The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Seventeen: Star Spinner
In Equestria, the day was turning to night. Most ponies were enjoying their evenings, whether they were having a lovely date with their loved one, basking in the beautiful, warm mixture of sunlight and moonlight, or feasting on a delectable meal. There was one unicorn, however, that was in the most mind-numbing pain he had ever felt in his life.
The solar guard known as Star Spinner was laying on a hospital gurney, tossing and turning like a bear caught in a trap. He rolled over continually, giving growling, labored groans of pain as sea-blue energy spiraled out in a flurry, just like the storm brewing within his heart.
Ever since his horn was blasted off by Bumble, something seemed to completely change in terms of morality for Star Spinner. The senseless violence, the inhumane insults and other verbal abuse, everything – it just suddenly made no sense to him, and it shocked him. These were the guards that he grew up knowing as his best friends, that never showed a speck of violence except on the playground when the bullies started to screw with them. Ever since the invasion, they were different, and this horrified him to no end.
There was something wrong, and he could sense it all around him – the negative energy and atmosphere all around him had somehow messed with his heart, influencing him, contaminating him, polluting him. He knew that he didn’t hate changelings, or any other creatures for that matter, but he had the insatiable distaste all of a sudden.
He liked to think of situations like this, as sparse as they were in his life, like a clock: There were so many cogs that needed to be fine tuned perfectly inside of the clock for it to work, but none of them were able to fit together, able to be fine tuned. Thus, the entire thing fell apart into a mishmash of disarray, and it just didn’t work. He thought it fit pretty well.
Sometime during the evening, he felt the urge to use the restroom, so he rolled over and slowly dropped himself off the soft mattress. As his hooves clopped onto the hard, crystalline floor, his head was being struck with sledgehammers made of rust right behind his eyeballs.
He gasped, little breath coming to him. For a few moments, he stood there, collecting his breath, lifting his hoof to his head. The pain was nearly unbearable; the urge to scream out of pain was greater than that of the sensation one gets by having their brain extracted through their ears and nose with a wide tablespoon.
After the pain had lessened, he limped his way over to the loo, of which was only half a furlong away. That short distance seemed like miles for him, but he trudged it out all the way there - a perilous journey - and went into one of the stalls. As he conducted his business, he could hear two other guards walking by.
“…found the changeling hive a couple days ago! I can’t believe we finally found that place. The badlands are so vast down there. It's just a barren sea of heat and rocks and misery.”
“Yeah."
“I hear that we actually managed to purge their queen from the hive! A magnificent, majestic victory for ponykind! I also heard that there’s a changeling princess with her.”
“A princess? Really? She must live an absolutely miserable life, having to live under the rule of such a witch. Not like it matters – she’s probably just like the queen. Nasty.”
“I just wonder what she had to do in the whole scheme of things. I haven’t heard of any changeling princess until you just told me.”
“She was probably watching behind the scene, laughing at our anguish. She must’ve been doing something.”
Listening in on this conversation, Star Spinner felt indifferent about what they were saying. He had his doubts that the changeling queen had actually been captured, but he’d been so out of things for the last couple months that anything could’ve been possible. What he could believe, though, was that she had a daughter.
“Who knows? Come on, let’s go get some food. I’m starving!”
“All right. Let’s go!”
With that, the two left, and less than a minute later, he heard the reverberating sound of the slamming trapdoor that lead into the cave. He finished up his duty in the restroom and began the ever so long, half-a-furlong trek back to his bed. On his slow trot, he struck a thought.
‘These guy’s attitudes must have some kind of correlation to Chrysalis. They only started being this hateful after the invasion; even towards the nastiest criminals, they weren’t this cruel. I need to figure this out. Ugh… tomorrow, though. I’m too tired.’
Eventually, he made his way back to his bed. The soft, fluffy feeling of the mattress was very welcome to him, and the cushiony, yet firm, pillow felt inviting. He rested his body on the cushions, giving a labored sigh.
For hours, he tried to fall asleep, but the intense pain in his head prevented him from doing so. Thus, he reached down into a small, leather sack on the side of the bed, pulling out a large, white bottle with the words “Toravline” sprawled all over the front.
Toravline was one of the strongest painkillers ever created in Equestria, strong enough to null the pain of the worst injuries. It was used a great amount in the last major war of Equestria, the 2nd Equestrian-Minotaur war, which was about one-hundred and fifty years before the present day. It was created by a Minotaur scientist, but the recipe found its way into Equestrian hooves, and they used this amazing painkiller to win the war by a landslide.
He gave a sigh of relief – the pain could go away at last. He pulled the cap off and poured three capsules out onto a table next to him, with a glass of water.
Setting the bottle aside, he put the three tablets into his mouth, slamming them down with the water. The taste left little to be desired – it was the bitterest taste, attacking his tongue with full force, like black coffee, radicchio and arugula, all blended together and multiplied by a trillion. The disgustingly warm water just made it all the more enjoyable, its tastelessness making him cringe in utter delight as it washed down his pain.
He set the glass of water back down on the table and capped the bottle of pain relievers, setting it back down into the bag. He rolled over to his side, letting his legs spread out comfortably over the bed. Slowly, the pain dimmed in his head, and sleep slowly called him into its warm embrace, giving him some sense of comfort in his pain.