Recuperation part two
Newly capped, and with directions on the speediest route to the hospital, Star Swirl wound through the alleys of the trading colony, sure that the added weight on his head would be the most bothersome thing he'd encounter on his way.
“Hello, me.”
“Seems I was wrong,” he muttered, turning to face his future self- or was he? Star Swirl wasn't quite sure anymore.
The elder one cocked his head in confusion. “Wrong about what?”
“Whether I could trust you or not,” Star Swirl spat. “Are you even actually me?”
“That's a difficult question to answer... Biologically? Yes, but we've lived lives so different we could hardly be called the same pony.”
“Why didn't you tell me about her? Why warn me about some things and not others?” the young one demanded.
The older mage took a deep, steeling breath and let it out, then sat down against a wall. “I'm not as young as I once was, and these old legs get tired doing the work of four. Would you sit with me a while?” Reluctantly, the younger one did as asked. “I see you've got the outfit now-”
“Answers, old stallion.”
“Very well,” the older one capitulated. “I didn't tell you because the two of you liked each other. You were friends.”
“That doesn't make any sense! You were just going to let me feel what you felt when you found out?”
Old Star Swirl shook his head. “I never found out, per se. I never knew the Journey you knew and, while we were inseparable, we were never friends.”
“Go on,” the younger one prodded.
“I first met my Journey in Cumulonium. I was drugged and delirious, and she visited me in my hospital bed.” He swallowed hard. “I was never able to face my wife again after that. A short time later, the authorities found out she was in the city, against their wishes, and we were forced to leave. I stole a peg on the way out.”
“You went with her? After she...?”
He smiled forlornly. “I wasn't thinking. I didn't think much back then, just spent months enjoying her solace and drinking the shame away. Until we finally stumbled upon the Wellspring.”
The younger Star Swirl was speechless- quite literally so. No words would answer his summons. How could the act of sleeping in a certain spot possibly have affected his future so?
And Journey... Was the same being he'd met truly capable of doing such things, in the midst of a downward spiral? Would she have preyed on him in the same way? Didn't she?
A mad cackle pierced his rumination. Confused, he looked to his elder self. Old Star Swirl's gaze wasn't on him. It was skyward. He followed it.
The smug face of Discord leered down at the town, and terrified screams abounded as more and more of the townsponies noticed the visage above them. After a few moments, the spirit called, “Sisteeers!”
“Never thought I'd hear that voice again...” Old Star Swirl whispered. There was an anxiety in his voice, a reverence.
“I'm so glad you decided to visit me earlier,” Discord sneered. But it was such a short reunion, don't you think? We should do it again sometime. Tell you what, I won't move from this cozy little capitol I've made. Come by whenever you feel like.”
The image winked out, and there was a general clamor in its wake. The younger Star Swirl rose to his hooves. “I've got to go. The Sisters-”
“I know,” Star Swirl interrupted, remaining where he was. “Good luck to you, Me. We won't cross paths again. There's just one more thing. I... don't hate Journey for what she did, not anymore. We're all capable of terrible things when we're trying to survive.”
A throng of ponies crowded the hospital's entrance, requiring a full compliment of nurses and orderlies- and soldiers- to keep them out. Most were simple well-wishers who wanted to meet their deities, but there was a growing, and increasingly frantic, number who were driven by Discord's pronouncement. Had the soldiers not been present, the staff would've been overwhelmed already.
Rather than join the pressing mass, Star Swirl stood off to the side. There was little chance he'd be able to actually get in, so he contented himself with just watching. He almost missed as a yellow nurse leaned over to the captain and pointed his way.
In moments he was flanked by two bulky stallions. They didn't say anything, but it was clear that Star Swirl was to come with them.
Getting through ceased to be a problem.
Up close, the mare was just as meek as she seemed from afar. It almost looked painful for her to ask, “You're him, r-right? The unicorn who brought the Sisters?”
“I am,” he confirmed. “My name is Star Swirl.”
“They told me to bring you to the Sisters' room. I-If you would...”
She led the mage through the uniform halls of the hospital and up several flights of stairs. Each floor held more and more soldiers who, though they recognized and nodded greetings to the nurse, glared at Star Swirl. To distract himself from this reception, he asked his escort her name.
“It- It's Sweet Care,” she squeaked.
“Very nice to meet you, Sweet Care.” The nurse just looked down at her hooves, so he kept talking. “Have you had a chance to examine the Sisters yet? Are they going to be okay?”
Sweet Care's disposition noticeably brightened now that they were on the topic of medicine. “Oh, they're going to be just fine. All we could find were some lacerations, and most of those were fairly shallow.”
“That's great news.”
“Yeah...” Sweet Care frowned as a thought occurred. “I don't think that's all the pain they're feeling, though. It's almost like they're hurting on the inside.”
“Their egos took something of a hit,” he said as they stopped at a door, her frown mirrored on his face.
“Can they...?”
Before Star Swirl could at least try to allay her concerns an out burst came from inside the room. “This is our best chance! We have to attack.”
“The general must be in there with them,” Sweet Care whispered.
“No use standing out here then, is there?”
“Until now, we've always been a wingbeat behind Discord,” Fiore urged as the newcomers entered. “If he's just going to stay put, then we must go to him.”
Luna was quick to dismiss the idea. “We left the Wellspring to safeguard the ponies of this land. How could we allow you to risk yourselves so?”
“But with you here-”
“The point has become moot, I'm afraid,” Celestia interrupted. “Now that our traveling companion has arrived we shall be leaving.”
“We are?” Star Swirl asked.
“How could you leave us, now of all times?!”
Celestia almost seemed to be pleading and decreeing at the same time as she said, “My Sister and I shall return, and soon. Until then, make no moves against Discord. There is a weapon that will guarantee the Spirit's fate. We go to find it.”