Anon sat there dumbstruck, still processing the events of the last few hours as he gazed at the ruined landscape before him. Dominating the horizon were the remains of Aryanne's ghostly form, decaying quickly in the wake of third impact. Anon said nothing, the only sounds to be heard were the waves crashing upon the shore and the gentle breathing of both himself and one other. Rainbow Dash lay beside him, staring blankly up at the starlit sky, bandages wrapped around her head and right foreleg. If not for her breathing, Anon could have sworn she was dead. Wordlessly, he straddled the mare and began to strangle her, he had to know, he needed to know this was all real, he needed to know that he could cause offense. Rainbow put up no fight, still staring blankly towards the sky, her breathing ragged as Anon continued constricting her windpipe. The crashing of waves continued, joined now by Anon's small sounds of exertion. Just as it seemed Rainbow was about to die, she reached up to his cheek with her bandaged forehoof, cupping it gently. An assurance that she understood, an acknowledgement of his actions, that they were real and would not be silenced again, even if the cost had been high. Releasing her neck, Anon began to cry, his tears falling onto Rainbow's face, the mare not reacting at all, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. As he sobbed, part in relief and part in grief for what he'd just gone through, Rainbow finally cast her judgmental eyes toward him, she knew what he had done, and he knew that she knew that he had come inside. Rainbow's first words in the ruined world were spoken softly against the symphony of the beach. "How disgusting."