Meanwhile, in Room 233 of Ponyville General Hospital...
Even with a grand total of seven ponies, one human and one baby dragon in the room, not a sound was heard, other than the monotonous beeping of Rainbow Dash's heartbeat monitor. Nopony spoke. They were still in shock from what they had heard.
After everypony left room 45, they all went to check on Rainbow Dash. Some were concerned, but most of them just wanted to have something distract them from...that.
Since the gruesome retelling of Christian's life, nopony was left unaffected.
Applejack was going to be honest with herself; she had never, ever heard of something so terrible happen to anypony. She had never thought anypony would, or could, deserve such treatment. She was hit with a myriad of different emotions, such as anger towards Christians parents, sorrow towards Christian himself, and disappointment in herself.
How could Ah have bucked him right in the face after he had to go through something like that? Applejack thought to herself. Almost immediately, she shook her head. He did deserve it, on account of him beatin' the hay out of RD! Applejack frowned. Too many conflictin' emotions...
These thoughts were traveling though the heads of almost everypony in the room, save the doctor, who had not witnessed the evils Christian had committed, Geo, who was used to the story, and had long since gotten over it, and Rainbow Dash, because she wasn't exactly awake to hear it, nor was she in the same room. Even Luna, who was around to see the reign of Discord. and the war between her former self and her sister, had not heard of such things.
The ponies of Equestria were, simply put, an innocent race.
Still, nopony spoke, too lost in their own thoughts on the matter. They had mostly reached the same conclusion: Christian has had a hard life, but I don't think that's excuse enough to hurt others.
Luna suddenly spoke up for the first time in a long while. "I am confused as to what i should be feeling at the moment..."
Applejack nodded. "Well, ain't we all?"
"I could throw a party and try and cheer him up! I mean, parties cheer everyone up!" Pinkie declared. After receiving a few glances from those around her however, she shrank slightly. "Or maybe not." she finished lamely.
"What do we do?" Twilight asked, to nopony in particular.
Rarity had since waken up from fainting, and was herself thinking over what to do. She could not come up with anything. "I doubt there's anything we could do, girls. We just...have to leave this one be."
Twilight shook her head. "No, there must be something...there's a fairly large chance that he won't be able to go back to his world, so he's stuck here." She thought for a moment. "Here seems to be a large improvement from wherever he came from."
"Earth." Geo corrected. "We come from Earth."
Another bout of silence, something that was becoming more and more commonplace since Christian and Geo came to Equestria. Again, everypony was lost in their own thoughts.
Geo, however, broadcasted her thoughts to the room.
"Is this really the worst thing you've ever heard of?" She asked everypony in the room. "I mean, come on! Surely there have been wars, or serial killers, or a freaking natural disaster, or something! Christian's life sucks, sure, but it's not the worst thing I've ever heard."
"The last war in memory was the war between Celestia and m-I mean, Nightmare Moon, just over one-thousand years ago." Luna said.
Twilight nodded, and said "Murder is almost unheard of in Equestria. Ponies are not naturally violent, so if one pony kills another, it's usually darker forces at work. No pony would willingly kill another." She looked at Luna, remembering what she had just said about the war. "At least, not without reason."
"Natural disasters aren't too common either, my dear." Rarity assured Geo. "Weather related incidents are handled by the pegasi, and Equestria has never had an earthquake to date."
Geo looked around her. "So, basically, what you're saying is that Equestria is, well, something of a paradise?"
A small laugh filled the room, and everyone turned to Spike. "Paradise? Yeah, right! Though i admit, it's a hay of a lot better than the manure-hole you guys come from."
"Spike!" Twilight gasped. "Don't use that kind of language!"
"Sorry Twilight." Spike glared over at Rarity. "I'm just not in a good mood right now."
Rarity sighed. "Look, Spikey-"
"Rarity, please. I don't need that right now. We've got more important things to focus on." Spike grumbled. "More important to you, anyway."
Rarity closed her mouth. If it had been anypony else, she would probably have huffed in annoyance, but she of all ponies knew exactly what was wrong with Spike.
"In any case," Geo began, "He is right. Our world is nothing compared to yours." She looked at the Princess of the Moon. "Princess Luna, if you don't mind me asking, what is the worst event that's ever happened to Equestria? I mean, the worst event that cost lives? And how many?"
Luna sighed. "The war I mentioned earlier was the worst event in recorded history besides the reign of Discord himself, but-"
"Sorry, who?"
"Discord. He is the embodiment of chaos and disharmony, but he does what he does in a playful sense. The world was in complete disarray under his rule, though he did not actively seek death." Luna shook her head quickly. "My point is, the war was the worst thing since that, and there were about nine-thousand ponies lost. That includes civilians and soldiers."
The Elements and Spike nodded. It was truly a dark event, and they all knew Luna regretted it immensely. However, Geo could not believe it.
"That's it? Only nine-thousand?" She cried. "That's nothing!"
Everypony gasped. "So you say that the deaths of nine-thousand ponies is nothing to you? How dare you?" Luna shouted.
Geo raised her hands and shook her head. "Nonononono, that's not what I meant at all!"
Everypony relaxed, though Luna was still on edge.
"That probably didn't have the intended impact without some context." Geo assured. "I mean no disrespect. Now, what was the world population at the time?"
Luna looked puzzled. "The population of the entire world? It was not the entire world involved, only Equestria. No other countries were involved."
Geo lowered her glasses, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Alright, what was the total population of Equestria at the time?"
Luna thought for a moment. "Approximately twenty-million."
Geo frowned. "To be honest, Princess, that's...not a lot."
Luna frowned in return. "What do you mean, 'not a lot'? Twenty million is a fairly large amount! The population at the moment is about thirty-five million."
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, that is a lot of ponies, you have to admit Geo."
Geo shook her head. "No, I don't. You wanna know the population of our world when we left?" Everypony nodded or muttered to the affirmative. "It was just over seven-billion. So when you say nine-thousand ponies died, that pales in comparison when we've got wars that cost millions of lives."
This enticed a gasp from everypony. But Geo was not done.
"Our world has so many problems. Hundreds of people die daily from starvation. Greed and corruption runs rampant everywhere. People like Christian's parents weren't really commonplace, but they were present. Countries that hate each other, and are willing to start a war over the smallest of things. People willing to kill others for their beliefs. Hell, in some places, they've got freaking child soldiers.
"But out of all of that, you know what the saddest part is?" Geo asked. She scanned the room, waiting for a response. When she got none, she kept talking. "The saddest part of it is that all of this crap, this bad stuff that's happening? It's that most people don't try and do anything about it! They just sit back and accept that the world sucks, and do nothing!"
Geo was yelling at this point. "Our world is dying, and it's our fault, and yet, we don't do anything about it. The major governments of the world even have plans to move planets if our one dies out. And I bet you that we'll just use that planet until it's a barren hunk of rock. We could try and make our world better, but no! They're even saying that if we find a planet we can live on, we'll kick out any species already living there, be it with diplomacy or full-scale genocide!"
Geo paused for a while longer, looking at the horrified faces around her. She directed her gaze to the baby dragon in front of her. "You're right. Earth, our home, is a manure-hole. But it's not the world that's the problem. It's us."
Geo stood still for a while, looking at the floor, thinking to herself. She had never really been that passionate about anything before.
She looked up. "We are a greedy, selfish, horrible race. I hate it that I'm a part of them."
Another pause. "I think I'll go back and see Christian for a while. Please, don't follow me."
With that, the human girl with the pimply face and glasses walked out of the room, a dejected look about her.
The Elements all looked at each other.
"Could...a world that horrible really exist?" Twilight asked.
"Ah'm more worried 'bout Geo. Ah mean, if'n humans are really as bad as she says they are, then what reason do we have to trust her?" Applejack cried.
"I trust her." said a familiar voice from the bed.
"Yeah, but Ah don't. That's the honest..." Applejack realised who had just spoken. She turned to look at the cyan pegasus, who was now fully awake. "Truth."
Pinkie Pie jumped for joy. "Yay! Dashie's awake! Now we can throw her a 'Get-Well-Soon' party!" she cried.
Everypony else gathered around the bed, eager to see how Rainbow was doing.
"How long have you been awake, Rainbow?" Twilight asked.
"Long enough. I heard pretty much everything she said about humans and their world." Rainbow smiled weakly. "I think she really believes what she said."
"How can you tell, darling?" Rarity questioned.
"You can tell when somepony has a fire in 'em, a determination. I see it in Applejack when she works the farm, Twilight when she does on a study binge, you when you make dresses, me, when I look in the mirror and think about becoming a Wonderbolt. I could see that same fire in her eyes." Rainbow nodded in a completely unfitting sagely manner. "She means what she says."
"Well then Rainbow Dash, tell us, how are you feeling?" Luna inquired. The rest of the ponies and Spike were curious as well.
"I'm fine. I've had worse from crashing. My wings are fine, so I can still fly fine. I remember something about worrying about my wings, then Applejack coming in, then I remember being here." Rainbow frowned. "Hey, where is that jerk, anyway? I beat the hay out of him for hurting you guys, then he called me a fi-" Rainbow caught herself quickly. "He called me some stuff that brought back bad memories, and then he jumped me when I wasn't looking! No good cheater! I want a rematch!
"Anyway, that's how I feel emotionally. Physically, my head hurts a lot. I can feel my heartbeat in my eyes, for crying out loud. My stomach kind of hurts too, but in the 'I've eaten too much' kinda way. He didn't really hit me anywhere else." Rainbow finished.
"Well Rainbow, the doctors say you'll be fine in a few days. I'll bring in some Daring Do books to keep your mind occupied. How does that sound?" Twilight offered. The excited grin on Dash's face said it all.
"I wasn't kidding when I asked where that smug jerk was, guys." Rainbow pushed.
Applejack took this one. "Well, you broke one of his ribs, and cracked three others, and dislocated his shoulder. That wouldn't be enough to put him in a hospital, apparently. But, when you were down on the ground after he beat you-"
"He didn't beat me! He cheated!"
"Anyhow," Applejack continued, "Ah saw him standing next to you, his hands on your wing, and Ah just kinda...lost it. Ah ran up to him, and bucked him in the head."
Rainbow's eyes widened. "Woah! That probably knocked him out, right?"
"Sure as shootin'. He was out cold. Ah didn't really wanna, but Celestia and Twilight said we should take him to the hospital, get him studied as well as patched up. I didn't really think he deserved it." Applejack sighed. "Then, Geo told us why he's so mean."
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, I remember she said something like 'He's had the worst life I've ever heard about' or something."
"Well sugarcube, his life was...a lot worse than we could of imagined." Applejack sighed, shivering at the memory.
"I doubt it's so bad that it gives him the right to hurt ponies!" Rainbow said in protest.
Twilight reached out and patted Rainbow's shoulder. "It's...pretty sick. Do you want us to tell you?"
"Yeah sure! I bet I can handle it." Rainbow cried.
///
Meanwhile, back in Room 45...
"Oh Celestia, he's had such a hard life...I don't know how to feel about him treating ponies like he did." Fluttershy said, unsure of what to feel, much like her fellow Elements a few floors above her.
Celestia was there to try and comfort the Element of Kindness. Celestia knew that the tale of Christian's life was a bad one, but she personally did not believe there was any excuse to cause the kind of mental harm Christian had caused the Elements, no matter how badly he was treated himself. She did, however, believe that Christian could redeem himself.
"His decisions are his own, and we cannot change that." Celestia spoke softly to her subject.
A pause. "We could wake him up if you wish, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy gasped. "Oh, no, we couldn't...I mean, he might want to wake up, but what if he tries to hurt ponies again?"
Celestia chuckled slightly. "Well, we brought him to a hospital, and treated him. I would say he wouldn't try. However, if he does, I can knock him out again."
Fluttershy was still contemplating the decision when Geo came in.
"Oh, right. Yeah. You two are in here." Geo muttered to herself.
"Oh, um, hello..." Fluttershy said, rather quietly, as was her trademark,
"Hello, Geo," Celestia greeted, "We were just discussing whether or not to awaken Christian from his unconscious state."
Geo looked at them, somewhat puzzled. "There, uh, really shouldn't be any debate. Just wake him up."
Celestia nodded, and took a step back. "Fluttershy, please retreat to a safe distance while I cast the spell. I may knock you out by mistake, and we definitely wouldn't want that."
Fluttershy let of a quick "eep" and shot off behind Geo. Huh. She chose me as comfort over Celestia. Why?
The alicorn's horn began to glow a brilliant yellow, like the ray of the sun, and as she charged it, it only got brighter. Eventually, both Geo and Fluttershy could actually feel warmth radiating from Celestia, the kind of warmth one would get from taking a walk on a summer afternoon under a clear sky.
The warmth ended in a loud noise that Geo couldn't really describe, and a bolt of yellow hit Christian, causing him to jolt slightly.
Christian lay there for a few seconds more, before his eyes began to flutter open.
"So, this is what Rodney King felt like." He murmured, before fully opening his eyes, and scanning the room around him.
"Hello, Geo. Fluttershy." He looked at Celestia. His face indifferent, he said, "Celestia."
Either she didn't notice, or she didn't care, because the Princess of the Sun didn't dwell on it.
"Christian, do you know why we have awoken you?" She asked calmly.
The human male smirked. "You could not resist my charms? I am flattered, but older women are not my style."
Geo sighed. "Christian, now's not really the time to be insulting people."
Christian shook his head disapprovingly at his female counterpart. "Every time is a time for insults! After all, life is boring without a little cruelty."
Instead of the anger he was looking to incite from Fluttershy and Celestia, he got only looks of pity. Raising an eyebrow, Christian looked over at Geo to ask exactly why they were no longer treating him like an enemy when he caught the expression on her face.
Christian stared long and hard at her, losing all forms of expression on his face.
"You told them, did you not?" He said finally. It was less of a question and more of a statement.
Geo nodded in response. She was pretty sure of what his reaction would be.
"Is there any particular reason as to why?" Christian asked, with a little more force, still with no facial expression.
"Okay, Christian, I told them 'cause they kept asking questions like, 'why's he so mean,' and 'I've never seen such a cruel individual.' Honestly, you've had enough of that." Geo explained.
Christian turned to look at Celestia. "Excuse me, oh exulted ruler," he said, voice dripping with venomous sarcasm, "but would you be ever so kind as to leave the room? I would like a private audience with Georgina." He stared a little longer. "If you would not kind, of course. Far be it from me to tell royalty what to do, even if said royalty is an animal."
"For God's sake, man, shut up!" Geo growled.
Christian frowned. "Fine. Just leave, would you Princess? Pretty please?" he asked, turning his head and fluttering his eyelashes at Celestia.
Celestia herself frowned, but actually found herself complying. The door closed lightly, surrounded by a brilliant yellow glow.
Fluttershy was still there. "Um, do you want me to leave? Because I will, I mean, if it's alright with you..."
Christian shook his head. "You can stay. I would rather you not repeat anything you hear, however."
Fluttershy gulped and nodded. "O-okay."
"So, Georgina, I assume I am in a hospital of some kind?" Christian questioned. Geo nodded. "Why?"
Geo looked at him oddly. "Because you were hurt. Why wouldn't they help?"
"For one, I need not their sympathies, and had I been awake, I would have argued."
"If you'd been awake, Rainbow Dash wouldn't have had working wings!"
"She punched first, I had every right to defend myself."
"No, you didn't you moron! She came in to hit you a few times, with no more aggression than a parent wanting to smack their kid for misbehaving!. It was your fault that you got her to hit you so hard."
"Do you expect me to feel regret? I do not feel anymore, Georgina, you know that. Thanks to you, everyone else knows that as well."
"Come on, I know you better than you know yourself sometimes! You think I don't know you don't care?"
"Indeed. yet, you seem adamant on trying to make me rue what I have done to the closet homosexual."
Geo sighed heavily. "I know you can read people like you read freaking books, but how in the hell could you know that?"
Fluttershy was listening intently at this point. She was remembering the conversation she and Geo had had earlier about filly-foolers, and how it was okay in their world.
"I know that because that is what I taunted her with, and I began naming her friends one by one as potential candidates." Christian argued.
"How does that prove anything?" Geo yelled.
"Simple. When I mentioned Fluttershy here, she froze up."
The two went silent, and then almost in perfect synchronisation, looked at Fluttershy. She was standing there, wide-eyed.
"She...likes me? As in, like likes me?" Fluttershy hid behind her bubblegum-pink mane. "Oh my..."
'Indeed she does. Your reaction, however, is less favourable. You do not like her back, do you?" Christian smirked.
"No, I...I can't. I like colts, not...mares..." Fluttershy stammered.
"I predict an awkward encounter ahead." Observed the smirking human from the hospital bed. If I cannot ruin her wings, I shall ruin her love life instead...
"I love her, but as a friend, not like...like that..." Fluttershy kept talking. She sounded like she was trying to comfort herself. Indeed, her eyes began to water.
"I can't tell her, I'll break my oldest friends heart...but if I don't, and she asks later...then I..." Fluttershy whimpered, "I don't know what to do!" She cried finally, bursting into tears. Geo leaned down and embraced the canary pegasus while looking over at Christian.
She had expected to see him smirking, or at least looking satisfied a little. What she actually saw brought about several questions.
He looked...sad.
Geo knew that couldn't be right, because ever since the night with his sister and father, he had blocked out the ability to feel emotions at all. The only reason he knew what emotion to fake at what time was due to both extensive television programs, books read, and lessons from herself. She knew he couldn't really feel anything.
Yet, it looked like he was.
She was confused. He couldn't possibly feel regret for making her cry, could he?
Then, a thought hit her. Geo looked down at the pegasus who was currently crying on her shoulder. She tried to connect it to...Huh...I think I see what's going on here.
However, Christian spoke, in a voice that didn't seem like his own.
"Are you alright?"
He sounded so...sincere.
Fluttershy sobbed back a response that sounded like "I don't know what to do," but it could just as easily been random crying noises.
"Alright, Fluttershy, here is what you are going to do." Christian said. "You are going to go to Rainbow, and you are going to tell her you know of her feelings for you. Try to let her down gently. You're friendship can outlast this, alright?"
Geo was staring at him, her mouth open in shock. Fluttershy didn;t really register exactly who had given her that advice, but suddenly quieted down.
"You're right...I have to be brave...thank you..." she whispered, with a determined look on her face amidst the tears, and the quickly trotted out of the room.
The room was silent once more.
Well it was, until Geo shouted "What in the hell was that?!"
Christian actually looked just as shocked. "What is wrong with me? I think Applejack must have hit me harder than I thought...I do not like this 'nice' Christian..."
"Just...just...what?" Geo sputtered. She had a small idea as to why he just acted like he did, but still...
Christian suddenly nodded. "I think I know why I treated her like I did..."
"Alright, part with your knowledge, Christian, because I have no freaking idea!" Geo cried.
"It is not that hard to decipher. Look at her. She has long hair. She has blue, maybe even teal eyes. She is kind. She loves animals." Christian stared at her. "Think, Geo, who do you know that fits that description?"
It took her a little while, but Geo eventually pieced it together. When she did, a little smile was on her face.
"Heh, I didn't pick you for that kid of guy, Christian."
Christian was not smiling. He was worried. "I felt. Just then, I felt something." He looked at her with a hard gaze. "I do not want to feel."
"What'd you feel?" Geo asked, though she knew the answer already.
"It matches up to the feelings of sorrow I remember from my childhood..." Christian mused.
He looked at Geo. "This is bad. This world of...ponies is turning me soft. I need to get out of here."
"Tell me. Say it out loud. Who does Fluttershy remind you of?" Geo pushed.
Christian sighed. He looked down at the bed he lay in before looking back at Geo.
"Long hair...kindness...teal eyes...love for animals...nurturing personality...putting others before herself..." Christian sighed.
"She reminds me of Alex."
This was the next step in the large chain of events centred around the two strangest creatures in all of Equestria, Christian and Georgina.
"Hey!"
Oh come on, Christian called you that, like, three times and you had no reaction!
"That's different. Now fix up your speech. Jackass..."
Sorry, Geo.
///
Author note: Yeah, sorry I didn't update yesterday. I actually don't have a reason.
Don't worry, Christian isn't going all emotional. He'll still be a douchebag to everyone. Fluttershy is the only exception.
I may update tomorrow. I may not.