//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Just an Old Ponytale... // by EternalShadow54 //------------------------------// Just an old Ponytale... Chapter 9- "What are you waiting for? Keep throwing!" Twilight yelled. "We can't!" her pink friend stated. "We're out of ammo!" Twilight looked among the ponies that had bravely fought aside her. "Fall back to the barn..." "So, you're saying that she is the cause for all of this?" Twilight opened her eyes, her body having almost fully recovered from her daring and risky attempt. She listened intently as she heard the same two ponies from yesterday argue. "Why the hay are we taking care of her then? If it were up to me, I would throw her out to those monstrosities!" Rarity looked at the nurse with an angry scowl. "Now you listen here you brute, she's my friend and I will not tolerate you talking about her in such a manner. She's also the only one who may know a cure for this whole thing and you want to just throw her out!" The nurse just glared at Rarity. "So what do you suppose we do, we have other more deserving patients that actually need a bed. I suppose you want me to just sit here and wait for her to wake up?" Rarity glanced at her friend. "You wouldn't have to wait long." she said, pointing to where a disheartened Twilight laid in sorrow. Rarity took notice of this and walked over to her friends side, grabbing her hoof as she looked into her eyes with care. The nurse simply grunted. Rarity was the first to speak. "Twilight..." she softly said as a mother would to help calm a filly. "How much did you hear?" Twilight turned her head. "Enough..." she said with hoaresness in her voice. Rarity put a hoof to Twilight's head and turned it around so she would be facing back into her eyes. "Twilight, you're my friend. As such, I want you to know that I am always here for you whenever you need me. If there's anything you need to talk about, ANYTHING, please don't hesitate to come find me." Rarity was about to release her grip when Twilight suddenly tightened hers, clearing her throat. "Rarity..." she started, her voice now luminous and normal. "About you sister..." Rarity abruptly jumped with excitement. "Oh sweet Celestia, you found her!" She said as she landed from her jump. "Tell me Twilight, is she alright? Where can I find her?" Rarity's high hopes only dimished Twilight's, causing her a great weight to fall upon her chest. "Well... you see Rarity... I..." She paused, the words lost in her throat. How she wished that she hadn't have started. A moment passed where she was completely silent. 'I can't just say she's one of those horrible creatures.' she thought to herself. 'It would tear her up inside.' Twilight turned her head to Nurse Redheart, who was also listening with anticipation of what she was going to say. "I..." She just couldn't find the words. Rarity's facial expression drastically changed from one of wonderful optimism to one of concern and confusion. "Twilight... where's Sweetie Bell..." Rarity asked, looking deep into Twilight's eyes as though to try and read the answer from them. Twilight almost couldn't breath. 'What do I do? I can't tell her that that I just let her sister be taken by those... those monsters without even trying to help. Maybe she will understand that it was too late anyway, the she was bitten before I could do anything. I can't lie. That would just hurt us both. Oh Celestia, what do I do?' All this thinking was making Twilight get a headache as she also had serveral hundred more thoughts running through her mind a second. "Twilight..." Rarity said once more, this time with a worried tone. Twilight's eyes burned, burned with the intensity of staring at the sun. Her throat dried like the barren desert. She coughed and choked before she was able to speak again. "Rarity..." she said, her friend now staring into the very pit of her soul. "Sweetie Bell... she didn't... didn't..." Twilight couldn't do it, couldn't bring herself to say it, but it was word enough. Rarity's lower lip quivered and her front hooves began to shake. "So... my sister... is..." Twilight's shoulder flinched as she bowed her head in sorrow. "I'm... sorry..." It was too much for the now single sibling. She jerked her head away to the side and dashed out of the room, leaving a small trail of tears behind. Twilight felt a tiny bit of relief accompanied by a whole wave of greif. The nurse looked at her with a scornful scowl. "You could have just not told her, you know." Nurse Redheart said. "She's been searching for her sister day in and day out, risking her life to those monsters that you created in hopes of finding her. You're lucky to have friends like her. She brought you in while she was out on one of her searches." Twilight started to climb out of the bed. "Where are you going?" "To talk to Rarity." she responded. "I thought you wanted me out of this bed anyway." "Yes, but..." Twilight ignored her. "Where would I most likely find her? Would you know?" Twilight asked as she set her three good hooves on the ground, taking care not to apply much pressure to the forth. "Your best bet would be the roof. She goes up there when she usually returns from one of her searches." Nurse redheart replied. "Thank you." Twilight said as she slowly hobbled out the door. "By the way, you can send me the bill." she said, closing the door behind her. Twilihgt stepped out into the hallway. There was the all terrible feeling of guilt, waiting right out the door for its favourite victim. She looked down the corridor, noticing the faint, flickering lights that were running of a weakening generator. She started down the long streach towords the winding stairs that awaited her slow, paceful appraoch. She peeked into a few rooms on her way, observing all the sick mares and stallions that were completely life dependant on the slowly dying power. "I've never seen the hospital in such condition." she said to herself as she was walking. A nearby janitor that was mopping had heard her. "It's this accursed "infection". Ever since that awful day, about five days ago, we've had our hooves filled to the limit with sick and injured. Most of them are already turned by the time we get them here. We've lost too many good nurses and doctors that way. Even Doctor Hooves." The pony continued to swab the floor with his mop. Twilight was still curious. "And the people who aren't infected?" she asked. The janitor stopped. "Most... most don't survive their injuries. Hay, we had one pony with half a hoof come in a day or two ago and we couldn't find a empty room for him. He... didn't make it through the hour. They... they wasn't even able to find a room for my daughter..." Twilight looked at him with compasion and sympathy. "I'm so sorry for your loss." The janitor gave a smug grin. "Don't be, it's not like it was your fault." Twilight bit her lip as the janitor picked up his mop and continued down the hall. Climbing the stairs proved to be quite a difficult task with only three hooves. As Twilight transversed the spiral stairwell, her thoughts of what to say to Rarity raced through her mind. She had accended only one level and found herself peering into a dark, empty hallway with no light at all. "I guess the generator could only power the bottom half." Twilight guessed as she used her horn to emminate a light to guide her steps as she continued up the stairs. She accended a few more levels before she came to the emergency exit that led to the roof atop of the building. Twilight put a hoof to the door, breathed in slowly, and gently pushed to see Rarity sitting on the roofs edge with head in hooves, sobbing. Twilight came close to the depressed unicorn and sat beside her, putting hoof on shoulder to indicate that she was there for her. Rarity looked up, tears mixed with rain as Twilight drew another long breath before thinking of the right words to say. "Rarity..." she began. Rarity threw her hooves around Twilight's neck and sobbed even harder into her friends shoulders. "Oh Twilight..." she choked. "What am I going to do..." Twilight's mind was blank. "I... don't know Rarity... I don't know..."