Inner workings - Galsthan's stories

by HyperRandomness

Chapter 3: Things take a turn for the weird.

Sunday, August 12th 2012.

10:13 A.M.

Ponyville Emergency Care.

“He’s WHAT?!” shouted Quick Fix, dumbfounded.

“I’m WHAT?!” repeated Galsthan, just as shocked as Quick Fix.

“He’s WHAT?!” chimed in an unfamiliar Mare’s voice.

Everyone turned to see who had joined in on the conversation, seeing only another hospital patient who’d happened to be standing outside of the open door to the room at that moment. All eyes met a pair of shades belonging to a blue-maned, white-bodied pony.

Said unnamed pony produced a sheepish look on her face and backed away from the door. Everyone reverted their gaze to Princess Celestia, who cleared her throat to continue the conversation.

“Anyway, you heard correctly.” she stated, continuing, “Galde- er, Galsthan is indeed of the Royal family line. I suppose now that this has come to light that I have explaining to do, so I shall start at the beginning…”

“To start, I must start where the beginning resides... long before Gald- um, Galsthan, was born. A Colt born of the Royal family line had dedicated his life to making Equestria a better place, albeit one step at a time. Some research here, a town project there, generally just small things that bettered everyone. He had even sworn to never marry so he could devote all his time and care to anypony that needed it.

Well, on a seemingly normal day, he broke that promise. He fell in love with a Mare whose name I will not elaborate upon at the moment, but the entire point behind me explaining this to you is that he broke his promise by marrying her. They eventually consummated their love with.. well, you know.

Due to this, Galsthan was born of a marriage that should not have occurred.” Princess Celestia opened her mouth to continue, but Galsthan quickly interjected with an enraged voice, “Wait, whoa, hey, roll back the tape for a second. A marriage that shouldn’t have happened? Are you saying I was a MISTAKE?!” he immediately bounded from his bed, and just as quickly was hit with a debilitating wave of nausea. His face went from brown to green as he slowly and shakily climbed back into the bed, where his tempestuous tone towards the Princess began to erupt again.

“I’ll tell you right now, I wouldn’t care WHO you were,” Galsthan’s voice grew more rage-filled as tears of anger welled up in his eyes, “I wouldn’t care WHO said it, and I wouldn’t care who even THOUGHT it. But I’ll tell you RIGHT NOW, that my life was NOT. A. MISTAKE!” he practically screamed at the Princess, who only stood with an expressionless face. He leaned up in his bed and pointed to the Princess to amplify his voice.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made friends, directly or indirectly, or times that I’ve helped another pony, or the times that-“ A hoof shot to his mouth, but it wasn’t the Princess’ and it wasn’t his own. He let his hoof down and immediately turned his attention to whoever was stopping him from raging. “Galsthan, I’m pretty sure that’s not where she’s going with this.” stated Quick Fix, looking unsettlingly between Galsthan and the Princess.

Princess Celestia only looked slightly annoyed, thankfully.

“I did not mean to offend. Now, continuing with the tale…” Princess Celestia continued,

“After Galsthan had been born, news of his arrival had spread quickly, and fell upon ears which should not have heard. This brought undesirable attention to Galsthan and the Royal line in general, which put him and several others in quite a predicament.

You see, those who were not intended to hear about Galsthan’s birth had soon began creating conspiracies revolving around the Royal family, mostly involving corruption and foul plots. Many ponies believed these conspirators and soon rose up against the Royals, who quickly conceived a plan to protect Galsthan and themselves.

They had arranged for a non-Royal family to take Galsthan under their care, which became the set plan of action. Then the Royal couple would deny ever having Galsthan, and when no evidence arose of them having him, the conspirators were driven from town and all conspiracies dismissed.

The non-Royal family took Galsthan under their wing and raised him like their own, which he quickly came to believe.” the Princess turned to Galsthan, compassion strewn about her face, now directly talking to him, “Your parents regretted the decision ever since they formulated it, and desired to have you back, but they knew this would be impossible until the rumors and conspiracies had been settled for good, which they never really did. Even to this day, you might occasionally hear a story about your parents.. your TRUE parents.. having a child that could have changed things for the worse, but as I can see, you’ve only made things better.” she ended with a small grin, hoping to make Galsthan feel a little better.

It really didn’t.

It was a long, grueling four minutes before anyone spoke up. Quick Fix was the first to respond to the Princess’ story.

“That was… enlightening.” she said with an unconvincing grin. Galsthan looked less-than-thrilled.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.” he coldly stated, retreating into his sheets. A nurse approached the room and walked halfway inside, stating simply, “Visiting times are over. I’m going to have to ask you to leave, you two. This patient needs his rest.” The nurse then moved on, likely going to tell other visitors that the time was over.

Princess Celestia did not deter her gaze from Galsthan, almost seeming to reminisce about something. She turned towards the door but turned her head back towards Galsthan for a moment, adding, “I hope that knowing this has eased some of your pain, Galsthan.” she then proceeded to exit the room, and a couple of muffled gasps could be heard in the hallway. That was expected, though, since it wasn’t everyday that you could see the Princess.

Quick Fix hesitated to leave the room, and as she turned to leave, she quickly ran back to Galsthan and pecked him on the cheek, then ran from the room. Galsthan’s cheeks lit up as furiously as she left. He sat up quickly and reached a hoof out to her as she departed, hoping that she wouldn’t have to leave so soon. With a saddened sigh, he returned to his sheets and got comfortable, ready to sleep away most of the day so this could be over with already.

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Sunday, August 12th 2012.

4:16 P.M.

Ponyville Emergency Care

Galsthan awoke slowly, feeling a lot better than he had before. He glanced at a clock sitting on a desk next to the bed, seeing that several hours had passed since he had last been conscious. He suddenly felt very hungry, realizing he hadn’t eaten during the entire day. He sat up and threw off his sheets, and glanced around the room momentarily. He felt a little woozy from lack of energy, but managed to notice a small cart with a tray on top of it. The tray had an omelet, an orange, a glass of milk, silverware, a couple of napkins, and a chocolate cupcake.

Galsthan queasily grabbed a fork from the tray with his magic, a constantly-transmuting color surrounding it as slight strain was displayed on his face. Practicing magic may not have been the best thing for right now, as a headache quickly formed. He let the fork out of his magical grip and restrained himself from rubbing his head, since he could still feel a moderate amount of pain from underneath his bandages. He left the silverware where it was, leaning over the tray and starting to eat the omelet with his mouth alone. He felt his strength returning to him as he ate.

A few minutes later, the tray was empty aside from unused silverware, an empty plate, an orange peel, crumbs, an empty cup, and a cupcake wrapper. He particularly relished the cupcake, as it was the first sweet thing he’d tasted in a long time.
Laying back down, now content, Galsthan pulled the sheets back up and over his body and closed his eyes for more much-needed rest.

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Monday, August 13th 2012

1:46 A.M.?

Ponyville Emergency Care…?

Galsthan woke with a start. He had just had a very strange nightmare, the likes of which should not be shared in front of younger audiences. Breathing heavily, the heart rate monitor next to his bed beeped at a slightly faster pace than normal. He rapidly inspected the room, then breathed a heavy sigh of relief when he saw that all was calm. For a moment. Then things got weird.

By weird, I mean, well, REALLY weird.

Peace turned to horror as the walls around him melted. Much akin to butter on a hot pan, but faster. So fast, in fact, that the room began to flood. Panic swept over Galsthan as he both attempted to comprehend what was occurring and scrambled for higher ground, climbing up onto the headboard of the bed with some difficulty. He didn’t care about how much his head hurt or how nauseous he was, no, he cared about not drowning in the wall liquid.

As the walls finished melting, Galsthan took another hurried look around, seeing that he was no longer in the hospital. In fact, he doubted that this had even been Equestria anymore. He thought this since he was clearly floating amongst a vast ocean of transparent beige liquid. Galsthan, for one reason or another, was not confused by this fact and he hadn’t a clue why. One might say he is confused about, well, confusion.

Taking further observation on this brown-colored sea, Galsthan noticed creatures moving under the surface of the water. They looked like fairly large creatures, and as the Captain of his ship, he was going to do what was necessary to keep it safe. “Man your battle stations! Unidentified creature off the port side! Ready the cannons!” he shouted to his crew, levitating his cutlass with his gray-colored magic to emphasize his point. "Aye-Aye!" responded his crew sporadically, grabbing swords and cannonballs. The ones with cannonballs loaded the cannons, and unoccupied crew members grabbed torches to light the cannons. A few of the sword-armed ponies took aim at the submerged creature, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

The creature unveiled itself from its watery sheath, revealing a writhing mass of vines.

That should be expected, though. After all, Galsthan was fearlessly exploring the most dangerous wooded area in the entirety of Equestria… the Doom wood Swamp.

Drawing his Machete using his orange-tinted magic, Galsthan stood ready to face the beast. It almost seemed that it’d not noticed him at first, but he had faced one of these before. It pretended to be docile at first, and tried to look as a simple bramble patch. However, when you get close to it, it would suddenly lash out with its thorny tendrils and attempt to squeeze the living daylights out of you. Galsthan knew that, in the center of this beast, there was a single biomass core that held the entire plant-beast together. If he could just reach it, somehow…

As though sensing his thoughts, many vines suddenly shot from the tangled growth and raced at him with blinding speeds. Taken off-guard, Galsthan had to react very quickly to swing his Machete at the oncoming vines. He sliced a few before one scratched him across his cheek and another across his front left leg. He recoiled for a moment at the pain, but dawdled for not another moment and struck the other assaulting tendrils before they could attack again. More vines reached out speedily from the mass, but Galsthan dove behind a rock just as they flew by.

Several bullets buzzed by as Galsthan landed behind a pile of sandbags. His trusty rifle floated in front of him, encased in a green aura and ready to fire. He glanced out of his cover momentarily, aiming his rifle at the hostile creatures, and let loose bullets from his own gun. Not a single one hit, but that was the price you paid when you didn’t aim properly. In retaliation, his enemies loosed more rounds at him, which made Galsthan duck back down behind his cover. A brash idea flew through his mind, and he immediately knew he would regret it, but his body told him otherwise. He was up and on his hooves, rifle steadied by magic, and charged his enemy, emptying his clip into the adversaries.

Flinging flame after flame at the terrifying Frost Troll, Galsthan could barely keep his wizard hat on as he sent incrementing waves of fire at his opponent. The Frost Troll responded by simply waving away the, well, wave of fire, then breathing a vicious torrent of ice blades at the caped protagonist. Without hesitation, Galsthan drew up a shield from the earth below him, encasing himself in a stone bubble. The blades of frozen water nearly penetrated the rock, but none had made it through. Galsthan then broke apart the shield and sent the chunks flying at the beast, watching with exhilaration.

BOOM! resounded the dynamite, blowing away a massive portion of the wall. Large chunks of rubble flew this way and that, but it did not cause Galsthan to cower and hide. No, he was the bravest miner in all of Equestria, and he was going to keep it that way. Some said it would be the death of him, but he had no fear in death so long as he went out doing what he loved: Blowing things up. He lit another bundle of dynamite with a match that he held by crimson-illuminated magic, and hurled the Dynamite at what remained of the wall. BOOM! it roared, the remainder of the wall crumbling in defeat. What lied beyond filled Galsthan with exuberance.

It was the mother lode! Galsthan had finally found it! Quickly gathering up a large quantity of the pink rocks using his blue-colored magic, Galsthan filled up the storage unit that he had been pulling all this way, and felt satisfied. Now they would have more than enough fuel for the trip home. Galsthan brushed his pressure suit free of any dust, and lowered the shade on his helmet. He bounded to the container and began levitating it, an azure glow emanating from it as it flew. However, he had misjudged its weight, and it flew right into the ceiling.

WHAM! Galsthan’s competitor hit the ceiling with crushing force, and landed on the floor mat, crumpled and defeated. Two medical ponies raced onto the mat and placed the injured challenger on a stretcher and hauled him away, while Galsthan shouted to the crowd, “The Magic Machine claims another! Who else dares fight me?” the crowd roared with excitement as a small, weak-looking pony approached the ring. Galsthan spun to face this new meat, when it called out to him, “Galsthan? Are you awake?”

Galsthan woke with a start and shouted out of surprise, which evoked the other voice to do the same, which caused Gaslthan to exclaim loudly in surprise, and this happened back and forth for a few moments. He bolted up in his bed, breathing hastily in an attempt to calm himself down. He quickly scanned for the room for the source of the other voice, and realized who it was as soon as he made eye contact.

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Tuesday, August 14th 2012.

9:32 A.M.

Ponyville Emergency Care.

“Quick Fix, please, don’t scare me like that.” Galsthan spoke, still breathing at a quickened pace as he began to quiet down. “Sorry.” Quick Fix said, acknowledgement in her voice as well as apology. “I didn’t know you were asleep.” she added with a sheepish grin. Galsthan opened his mouth to speak, but Quick Fix continued, “They didn’t let me visit you yesterday because they said you needed rest, so I came as early as I could today so I could see you before you left.”

A strange thought donned on Galsthan. Wait… she WAS here yesterday. Why would she say she wasn’t? he pondered, as a sudden feeling washed over him. Hunger. He frantically looked around for a moment, before noticing the same cart from before, but this time with more food on it. The cart had a plate with another omelet and a glass of orange juice with a banana on the side, while another plate had a grilled cheese sandwich with a glass of chocolate milk and a small salad beside it. Next to that was a platter with a grilled steak on it with a tall glass of water to drink, and a small cup of cheese sauce to spread on it. The food was still steaming, so it was clear that it was fresh. Without putting second thought into the situation, Galsthan immediately shot up in his bed and began to devour the contents of the three platters.

Quick Fix giggled as Galsthan voraciously devoured the three plates of food. It’s no wonder he’s so hungry, she thought to herself, he HAS been asleep for an entire day and a half. Galsthan stopped eating for a moment and looked up to Quick Fix, asking, “What?” as though he had heard her speak and was responding. Quick Fix took a moment to process what he was asking what about, before saying, “Nothing.” With a shrug, Galsthan went back to swiftly consuming whatever food was left on the three plates. Within minutes, he had finished. Wow, he sure eats fast when he’s hungry, Quick Fix thought. After finishing the glass of chocolate milk, the last thing remaining, he turned to Quick Fix and repeated, “What did you say?” with curiousness in his tone. “Huh?” she replied, “I didn’t say anything… although I was about to.” She eyed him carefully, wondering what he was going on about.

“Weird,” Galsthan said, acknowledging her previous statement. “I could have sworn you said something.” He stopped for a moment, realizing he wasn’t the slightest bit nauseous and was standing upright on the floor without feeling off-balance. “Oh, whoa, I’m feeling surprisingly better. That’s another thing to chalk up to weird.” he said aloud, no specific audience in mind. “’Another thing?’ What do you mean, ‘another thing?’” replied Quick Fix, not putting thought into her words. “Well,” Galsthan began, “First, there was that weird dream that I had last night. Then, there was you saying that you hadn’t been here yesterday, even though you were. Next up, I was super hungry for some reason, like I hadn’t eaten for an entire day. Lastly, there’s me not feeling sick at all, even though yesterday I could hardly stand.” he stated, reflecting a hoof off of the side of his head to emphasize his point. At that moment, another strange thing occurred to him. “And apparently, my head isn’t hurting anymore. There’s no way I could have gotten well this fast.” His eyes took on a look of worry as he stared hopefully at Quick Fix, wanting her to have an answer. She did, but it wasn’t one he liked, and she clearly didn’t like it either, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Galsthan, you were asleep for an entire day. The nurses are checking you out today because you’re all better, and the Princess is going to take you away to Canterlot.”

Comments

[ayiopop]

Huh, weird.
Thanks for linking me to your story over on PC.
My prereading offer still stands, if that's something you're interested in.

- cerebralLight.

[HyperRandomness]

Somepony finally spotted the Banana. I'm surprised nopony noticed sooner.