she’s kind. Usually.”

“Usually?” I asked, furrowing my brow.

“Yeah, I mean. She doesn’t always do the right thing, but she’s loyal. She’d never turn her back on a friend. Oh, and she tough! Like, the toughest pony ever!” Scootaloo’s manner seemed to heighten, “And fearless, too!”

I canted my head a bit, smiling just a little, “I suppose it takes that to be a Wonderbolt, right?”

Scootaloo nodded, her wings flitting a bit where she sat.

“How does my fiance’ remind you of Rainbow though?” I asked, unable to make the connection between what Scootaloo had just said, and her previous statement, “Rainbow’s famous and adored by all, my fiance’ is a malemare.”

Scootaloo laughed a little, “It’s just the way she acts. It reminds me of her.”

Then the orange Pegasus shrugged and enjoyed the sunlight while I finished cooking our meals. I asked Scootaloo to help me set the table, if she didn’t mind, and after the table was set and the food was covered and safely kept heated so it wouldn’t become too lukewarm, we waited for Aurora to come home. Scootaloo, despite her age, was still curious as any younger Pegasus might be, and ended up asking me questions about the house, pictures on the wall, and what kind of creepy stuff I kept in my basement. I ended up telling her about my parents, how they’d passed on in an accident, and that the only thing creepy in my basement was the fact that it was so empty. I hadn’t managed to accumulate too many knick-knacks it my time living there, so there wasn’t much down those dusty stairs except a locked chest that I couldn’t find a key for. It was a dubious thing that sat alone near the furnace, but not interesting enough that I cared to go searching for a locksmith to open it.

As enjoyable as it was having Scootaloo around and asking every question that came to her mind, I was glad when Aurora came home. I had missed her, as I always did.

“I hope you don’t mind.” I said as she came in and took off her scarf, which I took, “But I ignored your note, and made lunch for us all instead.”

Aurora smiled and shook her head, “I don’t mind. I didn’t think you’d have it in you is all. You’re injured, and I bet Scootaloo isn’t going easy.”

Scootaloo piped up at that moment, “Air’s doing great, actually.” she told Aurora, flitting her wings with a little excitement, “Though he could use some work on his endurance.”

Aurora frowned with bemusement and raised her eyebrows at me, “You didn’t have any trouble last night, I wonder what could be the problem.”

Scootaloo flushed a little. I figured it was one thing to talk about implications like that one-on-one with Aurora, but I don’t think she was comfortable knowing times and places, thankfully. I also flushed a bit, and gave Aurora a look, denoting Scoot’s presence.

“Oh. Oh!” Aurora caught herself, “I… um. We went for a run last night. That’s probably why he wasn’t as… um.”

“Save it.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes, and smirked, “I’m not THAT innocent. Dinner’s ready anyways, and I’m starving.”

As if on cue, Aurora’s stomach roared, making our guest jump.

“What was THAT?” she asked, looking around, “Are you sure there’s nothing creepy in your basement?”

Aurora blushed, the level of awkwardness for her increasing as we talked. I patted her on the back with a hoof and led us all into the dining room.

“Seriously, what was that?”

I looked to Aurora, who was uncharacteristically bashful at the time, who nodded.

“Aurora’s stomach.” I told Scootaloo in a whisper, “It’s loud when she gets really hungry.”

Scootaloo stared over her shoulder at Aurora who just looked away with indignity. The orange Pegasus’ gaze slowly arose back to meet mine in a sidelong glance.

“That’s pretty cool.” she said, “You could really scare ponies with something like that.”

I just smiled.

Dinner wasn’t as quiet as I’d imagined it would be. Aurora and Scootaloo hit it off like old friends after Aurora’s stomach stopped protesting, and I once again found myself wondering just how connected my Pegasus fiance’ really was. Questions buzzed in my head until they almost sounded like yelling. Then the hissing voices came back, creating a pressure behind my skull. I looked around as Scootaloo and Aurora laughed together about something. I didn’t even know what it was but my anger flared. I was losing it.

“I… I’ll be right back.” I told them and headed quickly into the bedroom, locking the door.

Moments later, I barely heard a knock.

“Dear?” Aurora’s voice called through the haze of my mind, “Air, are you okay?”

Everything seemed far away, confused. Questions, ones that had no form except that of the base instinct of being understood as a question, filled my mind, drilling away at my sanity. Even Aurora’s voice was just so far away that I could barely hear.

“Please! I’m fine, I just need a second!” I called out, “Don’t come in!”

I should have known better than to say that, to yell that phrase. I was sweating, cold, and shivering. The nubs that were all that had been left of those wings burned and my neck felt like it was on fire. I should have gone into the bathroom, saying my stomach felt sick, but I hadn’t. Instead I’d taken the easy route once again, and flung myself into the nearest possible solution, this time it being a bed.

Aurora busted down the door with a buck that I didn’t know she had in her. What she found was me in a mess, shaking like a scared animal. I think I told her to stay back, and tried to back away. I think I tried to get away, but…

The moment she touched my hoof, everything went silent. The whispering was gone, but I felt as if my soul had been sucked from my lungs and all I could do was scream. When I had finished, I found myself shuddering in the arms of my fiance’, who was staring down at me with the same eyes I remembered from the hospital. They were hollow, but very afraid. And I felt ashamed.

“Scootaloo, you should go. I need some time with my…” she stopped, frowned sadly, considered her words, and then continued, “I need some time with Air. He’s still a little sick.”

It was the first time I’d seen her hesitate when calling me her loved on, or anything along those lines, and the idea hurt me more than anything.

Scootaloo nodded, and headed away. I heard a door open and shut, and then Aurora and I were alone.

“Air…”

“I’m sorry…” I immediately blurted, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t know…”

“We need to…” she trailed off.

“What…?” I asked, still shaking in her hooves.

Aurora shook her head as she held me. The next few hours she spent holding me. She was loving and caring, even in the face of that adversity, of my mounting insanity. Even so I was beginning to doubt that she would be at my side forever if I kept up the things I was doing, but how could I control it? How could I stop something I knew nothing about?

That’s right… I knew nothing, but I did know somepony who did know.

“Aurora… We need to find Trixie.”

Aurora stared at me for a minute, and then let go of me.

“Why?” she asked, her voice cracking with the strain of held-in emotion, “What could you possibly WANT with Trixie?”

I sat up, wiping my snout with my hoof, to get rid of some of the cold sweat. I tried to explain that if Trixie had caused this, maybe she knew something about controlling what I was feeling, what I was hearing. Aurora shook her head, and shook it some more.

“Trixie… is in JAIL.” she told me, “And even then, she didn't know how to control what she did to you, what makes you think that she’ll know how to fix you?”

I motioned held my hooves out in desperation, “She was living with all that in her head. So I just figure that whatever’s in my head, she’s got to know something about it. She was living just fine with it… so, she has to know something!.”

Aurora stomped her hoof and glared at me. I cringed. I had rarely made her angry enough for her to do that.

“Air. I…” she seethed, but then lost all her fire suddenly, which was very unusual for her, “... You go ahead. You find her. But you’re doing this on your own.” she insisted.

A deep, unnatural quiet filled the void between us. I sensed that I had committed something akin to betrayal in just asking about it, in merely suggesting it, but it was inevitable. I couldn’t ignore the whispers, the hissings. My head spun even so, trying to figure out some way to validate it to Aurora, some words to make her see it my way. When I could find nothing, I felt sick. I felt alone.

I felt abandoned.

So I left. I went out into the waning daylight, hours having passed since the event, to seek out a crazy magician who might be just as cursed as I was and have no way to fix herself, and in turn, no way to fix me either. If that was the case, there wouldn’t be any retribution for me, no forgiveness. I knew that. I’d lose Aurora, and everything that I loved in the world and so I made a decision.

No matter what, I would have to find a way to fix myself. If not just because I couldn’t live my life insane, but because I owed it to Aurora to do so.

Now I just had to find a way to either get Trixie out of jail, or at least get some time to talk to her. I began walking towards Ponyville Guard Station, or PGS for short. It was at the PGS that Trixie would be held. As I thought about it, I realized that I didn’t just owe Aurora for my mistake, but Trixie too. Talking with her wouldn’t be enough. I had to get her out of jail as well. Fortunately for me, I was not as alone as I had initially imagined I might have been.

Scootaloo greeted me from atop a shop sign.

“Hey Ramp… are you okay?” she asked, “Where’s Aurora?”

I frowned, ignoring the first question, “She’s fine, but… I don’t think she’s happy with me right now.”

Scootaloo dove down toward the ground in front of me and used her wings to suddenly slow her descent just before she hit the ground. We started walking together.

“You were screaming, dude.” she told me, “What happened?”

I explained the whole story to her without interruption. Everything from the whispers, to the screams. The visions, everything. Even the things that I hadn’t told Aurora yet.

“Air, you’re one messed up pony. Still… I can’t see why Aurora would just kick you out like that… I mean, isn’t it your house anyways?” she asked.

“I wasn’t kicked out.” I told her, “I just… left. I have to find a way to fix this, and… I just can’t risk hurting Aurora. Who knows what will happen if I keep hearing this stuff?”

Scootaloo nodded, and we kept walking. The sun was now below the horizon, leaving little but the cold wind and the first stars to accompany us as we wound our way through the streets of Ponyville.

“I should go talk to Aurora.” Scootaloo said as we approached the jail, “Maybe she’ll listen now that she’s had time to cool down.”

I shook my head, “No… No, she’s probably scared, confused, and worried. After all, she’s marrying a maniac.”

Scootaloo stared at me with a look of sarcastic mirth, “You’re not nuts, you’re just…” No words came to her, however, “Okay you’re nuts. But you’re still a good pony, and you still love her.” Scootaloo insisted then turned her head to look up at the sign in front of us, “What are we doing at the Guard Station anyways?

”You just said I was a good pony.” I told her, “But after we get done here today, you’ll still know I am, while Ponyville might not think the same.”

“Jailbreaking Trixie?” she asked with a devious grin.

“Dear Celestia, you’re too damned perceptive.” I huffed.

“Hey, there’re kids around!” Scootaloo frowned at me with mock scorn, “Watch your mouth.”

“Bah.” I retorted, “This coming from the FILLY that was talking to my fiance’ about shattering my pelvis.”

Scootaloo just frowned and crinkled her nose at me, “I’m not a filly, you old geezer.”

I laughed and pulled her off to the side. I had come up with two plans, and began to explain them both. If the first didn’t work, we’d try the second. The first idea was to try to get in and talk to the guards about releasing Trixie on the grounds that she didn’t mean to do what she had done, and that she was Twilight’s student. I didn’t think it would work, but that’s what the second plan was for, which was a little more violent, but more diversionary, and would probably land me in jail for life if I was caught.

I told Scootaloo that she didn’t have to get involved, and that I’d figure it out without her if she didn’t want to be a part of it all. Scootaloo insisted otherwise, that devious grin spreading across her face as we discussed details. I hadn’t known that Scootaloo was so open to things like this. She was very much like myself and Aurora when we were younger.

Funny thing was that even if the first one worked, I’d soon have to leave Ponyville behind anyways, but that’s something I’ll tell you all about later.

With our discussion finished, Scootaloo bolted into the sky with enough speed to scare even a seasoned Pegasus. I reasoned that her quick ascension was a direct result of all those years of pushing herself along the ground with that scooter of hers. It must have taken considerable power to do that.

I steeled myself for the inevitable confrontation with Thunderstep and Cold Thorn. They might have been friends, but what I was about to ask them to do was beyond the bounds of even a relationship as old and established as our was. After all, I was about to ask them to let me see and release a prisoner that had nearly killed me with Dark Magic in an effort to give myself wings. The entire town probably knew the story by now, though I hadn’t had time to gauge it between training and trying to make amends with Aurora, the latter of which was going horribly. Any number of things could go wrong with this. I could be seen as a traitor, or they could assume I was seeking to empower myself with her magics. I could lose a friendship if I pressed the issue too hard. I could try to explain it all, why I needed to see her so badly, but I was very certain that it would give them even more a reason not to let me in and might even cause them to increase security if I seemed desperate enough.

No, the best course of action, I thought as I began to ascend the worn steps in front of the PGS building, was to try the most direct approach and see if I could get her out on the grounds that she was Twilight’s student. Failing that, I would have to resort to utilizing Scootaloo to help me out, but that was even riskier than explaining the situation in the first place.

Worst of all, failing meant losing the one I loved.