Out of the fire and into the --

[bluesuit_hoofy]

[Andrew appears from his room at the commune, looking annoyed. He hasn't exactly been helping Pollo with his burned home, but it's still been on his mind.] I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd really rather the commune not burn down a third time. There's got to be a better way than waiting on the pegasi to come lob rainclouds at us the next time the place goes up. Tell me somepony's invented the fire extinguisher here; failing that does anypony have the equipment to compress --

[What he'd like to compress, though, is lost to the sands of time. A blinding flash of multi-colored light fills the image-bearing area of any scroll receiving the message as a rainbow strikes the building. The scroll then goes blank, shutting itself off in the sudden absence of its owner.]

Comments

[thedoctorsmate]

Andrew? Andrew?!

[Donna yells at the blank scroll for a good five seconds before throwing it aside and racing over to Andrew's room. She pounds on the door, then forces her way in when he doesn't answer. It's empty. Not even his scroll is there.]

Andrew...

[Tears well up and she doesn't bother to hide them. This is her. Of course it's her. She'd had those tiny, traitorous thoughts every now and then that it might be better if he weren't there because then he wouldn't have to be part her. And now he isn't.]

[soulofblue]

Andrew?

[Pollo had called into his scroll as well, before bolting out of Twilight's room and over to Andrew's. He stops dead in the doorway upon seeing Donna in there - oh god she's crying - and takes half a step back. Should he leave? Oh Luna, Andrew's really just gone, isn't he?

He may look a little watery himself, as it happens.]

[thedoctorsmate]

[Donna turns to see Pollo standing there. She did this and now she's got to answer to Andrews friends. His real friends, not the fakers like her.]

Pollo, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry.

[She squeezes her eyes shut.]

[soulofblue]

I - he's just gone. Did -

[He knows nothing happened, really, he was watching. But he knows that he and Bertie disappeared in rainbows when they got killed. He would tell her it isn't her fault, if he knew she thought so, but he's too in shock to even grant her a lot of attention, instead moving forward to look around the spot he had been standing in.

The sonic screwdriver is still there, lying on the floor.]

[thedoctorsmate]

[Gone. Completely. He might come back. Nephenee came back. Others have come back. The thoughts aren't nearly as comforting as Donna might have liked. She opens her eyes again to see where Pollo's looking.

Andrew's screwdriver. The cursed thing. She'd noticed, whether he meant her to or not. The mare steps over and picks it up.]

You should have it. [She says distantly.] Your machines. Until he... [If he returns. Donna knows she doesn't deserve it.]

[soulofblue]

I... [The Doctor's tool, is his first thought, and he instantly kicks himself for it. Andrew hadn't been the Doctor, and anyway the one here wasn't his.] I don't know how to use it.

[But he picks it up in his magic anyway. He'll just hold onto it.]

[thedoctorsmate]

I don't, either. [She stares at the hovering screwdriver, tears still tracing down trails in her fur.] I don't know anything. I didn't try to understand. [And why would she? He hadn't really been the Doctor and everything she seemed to learn only drove that point home. He'd lied to her so much. Why? Because he'd known she was too weak and stupid to handle any of it.]

[soulofblue]

I can keep it.

[He brings it closer, and turns to actually look at Donna for the first time.] Are you - are you going to be okay?

[thedoctorsmate]

[No. She's never going to be okay again. It doesn't feel like she is in the moment, anyway.]

Yes.

[She shouldn't worry Pollo, though. Donna walks slowly toward the door.]

Would you tell the Doctor if he hasn't seen?

[Facing him right now is going to be impossible.]

[soulofblue]

Oh...yes, of course.

[Pollo doesn't have it together well enough to even think to question Donna's word; he just remains standing where he is and looking at the sonic.]

[thedoctorsmate]

Thanks. I'll just be...

[Somewhere. Or maybe she'll just be. Existing is all she's really good for. Donna trudges out and goes to lay beneath the willow tree where Nephenee keeps her memorials. She'll just stay there for a little while.]

[wizardofharmony]

Sun, Moon, and blasted STARS, that does not bode well.

That was the Pale Pony's handiwork just now, wasn't it?

[stalksindarkness]

Is there a way to make it fire proof next time?