As I lie there I start to look around. Rainbow Dash has fallen asleep in a tree, and now Pinkie Pie is drawing stuff on her face. Twilight and Storm are under the umbrella, Twilight using her magic to dry him off with a towel. Big Mac, Applejack, and Fluttershy are drying off the little ones, while Rarity lectures them about being more ladylike. I sigh in contentment - again, with little effort on their part, I have found a group that makes me feel at home. For the first time since I've been here, I finally have a home. Twilight gives Storm a light peck on the cheek and grabs a marker to join Pinkie Pie in the tree. Storm walks over to me and lies on his back besides me.

"Why can't we have more days like this?" he asks as he stretches out a bit.

"Because then days like this would lose their appeal, and blend into the monotony of daily life."

"...that was deep."

"Thank you. I'm actually kinda proud of that one." We share a small laugh before falling silent.

"There's been something I've been meaning to ask, but at the same time, I don't want to ask..."

"I say ask. Leaving things bottled up for too long isn't healthy."

"Well... do you know where your home is?"

"Yeah."

"Really?" I stretch out a bit and sigh deeply before I answer.

"It's right here."

"No, I mean it. Do you know where your home is, Topaz Falls?"

"I don't have a clue where Topaz is, but that's not where my home is. They say home is where the heart is, and my heart is right here with my friends."

"But... if you were to find Topaz Falls, what would you do?"

"Well... I don't know. Part of me wants to go back, see if it still exists, find out what happened all those years ago. But the other part of me doesn't want to leave what I've got here. I don't know what I'll do if I find Topaz." Storm stays silent for a bit, thinking deeply about what I said.

"Well... even if you decide to go, you better come back and at least visit."

"Well duh, how else would I get to see my best friend?" I say, looking over to him. We share a smile before I give him a rather hard punch on the shoulder, making him roll over a bit.

"OW... what was that for?" he says as he rubs the spot I hit.

"That's for making things all mushy and awkward. Now we can either sit here and reminisce some more, or we can go and toss Twilight into the water, your call." He looks over to her and grows an evil smile on his face.

"Alright, I'm in." We get up and walk up behind Twilight, getting Pinkies attention. I motion to Twilight, then the lake, making a massive smile appear on her face as she nods. I motion to Storm to hover at shoulder height with me as I grab his legs and make a net for Twilight.

"Hey Twilight, catch me!" Pinkie says as she jumps onto Twilight, making her fall out of the tree and into our arms/legs. As soon as we catch them we start running/flying to the water.

"Pinkie! Storm! MILES! AHHH!" she screams as we toss the two of them into the water.

SPLASH

We toss the two of them into the water, making a big splash and getting laughs from everyone behind us. Twilight and Pinkie finally stand up and look to each other. With a nod they both jump onto us and knock us into the water. As I try to get back up, Pinkie keeps splashing water into my face, so I quickly run up to her and pick her up. I jump back and drop my back into the water, holding onto Pinkie. When I come back up she somehow has gotten onto my shoulders.

"MUSH!" She yells as she points forward. I look over to see Twilight and Storm still splashing each other, so I decide to join in. I stand up and turn around, letting my body, and Pinkie Pie, fall between the two of them. We come back up and share a laugh at our antics. "WOO! That was fun! Miles, give me another piggy back ride, please please please please please!"

"Heh, maybe another time. I think I'm just gonna go for a swim."

"Try not to drown," Storm says as helps Twilight to her hooves.

"Numquam," I say as I start to swim out to deeper waters. Swimming has become easier for me now, I can even hover in deep water for a while. Swimming around is actually pretty relaxing, too. It's mechanical, soothing, it helps clear my mind. Topaz... What would I do if I found it? Should I be looking for it, or should I just let it fall into the recesses of my memories? Can I let it do that though, it was my home, and I need to know what happened all those years ago. But if I went down, would they allow me to come back to the surface? I stop swimming and float on my back to think harder on the subject, when I see Storm laying on a cloud watching the group. I take in a large breath of air and sink a little before I light my hands and send myself flying out of the water.

"HEY STORM!" I yell as I try to land next to him, but fall straight through the cloud. In a panic I try to hold onto Storm, only to pull him through with me.

"WHAT THE BUCK!" He yells as he kicks away from me. We both hit the water and I see him struggling to resurface, yeah, tell me not to drown. I swim down and grab him with one hand as I propel us towards the shore with the other. When we get to shallow waters Storm yanks his leg free of my grasp and flops onto the shore, panting for breath.

"Yeah, good job drowning," I say jokingly as I lay next to him, getting a glare from him. He rears up and tries to slam his hooves onto my face, but I roll away before he strikes me.

"What the buck is your problem you freak!?" he yells.

"Calm down, it was..."

"I nearly drowned you idiot!"

"Storm, what’s going on?" Twilight says as she trots up to us.

"Shut the buck up!" he yells at her, making her stop and stare at him in disbelief. I stand up and look down at him in confusion.

"Storm, what’s up? Did something happen?" I ask as I see the mace on his side.

"Yeah, some bucking idiot human tried to drown me! Now if you..."

"Hey Twilight, where’s the..." Storm says as he runs up, but stops when he sees Storm. I rub my eyes and look back to them, two Storms, identical in every way. Same hair, body build, mark, I can't find anything different about them except for one being wet and an asshole.

"Hey there, big brother. Long time no see. Having fun with my leftovers?" he says before he jumps into the air and flies away. I’m about to chase after him when Storm gets in the way.

"NO! This is my fight; I'll do it alone. Take care of Twilight until I get back!" he says, before he follows him into the air and gives chase. I walk over to Twilight and sit beside her as I watch them fly into a faraway cloud.

"Don't worry Twilight, Storm’s strong, he'll come through," I say as I put an arm around her shoulder.

"I know he will, but which Storm will do it?"

---

I give chase to the imposter, gaining on him slowly. He has a large mace on his side that seems familiar, but I lose sight of it as we enter a large cloud. I fly forward for a bit, but when I lose sight of him I stop and hover in place.

"Ahhahaha, I bet you have a few questions for me," he says from his cover.

"Nope, I'm just gonna buck the crap out of you until I hear what I want to hear, no questions at all." I turn around as I hear a swish behind me, then another, then another, where are you? I fly up a bit when I think I saw him, but it ended up being a dark cloud. When I turn around I immediately drop a few feet to avoid his mace hitting my head. I charge back up and buck him in the gut, sending him back into the mist of the cloud. I try to charge after him, but lose him after a few seconds of flying in the cloud. I stop and look around, but can't seem to find any sight of him. I start to fly around, changing the cloud into a storm cloud. I hear him whiz by, but ignore it for now and continue to fly around until I create a massive storm of dark black clouds.

"Hey, want to know my real name?" he yells out.

"I want to buck the living hell out of you!" I yell back.

"IT'S STORM BREAKER!" he yells as he comes out of the cloud cover and tries to hit me with his mace, swinging madly at me. I dodge back, trying to keep clear of his mace. I take a chunk of electrified cloud and toss it at him, only to have him kick it out of the air. "That's not going to work on me!" he yells as he swings at me again. I fly higher, dodging the attack, and buck the storm, sending arcs of electricity everywhere. I get struck once but remain airborne as the jolts of energy course through my body. When it finishes, I look down to see him hovering there, smoking slightly. I fly down to him and tackle him before he can bring his mace down on me. I push him back a bit and start to deliver punches to him, the gut, face, ribs, I punch away until he spins back and kicks me across the face. I stumble back and look up in time to see him bring his mace down onto my head.

SMACK

Falling... blood... a crash... Twilight crying... energy pouring into me...

I jolt awake and punch forward, hitting Miles square in the jaw. I look around to see everypony standing around me, watching me with the deepest looks of concern. I don't recognize the area we're in, it looks to be a forest of some kind. I try to get up, but Miles puts a hand on my shoulder to hold me down.

"Don't move, you've lost a lot of blood, you need rest."

"What happened... where's Storm Breaker?" I ask.

"Is that his name? Well, after you fell out of the cloud, we lost sight of him - sorry, but he's gone."

"Damn... I... took a pretty bad hit, didn't I?"

"Yeah... after you took a hit to the head you fell to the ground. We tried to catch you, but we couldn't get to you in time, sorry."

"Don't be, not like you’re the one that made me fall," I say as I try to get up again, only to get held back again.

"Storm... I was able to fix most of your wounds... but..."

"*sniffle* He couldn't fix your wing," Twilight says as she sobs. I look back to see my left wing snapped in half, blood pouring out as the end of a bone sticks out. I start to panic a little, but stop when she wraps me up in a hug. Normally these feel awesome, but I can't feel it... I can't feel anything.

"I'm taking the pain away, but I can't fix it, it seems to be made of some other kind of material that I can't recognize."

"...Can they fix this? Is this fixable?" I ask, but don't get an answer.

"Twilight, take him to the hospital, we'll meet you there," Miles says as he stands up. Twilight nods and teleports us to the hospital lobby, scaring the receptionist.

"Please, help him, he broke his wing, you have to help him!" Twilight pleads as she holds onto me. I look back to my wing and watch the blood pour out slowly, pooling on the linoleum below. I hear the receptionist run off and call for doctors and nurses, leaving me and Twilight.

"Hey... everything’s going to be alright..."

"Storm... save your strength..."

"Twilight... I..." I pass out before I could finish talking.

Next Chapter: Chapter 51 Recovery Estimated time remaining: 77 Hours, 14 Minutes