Ch.4 - A man with no name
Zero tried to form a sentence, but the words in his brain would not come out of his speaking hole in his face. He couldn’t look away from her intense burning eyes, either. Who was this completely and utterly terrifying tall horse?
“Sister, please!”
In his peripheral vision, Zero saw a dark bluish shape walking in after the scary white horse.
“Sister, please! Calm down!” the dark blue pony pleaded again. She sounded winded, like she had been chasing her sister.
“I will ask you again, human,” the burning eye’s said, ignoring her sister and walking from the foot of Zero's bed to the side of it and leaned in closer, seething her question into a whisper, “What are you doing here?”
“I...I don't...” Zero tried to say, but her eyes seemed to burn into his mind and soul.
“Princess Celestia?”
The tall white pony turned her blazing gaze towards Twilight Sparkle. Twilight looked as terrified as Zero felt.
“What is it, my most faithful student?” The white pony’s gaze softened a little but there was still an edge to her voice; a sharp edge.
Zero took this opportunity to plan an escape. He wasn't going to let the tall pony with the wavy mane stare at him with those blazing eyes again. He looked at the doorway to find it was still opened and that no one was in the way.
He slowly moved the covers and inconspicuously moved his legs to the left side of the bed.
“Why are you here, Princess Celestia?” twilight asked.
Zero carefully moved his feet towards the floor.
“I am here to look at the situation,”
“What situation? What do you mean?”
Celestia moved away from the bed and Zero shot towards the door.
A shriek filled the room as Zero's foot stepped on something small and squishy. He lost his footing and tumbled to the ground and collided with a chair, sending bright spots dancing all around him. The heart monitor and IV bag were dragged along with him across the room and over the bed. The bag burst, showering the bed with its contents and the monitor bounced off the bed and crashed to the ground.
“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity ran from her corner and comforted the little filly.
Celestia’s head spun towards Zero. She walked up to the human on the floor, cradling his head.
“What do you think you are doing, human?” she yelled at him angrily, “Trying to escape? You hurt one of my subjects!” She pointed her violently colored horn right into his face. Zero saw the anger in her eyes and it terrified him to the core.
“THAT IS IT, TIA!” The dark bluish pony head-butted her sister in her side and the magical energy blast from the horn missed Zero by millimeters and completely incinerated the wall behind him.
“You are out of control, sister!” Luna shoved her sister towards the door, but Celestia side stepped and circled around her. Luna's horn glowed blue as she magically grabbed her sister and flung her outside the room.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LUNA! LET GO OF ME!”
“WE NEED TO TALK, SISTER!” she yelled as she trotted after her and slammed the door behind her.
The occupants of the room were in shocked silence at what just happened. The only sound came from the human, slightly groaning from the floor.
“Wow. I've never seen Celestia THAT angry before,” Cadence commented, finally breaking the silence.
“Neither have I,” Twilight said.
Applejack walked over to the whimpering human and comforted him. “Ya’ll OK, sugar cube?”
Zero was rocking side to side, holding the back of his head. “Not…really. Is… is the…little one…OK?”
“My leg hurts a little. Other than that, I'm fine. Rarity, get off me!”
Rarity was hugging her so tightly she was turning a slight shade of purple.
“Are you sure your fine, Sweetie Belle? I could get the doctor to look you over an...”
“I said I'm fine! You're the one killing me! Don't squeeze so hard!”
“I'm sorry I... stepped on… you… little one.” Zero said in between gasps of air and rocking back and forth. “Gosh... stupid chair...”
“I'm so sorry about Princess Celestia, Zero.” Twilight said, “I don't know what’s gotten into...”
The door crept open and Luna stuck her head in. “Twilight Sparkle? Would you come out here for a moment, please?”
“Um... sure.” Twilight walked passed everyone and out into the hallway. The door closed with a soft click, leaving the room in an awkward silence. It didn't last long, though. A caramel colored pony with a doctor’s coat on and a stethoscope around its neck came bursting through the door.
“What is going on in here?” he exclaimed, surveying the scene.
“It’s OK, Mr. Doctor Pony,” Zero said as he sat up and ripped the IV and heart monitor tube from his arm, “I just fell and bumped my head.”
“Let me see.”
The doctor pony came over and grabbed Zero's head, turning it this-way-and-that as he unwrapped the bandages on it.
“Well, there doesn't seem to be any external cranial damage, but we'll take an X-ray just to be sure. Nurse?”
A white pony with a nurse's cap came in as the doctor pony kept talking.
“Now the cuts and holes on your face is another...” The doctor was interrupted as Zero tried to back up as far as he could. He soon calmed down as he realized the white pony wasn't nearly as tall or scary as Celestia was.
“Are you OK, sir?” the nurse asked.
“Not really, no,” Zero said. “I wake up to find talking candy colored donk...ponies around me and I have no idea where I am. THEN a tall scary white horse comes in here and starts yelling at me and almost kills me!”
“I was wondering about that,” the nurse pony said, turning to the doctor pony, “Why is Princess Celestia and Luna here, Doctor Horse?”
“I have no idea, but Princess Celestia's presence here is upsetting the hospital.”
“What do you mean, Doc?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Well,” he began, thinking of the right words to use, “She’s royalty upset for some reason and her mood is affecting the other patients. Not to mention the damage done to my hospital…” he trailed off as he noticed the heart monitor shattered on the floor. “And my equipment! What happened here!?”
“Oh. That.” Zero rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Sorry about that, Doc. I was making a run for the door and I stepped on the little one over there and pulled the monitor to the ground.”
“Those things are expensive!” Doctor Horse said as the nurse tended to Sweetie Belle. “Now we have to place an order for another one!”
“It's OK, Doc,” Discord said, “I've got this.” He snapped his finger and the monitor reassembled itself instantly and righted itself on its stand. The spilled liquid on the sheets floated into the newly repaired IV bag like it was never spilled in the first place.
“There we are, good as new,” Discord said satisfied with his work.
“Oh. Well, thank you, Mr. Discord,” the doctor said, “That was very kind of you.”
“Not a problem.”
“Your hoof is sprained a little,” the nurse said to Sweetie Belle, “But it'll heal just fine.”
“Thank you, Nurse,” Rarity said, squeezing her sister tightly again, “I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to her!”
“Rarity!” muffled the small filly.
“Wait a minute, Doc” Zero announced, “You said I had cuts and holes on my face?”
The doctor nodded and added, “But they are minor lacerations. I don’t know why our healing spells don’t work…”
“Could someone hand me a mirror, please?”
Discord snapped his fingers again and a small mirror popped into existence and floated down to Zero. He took it and saw a strange person looking back at him. The person in the mirror had olive skin and was riddled with cuts and holes. His blue eyes staring back at him were filled with… something.
Like they wanted something… to see…
Something…
Something…
Zero clutched his head as the pain took him over. It felt nothing like what the chair gave him a few minutes ago. After what felt like forever the pain finally subsisted and Zero found the whole group looking at him.
“Are you… oh…” The doctor pony began to ask, but he stopped and just stared at him.
“What?” Zero asked. “What are you staring at?”
“Your eyes,” Fluttershy said in awe.
Zero quickly turned back to the mirror to see what the soft spoken one was talking about. “What? What about them?”
“They were blue a second ago,” Rainbow Dash commented, “Like, REALLY blue.”
“Really?” Zero asked in disbelief, “How?”
The room went silent as the others tried to form an answer for the confused human.
Finally the nurse pony broke the silence. “Well, maybe it has something to do with the Iris fluids.”
“The color of the eyes can’t change because of the fluid,” Doctor Horse corrected her. “When you’re angry or sad, you’re pupils dilate and change slightly.”
“I know that,” the nurse huffed at her boss, “But I’m pretty sure blue eyes can’t just change from blue to electric azure blue.”
“Maybe it’s different with him. It could be for a number of reaso…”
The door opened again and Twilight stepped into the room with Luna close behind. “Sorry to interrupt, Doctor, but we have a question for you. Is the hum … I mean, Zero, ready to…” She stopped as she finally read the room. “What? What happened?”
“Zero’s eye’s changed, Twilight,” Applejack said.
“What? How?”
“We were just discussing that when you walked in, Princess.” Doctor Horse said with a bow. He looked around and asked, “Where is Princess Celestia?”
“Princess Celestia had to go back to Canterlot for… something,” Twilight said. “Back to what I was asking; Is Zero well enough to move around?”
“Oh. Yes,” Doctor Horse took a look at his notes. “As far as we know he’s recovered enough to travel, but he just received a head injury from that chair he hit. We wanted to run an X-ray on him to see…”
“I’m sorry, Doctor Horse,” Twilight interrupted, “If Zero can travel now, then we have to go.”
“Go?” Zero asked. “Go where?”
Twilight walked over to Zero and helped him to his feet.
“We’re taking you home.”
**********
The walk to the front doors was strange to Zero. Every pony he passed by had a look of shock and awe as they looked at him. He realized that not only was he ‘Not from around these parts’ (as the little pony with the big red bow said), he was also still covered in bandages from head to toe. He started to take them off, but soon realized the only thing keeping him decent WERE the bandages. That and a very brightly makeshift rainbow colored skirt thing that kept his man hood under wraps.
“I’m sorry I ruined your dress, Rainbow Dashie,” he said, turning to her as she lazily flew above the entourage.
“Its Dash,” she corrected him, “Just Dash. And anyways, it’s no a big deal.”
“To YOU it isn’t, Rainbow Dash,” a voice said from the back of the group, “But I spend two hours making that dress! I used my most expensive, and hard to get I might add, rainbow dyed fabric and gold thread! AND I used just the right amount of sequence to make it shine! AND I…”
“I think we get it, babe.”
“YOU can be quiet, dragon breath!”
“What in Equestria did I do to you?”
There was the sound of a little huff before she continued. “I’m still mad at you. AND you’re still sleeping outside tonight.”
Zero tuned out the background noise as he walked to the doors. He suddenly stopped at the foot of the door and stared out the little window.
“What is it, Zero?” The tall blue pony with the wavy hair trotted over to him and looked at him. “Is there something wrong?”
Zero hesitated before answering her. “I… don’t know, Princess… Luna, was it?”
She gave him a small nod and waited for him to continue.
“I just…feel like… I don’t know how to describe it… like I shouldn’t step out these doors. Like stepping out would be a bad thing.”
She walked closer to him and looked deeply into his eyes. “I know that you must be scared and unsure of everything right now, but to find the answers you seek, whether they be good or bad, you must take the first step.”
Zero broke eye contact with her dark blue eyes and stared back at the doors. He took a deep breath and placed a hand on them. “999 miles left to go,” he muttered with a half smile.
The light from the outside world blinded him and he staggered back a little, rubbing his eyes to hurry them up with their adjusting thing. What he saw when they finally were adjusted absolutely stunned him.
There was so much color everywhere! The ground was hard yet loose on his feet. He took off the bandages on them and felt the dry dirt road. He ran over to the green stuff next to the road and was shocked to feel it wasn’t hard and rough, but soft. He felt something brush up against his back but turned to find his companions where nowhere near him. He opened his arms to feel the wind for the first time in his life. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He looked up and saw a sight that completely robbed him of his words.
It was big; as far as the eyes can see in every direction.
It was blue.
It was…
“BEAUTIFUL.”
He fell backwards with a thud with his eyes still fixated on the beauty above.
“ZERO!”
Zero heard the sound of the others coming towards him.
“Are you ok? What happened?” Twilight asked with a hint of worry in her voice.
Zero addressed her without looking away from the sky. “I’m sorry to make you all worried about me, but I’m fine.”
“What was all that prancin’ and dancin’ around a second ago?”
Zero looked up to find the pony to that voice and said, “Come here for a moment, Applejack.”
She hesitated for a moment, but eventually came over and twisted her head upwards.
“Tell me, Applejack, What do you see?”
She sounded confused at first but said, “Well, I reckon we’re both seein’ the sky.”
“Yes, but I’m seeing something else. I’m seeing a beauty I have never seen before.”
“Never? Really?”
“What do you mean, Zero?” Twilight asked. “Are you getting your memories back?”
His serenity smile disappeared into a frown as Zero thought.
“I… no. I don’t. It’s more of a… feeling then anything else. ”
A couple of minutes passed until he got up and said, “Ok. Let’s take me home.” He started to walk off in a direction before realizing he had no idea where he was going.
“It’s this way Zero,” Twilight said, heading down the dirt road.
They all walked through the town and everyone who saw Zero looked at him the same way the ponies did in the hospital. Fillies would gasp and hid behind their parents and the parents would hug their little ones and run off.
“Why are they so scared of me?” Zero leaned down and asked Applejack.
“Well, you’re a… human, wasn’t it?” Rainbow Dash looked to Twilight for confirmation. “You kinda stick out around here.”
“Plus, ya fall out of the sky and almost set my whole orchard on fire.” Applejack commented.
Zero rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, “Yeah, sorry about that. I’ll make it up to you somehow, Applejackie.”
“It’s Applejack, not-”
“The only thing you’re doing is taking what you can from your box and going back home,” Twilight said, interrupted.
“What did you guys do to my stuff, by the way?” Zero asked.
“We didn’t. We just left everything there.”
“Everything?” Zero asked in disbelief. “You left everything out so anyone could steal it?”
“There are guards surrounding Sweet Apple Acers to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Twilight said, “but it’s just a precaution. No pony would go near there after what happened.”
Zero thought for a moment before asking, “What about the other human that was with me? Adam. Where is his body?”
Twilight averted her eyes as she answered the human’s question. “I’m sorry, Zero. We just left him there.”
Zero was stunned. “What? Why would you just leave the body out in the open like that?”
“We covered the body. We didn’t want to risk an infection of some kind. That’s why we took you to the hospital to decontaminate you and use.”
By this point the group had reached the edge of town and started to make their way to Sweet Apple Acres. Zero ran off down the road, not entirely sure where he was going. He heard the others call for him but he didn’t care. If he could just see this man’s face, maybe he could remember who he is.
He rounded the bend in the road and saw a few ponies dressed in gold colored armor standing at the opening to the farm.
“Hey! What are-“
Zero hurdled over the fence and ran straight through the trees as he searched for his box and the man. He wasn’t sure where he was going, so he just ran. Ran for all he was worth.
A few minutes later, he came upon a large group of guards standing around a very large tent. They all turned towards him with brandished spears and swords, ready for a fight.
“HALT! WHO ARE YOU?”
“STAND DOWN, CAPTAIN!”
A voice from behind Zero stopped the guards in their tracks. They all snapped their hoofs together and saluted to the advancing figure.
“Princess Twilight! Princess Luna!” The one in the front of the group approached Twilight And Luna and bowed a bit. “We didn’t know you where coming so soon.”
“At ease, Captain,” Twilight said, “He’s with me.” She turned to the rest of the guards, dismissed them all, except for the Captain. “Flash,” she said in a hushed tone, “Stand guard, please, until we’re all done.”
“As you wish, my Princess,” he said, before sneaking a kiss onto her cheek and walking to the side of the entrance. Twilight’s cheek flashed a bright red before heading into the tent, followed by Zero and the gang.
The box that had brought Zero to this strange land loomed over him. He felt a crushing presence emulating from the glass and the contents within. Walking up to the thing took all of his will power.
He was afraid of it, and he didn’t know why.
“Zero?”
He turned to see Twilight walking up to him and put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder.
“Zero? Are you ok?”
“I… I can’t explain it. Twilight,” he began, “I know I should know this… this thing… but I don’t. I can’t remember.”
“Maybe this will help you,” Twilight said. She walked over to the tarp just inside of the box that Zero totally missed. She lifted it and Zero came face to face with the other human.
Zero bent down to take a closer look at him. The man’s white coat was stained with blood and his glassy brown eyes stared blankly at the ceiling of the tent. A small smiled played on the edges of his mouth. Zero said the name on the tag he wore.
“ADAM.”
Zero stared at the name tag, willing it to give Zero the answers he needed.
“SOOOOOOO,” The one called Pinkie Pie hoped over and looked over Zero’s shoulder at the man. “Do ya remember anything? ADAM? What a weird name.”
“PINKIE PIE!”
“OOPS! I’m so sorry, Zero” Her hair and tail somehow deflated like all the air was let out. The rest of the group wondered around, looking at this and that.
“No no, it’s ok, Pinkie Pie,” Zero said, trying to make her feel better. “I don’t remember anything new, including him.”
He looked back to the name tag and frowned.
“Wait. I remember something.”
Zero felt 14 pairs of eyes turn towards him. He ran a hand over the man’s eyes, closing them.
“A name is just a name without deeds and memories behind it.”
The silence that followed this statement was defining. Zero felt something wet run down his cheek, but he made no effort to stop it. Finally someone said, “Hey, what’s this thing?” A screeching metallic sound filled the air and Zero felt like his head was caving in.
He felt the cold of a metal table as the saw cut into his flesh, ripping him to pieces. The sound of his screams echoed of the walls of his cage. His days were filled with pain and suffering. His pleads fell on deaf ears as the shadows above him closed in. He wishes they would stop. He wishes they would stop saying his name.
Zero…
Zero…
Zero…
“ZERO!”
Zero’s eyes flew open as the sound as the sound of his name jarred him back to reality. He looked around at all the techno colored ponies and cried. He cried and gasped for air and cried some more. He grabbed the nearest pony and hugged them for all he was worth.
“THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!” he sobbed over and over again.
“What are ya thankin’ me for?” Applejack asked, but Zero was already running out the tent.
He threw his arms out as far as they would go and yelled into the sky as loud as he could,
“MY NAME IS ZERO! AND I AM FREE!”
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5625906 Zero sounds like the name of the assassin from borderlands 2...
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