The day drags on with me listening to the radio. Tuning through the talk shows, I eventually return to my favourite station because the subject is the same anywhere - the new princess Luna. That is something I can't even begin to comment on, because alicorn stuff is waaaay over my head. Considering all the different opinions I've heard in the past two hours after I woke up from my nap, it confuses even the smartest ponies and nobility who should know how to deal with politics. Everypony is worried or downright scared, though, which makes no sense because princess Celestia who lives in the castle and takes care of her sister keeps reassuring them things are fine.
Oh well, it's not like my mulling over it here is going to change anything. Ponies will just have to get used to new things and changes with time.
Somepony knocks on the door. Maybe it's the nice nurse and it's time for some more tasty liquid crime against nature. I still don't know how to feel about the fake soup.
My stomach gurgles.
Okay, at least it has no moral dilemma with it. Oh, I heard on some nature radio channel that there are more nerve endings in the stomach that there are in most of all other insides? That means my belly is a genius! It gurgles and bubbles, turning grub into stuff that makes me move. Now think about what stomachs of smart ponies can do. I bet princess Celestia's can do its own taxes!
Right, the knocker.
"Cum een!"
It IS the nice nurse.
"Helou, mem."
"Good evening, Greyscale, did you sleep well?" she walks around, withdrawing the curtains, checking the beeping devices, my bed, and the entire room. I was hoping they would realize I have no desire to hurt myself anymore and that the last time it was a mistake, but I guess all change takes time, just like the princess thing. Or maybe she knows that I'm fine and...
...maybe she thinks I'm a sleepwalker. That I sleep-break stuff. I mean, my head turns off, right? But my stomach keeps going all the time, digesting food. Maybe if I don't eat enough it takes over at night and makes me walk around and eat but my eyes don't work so I just blindly gobble anything I can reach.
As she walks around and peeks into every nook and cranny, I hold my breath and listen as intently as I can. There are no unnatural technical noises coming from myself.
"Ai deedn't eet eny of d beeping teenks," I happily report.
"Uh, what? Why?" she shakes her head, "Nevermind. You've got visitors. Do you want to see them?"
"Woo?"
She levitates a small notepad.
"Two other patients and one warden. Pyre, Drizzle, and Watchful."
Oh... I was sort of hoping they forgot I was around. Especially Watchful after how I repaid him for giving me some more freedom and risking his job.
"Ken yoo... ken yoo tell dem Ai em sleepink? Plees?"
"You don't want to see them? They look worried."
"Ai hurt maiself wit teenks Washfool-"
Her eyes bulge and she covers her mouth with her hoof, snorting. She must have caught a cold outside.
"-Washfool-"
The fit intensifies. I wait a little while for her to stop and wipe her eyes.
"Ar yoo okey?"
"I am absolutely fine. Definitely better than a while ago. Pfff, Washfool," she coughs again, "Okay okay, I think I'm done. Oh he's not gonna forget this one any time soon."
"Well, he aloud mee too get sum teenks laik brushees end den he let mee take Dreezel to her room unsupervaised becuz he trusted mee. And den Ai stabbed maiself becuz mai plushee told mee too. Den doktor Kleer Insaid said Ai just wanted too hurt maiself for sum reeson and det Ai shud not stay unwashed- un- un-wotchd! Ai maid Washfool look stoopid and eencompetent and-"
She raises her hoof and hops onto the bed next to me.
"Come on, you've made a mistake. I doubt Watchful is going to hold a grudge, he's not the type. He might be a little disappointed, but that's all."
"But Ai mite have maid him loos his job!"
"He's not going to lose anything, Greyscale. He's not even on probation or under any restrictions. There's absolutely no way what you did will affect him, alright?"
"Ai look dum."
"Then think about the others, right? Pyre and Drizzle. I had a short briefing about your stay here up till now. After all, I have to know my patients'... quirks. And I've heard talk that Pyre might be scheduled for release early next year if he keeps improving. Some say it is because he set you on fire and the guilt finally broke into his enclosed world. And Drizzle-"
She frowns.
"-okay, if you don't want to see Drizzle I can do something about it."
"Dreezel ees a nais laydee woo laiks huggeeng a lot."
"And showing her wings where they don't belong," she mutters, running her hoof down her short, pink outfit.
"Wot doo yoo meen?"
"I meant that's not how I would phrase it, but if you don't have a problem with her who am I to judge? So, are you still set on not seeing them?" she tries to ruffle my mane, but her hoof just rubs my still mostly shaved head, "Huh, feels like velcro. Anyway, they came to visit because they wanted to see you, if they were mad they wouldn't."
I guess that makes sense. Ponies wouldn't visit me to yell at me. I'm much easier to just forget and don't bother with.
"Okey den."
"Great," she smiles and walks outside.
She returns quickly with the promised trio in tow, whispers something to Watchful who looks firmly at the ground while blushing, and says:
"Fifteen minutes, everypony. I'll give you some privacy."
When she leaves, all three visitors approach me, although Watchful much more apprehensively than Drizzle and Pyre.
I was wrong! He is mad! He is super mad! Sad and mad! Sadmad, madsad! S and M, wait... no, scratch that one. I messed up. He's gonna yell at me. Tell me I'm a dummy and he'll be right. Then he'll ask to be a warden elsewhere which means I ruined his career here in this top notch place and-
"Ooof!" I have the wind knocked out of me by a pouncing pegasus.
"You're okay!" Drizzle wraps her hooves around my neck, her wings start rubbing my back, then her hind legs clamp around my waist and she starts biting my ears.
Drizzle, you silly, always hungry pegasus.
"Drizzle!" I hear Watchful's stern voice.
"Oh, ehm, right," Drizzle stops her attempts at turning the two of us into one cube of jelly and rubs her muzzle against mine before jumping off and straightening her feathers.
Pyre is just standing there with a shifty grin, eyebrow raised. Now that I notice, it's the first time I see him without any suppression ring around his horn, not even the thin one he wore back when he burned me.
Watchful walks over while I try to look small and give him a guilty look.
He hugs me.
"I'm glad you're still here with us."
"Ai em not going aneewhere. Dey don't let mee aut. Plus, dere's winter autsaid end Ai don't have a nyu boks yet. Ken Ai get a boks wen Ai get aut of heer?"
I'm kind of uncomfortable with all these ponies being so friendly. I haven't done anything to earn it, I just... talked to them a little at some point. Still, I feel like I could melt in their warmth. I don't deserve this, but they seem to think I do, or they are just happy a fellow patient didn't get hurt too much.
I don't know...
"I mean," he chuckles, "You know what? Let's leave it at that. How are you feeling?"
"Aid laik to paint sumteenk or strech mai legs. D radio keeps tolking about Nitemare Moon and prinsess Loona all d taim."
"I'll see what I can do," Watchful pats my shoulder.
Now it's time for the hard questions, I guess.
"Yor not mad at mee?"
"Mad? Why would I be mad?"
"Yoo tought Ai wos trustworfee. Yoo even let mee carry Dreezel off to her room on mai own wail yoo went too play wit wosheenk macheens. Yoo geiv mee d painteenk stand end brushees. End den Ai deed... dis end maid yoo look dum for beleeving een mee."
He stares, blinking.
"You... you thought I would be mad at you... for using you to get some action with the nurs- to play around in the laundry room?"
I nod. He puts a hoof under my muzzle and forces me to look up at him.
"Greyscale, I'm not mad at all. I'm a little shocked at what you did, but not too much. After all, I know why you were sent here in the first place. I'm absolutely ecstatic that you woke up, and so is everypony here."
Pyre nods, and Drizzle, still sitting on the bed next to me wraps her wing around my back.
"You're a nice kid," she says in a low, warm tone of voice.
"Ai em older den all of yoo."
"Oh, really? How do you know?" Watchful pulls over a chair for himself and Pyre and sits down, "Did you remember something?"
"Ai... Ai..." I have no idea. I just know how old I am, "Ai em twentee-ate. Ai teenk Ai em."
"Dammit!" Watchful frowns, "Twenty-six here."
"Fifteen," Pyre rolls his eyes, "I don't think I'm winning this one any time soon."
Drizzle pumps her hoof in the air, then jumps off of the bed and spreads her wings to reach both me and Watchful.
"Come to mommy, my little colts," a lidded gaze follows her puckering of lips, "Nice and round thirty here."
"Drizzle!" Watchful raises his voice again a little. Drizzle immediately looks uncertain, hangs her head, and her wings droop like a hanging cloak. Seeing the dejected visage, Watchful sits down on the floor next to her, "I'm sorry, Drizzle, I don't mean to ruin the mood whenever you're having fun, but you know how things are when you get too excited. Especially with the little colts thing."
Come on, this can't go on. I know what she did but this is just silly.
Dropping from the bed, I sit in front of both the warden and the pegasus patient and wrap my hooves around them.
"Yoo ken squeez mee if yoo laik. Just teenk of eet as eef Ai em bubble wrap. The-rap-yoo-tick."
Watchful sighs.
"Fine, but don't tell anypony and keep your hooves off his crotch... or mine."
"Yes. Nou squeezeenk dere, plees. Dat wud reely hurt."
We just sit like that for a while, three ponies on the floor tangled in a complicated hug. See? Hugs can make everything better. Everypony's day can be a little brighter with a little live warmth wrapped around them.
"Ehm!" Pyre coughs meaningfully, still sitting on the chair instead of with us, "Our time's almost up. Can you stop being sappy for a moment and let me say something?"
"Only if you join the huddle!" Drizzle retorts.
"Over my grilled, ungroped body," Pyre sighs, "Pleeeease?"
I wriggle myself out of Drizzle's shockingly strong grasp. She's got quite the leg strength for a pegasus. Maybe she's a secret wrestler! So many theories about her. That's what I like about real ponies, they have so many facets to explore, there's so much to know about them. I'm not going to be like that ever, but maybe getting a little closer might be nice.
Taking her no longer resisting foreleg into mine, I push it down close to Watchful's flank.
"Dats d squishiest bit, at leest on mee. Keep going end Ail bee rite back. Teenk of d bubble wrap end evereeteenk will bee better."
"You heard the pony," she grins, pushing the warden on the floor and wrapping him in a tight pegasus cocoon.
"Drizzle, I'm warning you-"
"Oh lighten up, I'm just joking. But for real, you are squishy. Been neglecting your physical?"
"I, well, umm-"
Shaking my head, I leave the reddening and stuttering warden. Pyre turns his chair away from the two and beckons me closer. Granted, we're about a pony and a half away from them so the privacy is limited, but better than nothing.
The orange unicorn levitates something he's been messing with all this time - Watchful's gift lighter. He flips it open and sparks a tiny flickering flame. His horn glows like a fireplace coming to life, and the little flame leaves the steel lighter, floating in the air until it reaches Pyre's horn, then it drops like a rock back into the now faded lighter.
The metal square floats over to me. I pluck it out of the air and try to make a spark. I know it should be more difficult using hooves, but I'm unsuccessful even after multiple attempts. Lighters are probably just for smart ponies.
"It's gonna stay dark from now on, I put an enchantment on it," says Pyre, "They wouldn't let me give you a working one with your history. This one will stay warm no matter what, though."
He nods towards it. Now that he mentioned it, lighters usually get cold quickly, right? This one is warm bordering on hot, but definitely not scalding or anything. Then I realize what he said.
"Eet's for mee?"
He nods, giving me a tired smile. He opens his mouth to say something, but the door opens and the nurse peeks in.
"Time's up, everypony. The patient needs his rest before doctor Insight comes for a visit."
Watchful and Drizzle get off the floor, much to the pegasus' disappointment.
"Can I ride you?" she asks.
"On my back, right?" Watchful frowns.
"That is totally what I meant."
"No, your legs are fine and my coat is wet already from your," he looks at me and Pyre, "... from you."
She drools and bites a lot, that's true.
"Come on, you let me ride Greyscale when I was unconscious before."
"He wouldn't know what do to do with you."
That's not true. I can carry a sleeping pony. I even DID so! Watchful must have completely forgotten due to the washing machine thing. Cats are right when they run away from those loud things, they are dangerous and now I have proof!
Pyre hops off of the chair when the other two are finally outside. He nods towards the lighter still in my hoof.
"Yeah, it's for you. The end of the year is coming closer and they have scheduled me for release in just over a month."
With certainty and determination in his voice, he adds:
"Thank you. I'm not going to need it anymore."
Pretty quickly, I'm left on my own. Strange, I don't feel alone.