What Meets the Eye

by Butterscotch Cream

Chapter 4

What Meets the Eye

Chapter Four

The next thing that Finial felt was the caress of a gentle, glowing warmth across his face. His eyes fluttered open, and gradually he became aware he was lying in a hospital bed, in a smallish room with windows lining one side. The room was awash with sunlight, and the sun itself seemed to peer through the glass like a curious observer as it climbed the late morning sky.

Bandages covered most of his head, his chest, and from what he could feel under the sheets, his hind leg, and a faint, dull ache had settled where he vaguely remembered a gripping pain. There was a muted bustle beyond the room's door, composed of nurses and doctors talking, announcements over a P.A. system, and the occasional squeaking wheels of various carts.

At first, Finial thought he was alone in the room, but as his gaze slowly shifted to the wall opposite the windows, he found a familiar gray stallion, sleeping in one of the bedside chairs. A white gauze medical polo wrapped Klutz's right hind pastern, and for a moment he wasn't sure why. Then he remembered the kick he had made when Klutz first snatched him off the ground, and winced. Along with that memory came a string of others which were far harder to manage. He closed his eyes and turned his head up toward the ceiling, his breath shuddering with a dull ache as he sought to maintain order in the drowning flood of images and emotions.

Finally, his mind settled again as things fell into place, and the events found an appropriate sense of distance. Nevertheless, he was overshadowed by a clinging melancholy around his heart as certain things kept pressing themselves into the forefront of his thoughts.

The room's door creaked open softly, and a bright yellow unicorn with a lemon-cream mane uncertainly poked his head in. The moment he saw Finial was awake, a broad smile lit his face and he trotted in the rest of the way, closing the door again behind him to shut out the noise. The colt was adorned with a sunburst cutie mark and a nurse's saddle laden with various medical supplies.

"Good morning! I'm Nurse Brightside. Glad to see you're up! How are you feeling?"

By the time his sentence was finished, the nurse was already standing by the bed with several implements floating in a light gold glow as he went about checking the dressings.

"I'm... I'm fine I guess..."

Brightside paused for a moment as his smile softened in sympathy, seeming to pick up on the uncertainty, then resumed the present task with typical nurse professionalism. "Hmm... follow the light with your eyes? ...uh-huh... Good! Now, hold your foreleg up for just a moment... that's it." At first it appeared he'd lost himself in his work, slipping a blood pressure cuff over Finial's leg and going through the usual motions without any indication he was thinking about what was said. Once he was done, however, he tucked the instruments away in his saddle and gently rested his forehoof over Finial's.

"...you've been through a lot, if the situation you came in is any indication. I've seen my fair share as a nurse, and I won't patronize you and say getting over it will be easy or to keep a stiff upper lip or anything like that, but..." At this point, Brightside nodded in the direction of the sleeping pegasus, "I will say that you have the most valuable thing anyone could ask to get you through it: a friend. Don't give up."

Brightside smiled again and slipped back into cheery business mode, pulling away from the bed and making sure he had all of his instruments. "Well then! I'll make sure the next nurse isn't too tardy in bringing you something to eat if you feel up for it. In the meantime, I have other patients to check!" He reached over and gently shook Klutz by the shoulder. "Rise and shine prince charming!" He turned, winked once at Finial, and trotted out of the room while Klutz blearily pulled himself up in the chair. Klutz probably hadn't even seen who woke him before his gaze met Finial's.

All at once, he was alert and on his hooves with one foreleg hugging gently over Finial's midsection. Klutz offered a small, concerned smile as his eye traced up and down the colt, as if to make sure he was all there. "Hey..."

"Hey..." It was impossible to hold back how glad he was to have Klutz there, and equally impossible not to smile in return, but his smile was short-lived and marked with sadness. He reciprocated Klutz's searching gaze for a few moments, his eyes wandering till he noticed the bandaging on the stallion's leg again. "Your leg..."

Klutz followed Finial's eyes and then turned back shaking his head. "Will be fine..." He rapped the hoof on the floor a few times to prove its health. "Just scratched..."

With a somewhat weary struggle, Finial slung his own foreleg over Klutz's to hold it close and turned to gaze out the window, only passively taking in what he could see. Even the pain that ached through his injuries was just a mild distraction. It was his heart that hurt even more.

"We're not in Bradoon, anymore." The quiet, almost disinterested tone of Finial's comment showed that it wasn't the forefront of his thoughts, but merely a background observation as he wrestled the true subject of his attention.

"No... we're in Ponyville..."

Finial simply nodded and fell silent again, still staring out the window. For a few minutes, the only sounds that disturbed the room were the soft scratching of tree leaves on the glass windows, and the quiet, continuous noise on the other side of the door. Finally Finial's internal dialog worked its way to his voice, his head pressing deeper into the hospital pillow as he tensed, as if bracing himself.

"Wha-..." his voice gave out for a moment and he unconsciously clutched Klutz's leg closer, as if garnering strength from it as he grappled back a momentary surge in his emotions. "What... what happened to Sledge?"

The response Klutz gave was as much bodily as it was verbal, his entire visage drooping as he hugged Finial a little more tightly. "He's gone..."

Again, Finial nodded, but his face had contorted as he tried to hold back the tears welling in his eyes. "Before... before he-... attacked..." He gulped and let his body heave through a few sobs before continuing, trying to keep himself composed enough to talk, though his voice was becoming more and more strained. "He... he asked me if I could love him..." A few more sobs painfully squeezed their way of out his chest as tears began to flow in earnest again. "I... I told him no.."

His emotional resolve depleted, Finial broke down entirely, sobbing as hard as the bandages and pain in his chest would allow. Klutz swallowed softly and tenderly pulled his foreleg up to brush Finial's face, a tear collecting in his own eyes and trailing down his cheek. Though weak and warbled, eventually Finial's feelings found a voice again, choking out whatever words he could manage.

"I... I told him no and he died... he died thinking... no one l-... loved him. I wanted to love him... Why... why do I feel so horrible? What... what if I gave him a chance? I took it away... I could see his eyes... the despair... He wated... wanted love... why..."

Once more Finial succumbed to his tears, but they were quieter now, his face glistening in the sunlight streaming in through the window, and though silent and unsobbing, Klutz's own tears were just as constant. For a long while, they simply cried together, but finally the feelings in the gray stallion's heart found words to match, and once again they were soft and clear.

"You have... a tender heart. You gave love for so long. But it isn't... in your power to... change a pony's heart. You gave him everything he needed... to change. He was the one... who didn't change. If... you giving him a chance... would have made a difference... the difference in him... would have already been made... and he wouldn't have attacked. He only... loved himself. And... what he could take... from you."

Finial closed his eyes and tried to show gratitude by rubbing the leg that held him. His tears still came, but the sobbing had stopped, and his breathing was a little easier. "I don't hate him, Klutz. I... don't hate him." He finally turned his head back from the window and stared up at the stallion, almost pleadingly. "Does... that make me wrong?"

At this, Klutz smiled again. It was the same smile Finial had seen him wear that day at the park, a look of gentle pride and happiness.

"No... Fin. It makes you beautiful."

Finial smiled again at that statement, and though tearful, it wasn't as hard a feat as he thought it would be. It didn't fade this time, and the sorrow had largely left his face. This time it was Finial who reached up and rubbed Klutz's cheek where the tears had run. He knew then, and always would, that the stallion's gift was his simplicity.

"You're beautiful too, Klutz."

Very gently, Klutz leaned down and pressed the length of his muzzle against Finial's, holding it there as they closed their eyes, with the sun shining its blessing on them both.

You've heard it said there are some moments in time that last forever. Most will dismiss the phrase as a sentimental notion to be reserved for romantic occasions, cards and speeches, but the key that so many fail to realize, is that the truth of the phrase doesn't lie in the mechanics of time, but in the nature of a selfless heart. It is a rare and sacred thing, often counterfeited, romanticized, made light of and even mocked, but never copied, and only understood in the gift of experience.

The moment that extends into eternities does not exist in time, but transcends it, and like the dawn of an endless sunrise, seals the hearts that share it in an ageless matrimony, for that has been its nature since love and time began: a mutual gift of oneself to another, and a living promise that exceeds all others. It isn't officiated in words or documents, but in that moment of time, which truly lasts forever. It is the simplest, and most beautiful, of all things.

This marks the end of the story, for where this story ends a new one began. A story with a happy beginning.

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------

Finial sat back in his chair, staring at the pages on his desk. There were crossed out words and scribbles in the margins, but he was proud of it all the same. A few more corrections remained to be made, but they could wait till the morning. The chair squeaked softly as he pushed it back and stood, leaning over to turn out the lamp as he did. The room was left in a peaceful darkness, broken only by the moonbeams tracing their slow way across the floor and bed.

Lying there, already asleep, was a large gray pegasus with a blond mane, the covers in front of him pulled back expectantly for their missing occupant. It had been several wonderfully long years since what Fin wrote about took place, and he never regretted one. The brown colt quietly made his way over to the bed and slipped into it, resting his head on the pillow as he smiled at the moon outside. After a moment he scooted back and leaned his head against Klutz, nickering softly as the stallion automatically pulled him close in his sleep.

His eye was crooked and his words were slow, but his heart beat stronger than any other.

Comments

[Conchshellthegeek7]

In the words of a commenter whose name escapes me for the moment...
WHY CAN'T I HOLD ALL THIS D'AWWWWW

[ShumaiAxeman]

Not since My Little Dashie have I read any fanfic that has brought tears to my eyes so readily. You sir truly surprised me with this one. When I first started reading it I wasn't sure I was gonna like it, but I kept at it and got sucked right in.

Reminds me of a lot of things I've experienced in my life, the good that has passed and the bad that followed, and you captured it all expertly.

*applauds* truly fantastic story sir.

[katarjin]

another fic going on my damn good list great job

[Borg]

From anybody else, I would expect no sympathy for Sledge. From you, I can't help but feel that the sympathy fell just a hair short of what I was expecting.

I seldom feel I can judge an author's character through their writing, but with you I can say that either you're a very good person or you fake it excellently.

[Shamrock95]

Ah, criminy, here come the waterworks.

[BeatenLover]

i am literally crying right now.
This story is sooo romantic and i love it. Great job.