Comatose

by Vennyr Pony

Chapter 4: A Choice

A shrill scream pierced the air. A few doctors and a pair of nurses began to rush in the direction of the noise. In their haste they came upon the room of which the sound had emitted; the group made their way into the patient’s room. What they found inside was a violent and horrible scene as well as an unconscious pony lying on the floor with a mortified expression embroidered upon her face.

The doctors immediately began to check the vital signs of the newly injured patient. As hastily as they dared, they rushed her out of the room and into the deeper confines of Canterlot General. The two nurses stayed behind and carried the unconscious mare to another hospital room.

Bonbon’s eyes shot open quickly. They were wide and wild as she scanned her surroundings to find that she was in another hospital room, except she was the one lying in the bed. She was hooked up to an IV drip stand. It was dark, she gazed over at an alarm clock that was on a desk next to her; it was midnight. She whimpered loudly as she tried to remember what had happened. When it finally came to her, she screamed.

“Lyra!”

The door to the hallway creaked open and a nurse pony walked in with a distressed look on her face. “Oh you’re awake! What’s the matter dear?” She asked kindly towards Bonbon.

“L-Lyra… i-is..sh-” Bonbon stuttered as tears began to fill her eyes.

The nurse pony gave her a mildly saddened look as she shook her head. “I’ll be surprised if she lives passed tonight…” she sighed. “Do you have any idea of what happened to her?”

Bonbon shook her head. “I-I was just c-coming to visit h-her, and then…” she began to cry.

The nurse nodded. “I understand, dear… You are free to leave whenever you would like to. Do you need any help getting home?” She said in an understanding and soft way.

Trembling slightly, Bonbon shook her head and began to get out of the bed. She trotted slowly out of the room, with the nurse following closely behind. The nurse followed her until she had gotten to the waiting room. She saw her off and went back into the confines of the hospital while Bonbon made her way out of the hospital and into the streets of Canterlot. Still mortified; she walked the streets at a very slow pace, tears rolling down her cheeks as she tried not to make any noise that would alert somepony of her presence.

 She made it home in seemingly less time than her trip to the hospital despite her slow pace. Trotting up to the front door of her home she sighed softly and tried to gain some composure. Surely by now her parents have noticed that she was gone. Swiftly and quietly she opened the door and slipped inside.

She walked through the living room to find her mother sitting on a solitary chair that was placed in the center. Bonbon muttered incoherently before walking past her mother.

“What did you say?” her mother asked glaring slightly at her daughter. Bonbon stopped and turned back to look at her. “What’s wrong dear?” she asked in surprised and motherly tone.

A solitary tear slipped over Bonbon’s eyelid and over her cheek as she lowers her head. She opened her mouth in order to reply, only to be cut off by her mother.

“You went to see that friend of yours didn’t you!?” her mother spontaneously snapped.

Bonbon’s eyes widened in surprise at the sudden lash of anger, she opened her mouth to say something but merely began to whimper before her mother grunted angrily, and sent her up to her room. She galloped at full speed towards her room where she slammed the door behind her and began to sob into her hooves as she slumped down with her back against the door.

*[Earlier]*

I sat quietly in my room. The sun was setting, that meant that I would be able to talk with Phoebe and Hurricane soon. However, that is not what my mind was fixed upon. Ever since I had pushed the vase off of the desk and gotten the attention of Octavia; I had been attempting to plan out some event of which I could induce that could grasp my family’s attention so that I could inform them about the current situation. Unfortunately, however, I was unable to come up with one due to the fault of distraction. Phoebe and Hurricane made their way into my room, breaking my concentration.

“What are you thinking about?” Hurricane asked with curiosity as he entered the room.

“Just… things…” I replied with distance in my voice as I turned toward them. The two of them gave me a simultaneous quizzical look.

“What kind of things?” Phoebe asked in her adult voice as she took a curious step towards me.

I sighed before replying, “I was thinking of a way that I could alert my parents… you know… so that they would know what was going on…” Phoebe sighed and looked at me in a way that made me feel as if I were a foal.

 She motioned for me to follow her, so I did. While the two of us left my room, Hurricane stayed behind for some reason that was unbeknown to me. The two of us walked for a little while before ending up in a section of hallway with a large window that over looked the twilight-lit streets of Canterlot.

“Why did you bring me here?” I asked. I didn’t understand why she couldn’t just talk to me in my room, if that was even what she was going to do.

“Don’t inform your parents…” Phoebe said in a cold monotone.

I gave her a questioning look, as well as taking a step backwards before asking. “Wh-why not?”

“Because even if they understood what was going on; there’s nothing that they can do. That alone could cause them to become hopeless and irrational; I don’t know your parents but… I-I do know what could happen…” her monotone had faded and become saddened.

“Wh-why did you bring me here to tell me this, why not just in my room?” I asked in a mixture of curiosity and disappointment.

“B-because… after I died… I tried the same thing… I didn’t know that I had died. I was scared… and afterward…my mother…” Phoebe’s voice began to falter; she looked at the floor for a moment before continuing. “She jumped out this window… she broke it first… there wasn’t anything that anypony could do to stop her…”

“Wh-why did she-” I stopped abruptly. My chest had all of a sudden burst with unbearable pain. ‘What’s going on!?’ I thought, I was wondering what I could have done that would have caused it before another wave hit me. This time I crumpled to the ground, I could hear Phoebe’s voice, it was distant and muffled, I couldn’t understand her. I was struck by another onslaught of pain before finally blacking out.

Cerulean-cure and her husband, Model-sire sat emotionless as well as silently in their kitchen on opposite ends on the table. Neither of their dinners had been touched, their appetites were the furthest thing from their minds. It had been two days since their daughter was admitted to the hospital and pronounced to be in a coma. They both stared at their dinners in a completely uninterested manner when there was an unexpected knock at their front door.

Slowly, Model-sire got to his hooves and made his way to the door. His eyes widened in surprise as he opened the door; there, standing before him was a member of the town guard. He was dressed similar to the Princess’ own Royal Guards only with far less spectacular armor and no helmet.

“May I come in?” he asked in a calm and pleasant tone, this surprised Model-sire even further; even still however, he motioned for the guardsman to enter while opening the door wider than it was previously.

“What’s the matter officer?” He asked, his voice was almost completely devoid of emotion, save for an under-laying hind of sadness.

“Is your wife at home, ‘Sire?” The officer asked in a more serious tone. “If so, could you please call her in her? She’ll need to hear this as well…” his tone had drifted to being more of a regretful one. Surprised yet again by this out of the ordinary question; he nodded and called his wife into the living room.

Cerulean-cure made her way into the living room of her home to find her husband sitting on a couch talking with a peacekeeper. “Wh-what’s going on?” she questioned the two upon entering the scene; her voice was tired and sad.

The guardspony turned toward her, he wore an apologetic look upon his face as he motioned for her to join her husband on the couch. “Mr. and Mrs. Heartstrings, I regret to inform you that your daughter has been placed into intensive care,” he began. “Earlier in the evening somepony made their way into her room and assaulted her in a similar manner to how she was when you two first brought her to Canterlot General,” his voice was both apologetic and stern.

“Wha-” Cerulean’s voice faltered and went silent as she sunk to her haunches as disbelief embroidered itself upon her face.

“Didn’t the security cameras catch anypony?” Model-sire asked; his voice shaky.

“I’m afraid not… the only thing they were able to catch was a pair of black blurs before the cameras were broken,” the guardspony finished before excusing himself from their home.

Model-sire stared at the door for several minutes after the peacemaker had left. His eyes were distant and his face pale. He looked over at his wife; who had sunk onto the floor and began to sob.

My eyes opened to find both Phoebe and Hurricane looking down upon me. The two of them were sporting worrisome looks. My eyes were slightly blurred but clear enough that I could make them out, however my head was spinning. I was barely able to get to my hooves in order to look them over. Their stares had become even more worried. “Wh-what?” I asked through my state of confusion.

The two exchanged glances with each other before Phoebe finally spoke up. “You fell to the ground while we were talking a couple of hours ago…” her voice was gentle and concerned. “Do you have any idea what happened?” her words didn’t reach me. I stared helplessly at the two of them as if they were speaking in a foreign tongue. They simultaneously glanced at one another before once again training their attention upon me.

“Can you hear me?” Hurricane questioned while moving his left fore-hoof in a side to side motion, this motion blurred across my vision.

A small groaning noise escaped my muzzle in reply; their stares had seemed to intensify afterward. I heard Hurricane say something else but, as before, I couldn’t make out the words. “Wh-what’s going on?” I groaned while stumbling over to the two of them.

“You fell and went unconscious. Neither of us has seen anything like it. Do you have any idea of what happened?” Phoebe asked me in her adult voice as she took a cautious step forward.

“I-I can b-barely… understand you” I breathed heavily. Never in my life had it been so hard to utter a sentence that was so simple. My words seemed to have caused them to worry even more; even if my head had been clear at the time I doubt that I would ever understand their reasons.

“Are you okay?” Phoebe asked; her voice was soft with a hint of concern yet again.

“I- don’t know…” My voice trailed off. My head was beginning to clear slightly; I remembered large waves of pain overcoming my body. My eyes widened in fear. “Where’s my Body?!” I yelled clearly; abolishing my previous impediment.

The two were startled by my sudden outburst; each of them took a step back, in different directions; most likely to escape whatever madness that I intended to cause. I looked at them helplessly and pleadingly as if to ask for their help. It appeared as if Hurricane was going to answer my question. However, he never got the chance for I had bolted in the direction of my hospital room before he could say anything; or at least before my ears could register what was said.

I had reached my room in under a minute; only to find a member of the town guard talking with one of the doctors that worked on this floor. I paid no attention to them as I walked in expecting to find my body lying helplessly in my bed. Unfortunately all I had come across was an empty, blood-stained, bed and several disconnected and unplugged machines; the very machines that had been connected to me. Frantically I bolted out the door, but before I had gotten too far I heard the doctor pony tell the gaurdspony that;

“She’s in intensive care.”

It didn’t make much sense to me, but curiosity ended up taking dominance over my mind. I sat on my haunches next to the two ponies and eavesdropped on their conversation. I mean what point would there be being invisible, un-hear able, and intangible if you couldn’t at least listen in on somepony’s conversation.

The two were talking about me. Apparently I had been assaulted while somepony was visiting me. When I had gained this information, my mind had instantly gone to those two ponies that had put me in this situation to begin with. After the assault I- my body had been taken to intensive care, where it will remain until I’m in a stable condition.

My ears perked up when I had heard that it was a young mare that had alerted the hospital staff to the situation by screaming loudly. My eyes grew wide for the only pony that I could think of at that very moment was Bonbon. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t thought about her since I had ended up in this situation. I kicked myself because I knew that she must have been worried sick when she heard the news. I left the two colts in a rush. I had to make it to my body; if there was any chance that I could still be alive I would take it.

        I reached my destination in a matter of minutes. In fact it wasn’t too far from my original room; despite being on the other side of the hospital, it was on the same floor. I reached the doors and swiftly made my way through them. When I had gotten inside I saw my body connected to several more machines than what it had been previous.

My body was covered in bandages; the only recognizable features being my body shape and a small cut out where my closed eyes could be seen. On top of that I was also connected to multiple monitors; each of which read some kind of results, of which I had no comprehension of. Several more tubes (each connected to a separate apparatus of some kind) were sticking out of my body in the bends of all my legs.

I stared at the broken pony before me in a similar manner to when I had originally come in contact with my injured body. Except this time there was hardly any resemblance (at least in look) to the two images. I stared for a few moments before slowly making my way towards it. I hadn’t got within four hooves of the bed before collapsing to the ground.

Bonbon was curled into the fetal position in the center of her room. Tears were streaming down her face as she sobbed uncontrollably. Her world had almost literally come crashing down around her ears. “I-it’s my f-fault… I-I shouldn’t h-have g-gone…” she blubbered to no pony in particular.

For several hours she laid there; whimpering and sobbing. Her emotional state had severely dropped to the point of depression within the past three days. Not only were her parents acting out of the ordinary; but the love of her life had slipped into a coma or possibly even died. “Why did it have to be her? Wh-why n-not me?” she sobbed bringing her legs ever closer to her body.

A few minutes had past; she had calmed down to the point of silence. Her tears had dried, for there was nothing left. She laid there in the same position for a few moments longer before slowly getting to her hooves. The tears had stained her cheeks. Dark circles had formed underneath her eyes from lack of rest. Ever so slowly, she made her way to a writing desk near her bed. She already had a piece of parchment and a quill in a ready-to-use set up.

She took the quill in her mouth and began to jot down several words upon the parchment. She sat at her haunches scribbling away word after word. It did not take long for her to finish the task that before her. She folded the parchment horizontally and set it back on the desk before lying in her bed. A single tear slipped over her cheek before sleep found her.

I awoke in a room absent of light save for a small pin prick of white that appeared to be an enormous distance away. I couldn’t tell what it was and my curiosity was driving me to find out; however I stood still, abiding a nagging voice in the back of my head that warned me to stay. Suddenly however, the light began to approach me at a rapid pace. I shut my eyes tightly as the light reached a blinding intensity.

When I opened them again I was once again in that dark room, except I wasn’t alone. There was a shining mare (who was much taller than I) standing before me. She appeared to be staring at me; I couldn’t gaze at her visage for very long without blinding myself temporarily.

“Lyra Heartsrings,” a loud voice bellowed as she looked down upon me. Her mouth hadn’t moved; it was as if she was speaking directly through my mind. “We stand before thee because thy hath either died, or nearly experienced death…”

Tears began to form in the corners of my eyes as this information had began to sink in. “Wh-who are you?” I stammered looking up into where I assumed her eyes were.

The light that encompassed the mare began to dim, revealing a tall, magenta eyed alicorn mare with a white coat and a flowing pastel-rainbow mane. I did a double take, standing before me was none other than the regent of the sun Princess Celestia. “Princess,” I said while bowing before her.

She simply waved off the formality of my greeting. “No need for such greetings, Lyra,” she spoke softly.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” I hesitated, afraid of insulting the princess.

“I’ve already told you,” she informed me in a soothing voice. “However, if you wish to know why it is I that is here to guide you through your predicament; it is because I am the one who guides ponies after their time on this earth has past. A ‘Grim Reaper’ of sorts,” she explained to me.

“I’ve always thought that you’d be the one who created life…” I thought aloud; soon after realizing what I had said I covered my mouth with my front two hooves.

The princes simply sighed and took in a deep breath. “When I was born I had ended up inheriting the ability to converse with the dead along with the representation of the objects of which I symbolize. However, death cannot exist without life and following suite, my sister, Luna was born. She had inherited the ability to create life as well as the representation of the moon and stars,” as she told me this her voice was empty and monotonous.

I contemplated her words for several silent moments. As I did so I grew angry towards the white alicorn that stood before me. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity towards my facial expression. I exploded, my words coming without thought. “So it’s your fault that Phoebe can’t pass on to the next life!”

As soon as the words exited my muzzle I found myself wishing that I could grab them from mid air and return them to my mouth because of the now hardened expression embroidered on the Princess’ face. “Do not put fault on us for the laws of the universe and of all things! We are but a messenger and guide for the dead; we cannot brake it!” her voice was loud, angry, and overlaid by a separate archaic and unnatural voice. Her eyes had changed from magenta to a searing red; her mane and tail into bright white-hot wisps of flame.

Fear penetrated my body like an iron rod being driven through my chest. I did everything possible to make myself smaller and less noticeable to the divine being before me. I laid in the fetal position shaking uncontrollably. My eyes were shut tightly; the brightness had died down, but I didn’t dare open them to view the horror before me.

“Oh dear… I am sorry my little pony. I didn’t mean to let myself loose like that…” I heard a soft voice come from above me. I opened my eyes and looked up at the Princess, her visage had returned to that of her normal self.

I had gotten to my hooves then sat, with the Princess next to me. The two of us sat in the dark seemingly endless void that I had come to be used to. We sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity, though it could have been even longer within this timeless space of existence. “So… what happens now? Wh-what will happen to Bonbon if… if I die?” I broke the silence; my voice hollow and sad.

“Well… you’re not quite dead yet. There’s a chance that you can survive and awake from your coma. The only way though is that you’ll have to find out who did this to you, and stop them however you can… But, don’t sleep. Every time that you become ‘unconscious’, your body is that much closer to death…” she left me with these words of advice before standing and disappearing from the void.

The next thing that I knew I was lying at the foot of my body’s bed. I stood to see that it had not been moved ‘not that it could have moved’ my thought accompanied by an annoyed grunt escaping my muzzle. I returned to the hallway to find both Phoebe and Hurricane waiting patiently at the door.

“What’s the matter?” Phoebe questioned smiling up at me; her innocent eyes connecting with mine. The two of us were locked in each other’s gaze; her expression had become more serious as this took place. “Is something wrong?” her adult tone again… even now I still don’t understand the little filly standing before me.

“Um… no… I’m just… thinking; that’s all…” I broke her gaze and began to sluggishly walk in a separate direction. My mind was a mess of questions that pertained to exactly how I would be able to stop my assailants if I can’t touch them… ‘Hell, I don’t even know who they are’ I had become annoyed with myself. I cursed a few times to myself as I tried to remember the voices of the two ponies and who exactly those voices belonged to. At this point however, all I could remember was that the voices were all too familiar.

I had spent the rest of the night trying to remember those voices; but to no avail. The sun had come up; I had lost the ability to contact the only two ponies that could interact with me knowingly. A few hours past dawn I had given up on trying to access my unconscious memory and began to aimlessly roam the seemingly endless hallways of Canterlot General Hospital.

Several more hours past; I guessed it to be somewhere around midday. I peered outside to find it to be the typical beautiful day in Canterlot. After a few moments of staring at the wonderful scenery outside, I had decided that a walk might clear my head and help me think.

I stepped outside the large double doors that lead to the hospital’s waiting room. It was sunny out, not a cloud in the sky. Being stuck in a hospital for the past three days and four nights had made me come to appreciate the beauty of the outside world; more so than before. Though I couldn’t feel it, I had guessed it to be the perfect temperature outside; not too hot nor too cold. My expression had become content as I set off on my walk.

Everypony that I came across had smiles embroidered brightly across their faces. I had become mildly envious of their happy content lives; none of them had to deal with the situation that now had me in its clutches. However, I tried to shake the feeling because if anything, it would only hinder the entire purpose of this walk.

Several minutes passed by and I had ended up at the “Two Sisters” park in Canterlot; which had been built soon after the return of Princess Luna. I trotted through the wooden arch entrance and headed two a tall pine tree that, soon after the park was built, had become a favorite spot for the picnics that Bonbon and I would frequently endeavor upon. When I came upon that particular spot however, it was occupied by Octavia and a miss Vinyl Scratch. I drew ever closer to them to find that they were having a picnic of their own. They were talking, at first I couldn’t understand what it was about but then they mentioned her.

“Bonbon must be really sick; she hasn’t come out of her house for days…” Octavia remarked.

Vinyl Scratch simply made a confirming grunt-like noise in reply as she chewed on a bite of sandwich. “Her mother has been acting out-of-whack lately as well…” she commented after swallowing. I had partially tuned out their conversation after gaining the knowledge of Bonbon’s physical condition. Without thinking I bolted off in the direction of her house; worried for her.

Somehow I remember Bonbon’s house being closer to the park than it was, because as I rushed in that direction, the minutes felt like hours. Time almost ceased to exist at its slow rate of passing; however, it didn’t take much actual time for me to reach her front door. I stepped onto her front porch and took in deep breath. Slowly and quietly I entered the home, closing the door behind me, even though I did know that I couldn’t be seen, I still felt like I shouldn’t utter a sound.

I wandered through the house; I wasn’t extremely familiar with the layout of her house because Bonbon usually met me at mine. I had only been inside of her house once before. I found myself in her kitchen; her mother busy at work cooking their family’s meal for the evening. I don’t know what, but something had possessed me to watch her intently; not on what she was doing, but on her.

Shaking my head from my stupor I proceeded down the hall to where I believed Bonbon’s room to be. I peeked in the door way to find her lying on her bed. That’s when I heard it, she was sobbing into her pillow. My heart sank as I entered her room; it was a cluttered mess; crumpled papers, articles of clothing, pillows, and a smashed alarm-clock were but a few things that were scattered.

“Bonbon…” I whispered and choked simultaneously as a few tears began to slip over my cheeks. I tried to embrace her but, that damned polar force wouldn’t allow it and simply pushed me back as soon as I had gotten within six inches of her. I started to carefully climb into the bed next to her when a sudden noise threw me off guard.

“Bonbon! It’s dinner time!” the voice of her mother called out to her. My eyes grew wide as the memory of its familiarity filled me;

“You see, we all make mistakes. We’re here to fix yours…”

I threw myself off of the bed and slammed against the wall as the words swam through my brain. The voices… they… they were the same. I began to hyperventilate; I tried to make sense of it, tried to convince myself that it wasn’t them… but her voice was unmistakable. Through my hysteria I barely noticed that Bonbon had gotten off of the bed and sat at her writing desk. My hyperventilation had begun to catch up to me; I fainted, though I don’t know if I could actually faint.

Bonbon moaned in depression and irritation as her mother called out for her to join the rest of the family for dinner. Suddenly however, she jumped to her hooves out of surprise as a spontaneous and loud thud of a noise sounded against one of the walls. She looked over in the direction of the noise, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

Slowly she made her way over to her writing desk at which she sat and began to scribble down words at mildly slow pace as a depressed expression made its way upon her face. She was only able to write a few more moments before her mother called out to her once again. Frustrated, she tore up the parchment and scattered its remains by tossing them into the air before making her way out of the door and down the hall to join her family.

When I came to the room was dark, I could hear Bonbon’s breathing as she lay unconscious in her bed. I got to my hooves and walked over to her. “Bonbon…” I whispered to myself as if she could hear me. I turned away from her and began to trot towards the exit of her room when I noticed a folded piece of parchment with the words ‘Final Apology’ scrawled across the top, lying on her desk. Despite the possible invasion of privacy I levitated it to my eye level, opened it and began to read;

My beloved friends;
        
        I don’t even know why I’m writing this... However, by the time anypony finds this I will have left this world by my own will. These past few days have been very difficult; I know that sounds like a severely small reason to commit such an act… but it’s much worse than what I can truly explain.

        Lyra, my only reason to keep living has most likely died by now… And worse yet, my parents won’t allow me to visit or even find out if she’s still alive… I talked to a nurse last night after breaking my parent’s rules while they went out… she said… she said that she’d be surprised if Lyra lived through the night.

–Tear stains caused the ink to run and the words to be unreadable for the rest of the paragraph-

        I have to do it… if it’s the only way that I’ll see her again. I hope that my friends can forgive me… Bonbon;

April 4th, 1003 CM