Nurse Redheart slowly lowered herself into the waiting seat, the chair’s slight groan covered by her sigh of relief. Leaning back, the pink-maned earth pony gently stroked her slowly growing belly as she checked the small calendar on the desk for the fifth time that morning. Three more months she thought, smiling as the child inside her kicked. She knew she didn’t have to be here. The hospital’s administrator had offered to let her go on paid maternity leave, but the mare had refused. With her husband at work all day, she’d be home alone, with nothing to do except eat, read and listen to her favorite radio programs. While she didn’t mind doing so on her days off, Redheart knew the novelty would disappear after a week, leaving her bored out of her mind for months. At least with working, she wouldn’t be bored and she’d be making more than she would on leave, though her hooves and knees were starting to make their displeasure known. Her husband had voiced his concerns as well but relented in the end, knowing how stubborn she could be.
Smiling at the thought of being a mom, the white and pink mare glanced at the small bank of screens that lined the back of the desk. Though there were a half dozen patients in the unit, there was only one that she was concerned about. A quick glance told her that nothing had changed since she had last checked, breathing was steady, heart rate was normal and brain activity was still slightly higher than the day before. Leaning back in her chair, Nurse Redheart still could hardly believe that the colt in the room across from her station was alive, alicorn or not. She had only gotten halfway through his list of injuries before having to stop. Lowering her eyes slightly, the mare glanced at the lone colt sitting outside her patient’s room. He was busy filling in a coloring book that she had gotten him, stopping briefly as he looked up at her. “Hello.” The colt’s eyes lingered for a moment longer before returning to the book before him. Sighing, Nurse Redheart noted her patient’s latest stats. Despite the colt's continued silence, the pink maned nurse felt that he was finally starting to warm up to her presence, if the lack of a shield suddenly appearing around him whenever she glanced his way was any indication.
The routine that had developed over the hoof-full of days since the forest fire continued as Nurse Redheart kept an eye on the floor’s most famous patient while his clone sat silently outside. Looking at a clock on the wall as it silently welcomed the early afternoon, the pregnant mare rolled her head from side to side, loosening muscles that had gone stiff while thinking about what was being served in the cafeteria. Pulling herself back from wondering why she had a sudden craving for double chocolate ice cream, the hair on the back of the mare’s neck slowly rose as she noted the sudden quiet in the unit. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary on her desk’s monitors, she looked up at the clone. The colt hadn’t moved from his spot all day, except to follow her into the room when she checked on her patient. At the moment, the clone was sitting upright, his eyes staring off at some point behind her. Leaning closer, Nurse Redheart could see the colt’s eyes slowly moving back and forth, as if he was reading something only he could see. Glancing quietly at the young alicorn’s monitors, she noted that the young colt’s brain activity was much higher than it had been at the beginning of her shift. Hearing something hit the tiled floor, Redheart looked up to see a couple crayons roll off the small table as the clone leaped down from the chair before walking through it and the wall behind it. Watching as the clone slowly walked across the small room, Nurse Redheart pressed a small button next to the colt’s monitors. Normally meant to answer a patient if they pressed the call button, it would also allow her to hear anything that was said.
The clone slowly walked across the room, his eyes never leaving the mass of bandages and tubes hovering in the middle of the room. Walking around the injured alicorn, the clone stopped at the end closest to the door, where Shadow’s face seemed to be the only part of his body not covered in bandages. Slowly sitting down on the cool tile, the clone quietly watched its creator’s face, noting how his eyes were moving back and forth beneath his eye lids. It ears perking at the soft groan; the clone slowly inched closer as Shadow stirred. From a few feet away, the clone watched Shadow’s eyes slowly open as the colt swore in Zebran.
“Nice to see you too, Sleeping Beauty.”
The room slowly spun around Shadow before coming to a halt. “Wha…”
“What happened?” The clone asked, “You nearly got us all killed in that fire, you fucking idiot.”
“Where are we?” Shadow croaked, wincing at the rawness of his throat.
“‘Ponyville General Hospital’” The non-injured colt replied, levitating a nearby cup up to Shadow, who sucked greedily from the straw. Sighing at Shadow’s expression, the clone rolled its eyes “We’re in a building where the sick go to get better and the stupid go to get help when they get their idiot flanks injured. Case in point…” The clone added, gesturing to Shadow.
“How?” Shadow asked, letting the straw fall from his lips
The clone’s chuckle, Redheart noted, caused Shadow’s heart rate to jump slightly. “Celestia herself personally pulled your flank out of the fire and brought you here.” The clone said, smiling. “I don’t know what she has planned for you, but I just hope I’m not around to find out.” The clone knew it probably wasn’t a wise idea to talk to its creator like this, especially considering his condition, but the clone didn’t care.
“Fuck you.”
“Bite me.” The clone said, smiling at Shadow’s response. “Unfortunately, we’re stuck with each other. You’re in no condition to dispel me and I can’t do the deed myself. On top of that, I haven’t slept in Luna knows how long.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Forget it. The sooner you get better, the sooner I can join the others” The clone replied as it stood. “Just get better.” Setting the empty cup aside, the clone turned its back to the injured colt, walking through the wall a moment later and resuming its vigil. Picking up the fallen crayons with its magic, the clone looked up at the pink-maned nurse, noting her raised eyebrow. “What?”
Nurse Redheart shrugged, letting the subject drop as she noted everything the two colts had said. The doctor would want to know everything as soon as he arrived.
Luna slowly walked down the nearly empty hallway. Around her, what few ponies who were awake paid her no mind as if she wasn’t there. Under normal circumstances, this would have irked the younger Royal Sister, but since her body was still in her room in Canterlot… Passing through a pair of doors, the lunar princess stopped to survey the ward. Like the rest of the hospital, the area was quiet, with the only sounds coming from the nurses as they went about their duties. In four of the ward’s rooms, Luna could see small fires burning calmly, the sight of which brought a smile to her face. The smile slowly died as she eyed the remaining two occupied rooms. In Shadow’s room, Luna eyed the flame above his bed uneasily. Where it had been a small inferno nearly two weeks ago, it now looked as if somepony had thrown a bucket of water on it in an attempt to put it out, only to barely fail. What little fire remained, Luna noted, burned brightly, causing her hopes to rise slightly. In the room next to the young alicorn’s, the occupant’s flames had been reduced to barely glowing ashes. Stopping to look through the glass window, she watched an older stallion sleeping gently in the room’s lone bed, knowing that he likely wouldn’t see the sun.
Turning away from the window, Luna walked through the wall separating Shadow’s room from the rest of the ward, hoping the stallion would hang on for a little longer. Despite knowing full well that he couldn’t sense her, Luna still watched where she put her hooves. Pausing for a moment to look at the bank of monitors around the sleeping colt, the princess glanced out the window at the colt’s clone, her heart stopping as the clone stared back. Luna watched, as still as a statue, as the clone’s eyes slowly swept the room. Squinting, the clone leaped through the wall, landing almost silently in the quiet room. From her position, Luna watched as the clone slowly prowled the room, clearly sensing something, but not sure what. The princess’s heart skipped a beat as the clone walked right through her before walking back through the wall, softly muttering to itself. Breathing a sigh of relief, Luna walked over to the sleeping colt. Gently smiling, Luna closed her eyes as she touched her horn to the colt’s horn. While it was true she could enter his dreams through easier methods, Luna had wanted to see the young alicorn for herself.
Opening her eyes, Luna found herself standing on the deck of a ship as it gently rolled in the ocean’s waves. Looking up, the royal sister watched the canvas sails billow in the steady breeze as the masts gently swayed back and forth with the waves. Around her, the sounds of ponies laughing and singing as they worked reached her ears. Taking to the air, Luna pumped her wings, quickly finding herself just above a low hanging bank of clouds. Luna sighed as the steady breeze played with her feathers. It was a sensation she desperately missed. While she took to the air every chance she got, it was never quite the same thing as being able to hang in midair with her wings outstretched, letting the wind do all the work. Perhaps she could convince Celestia to go on vacation; stars above knew her sister could use one, and if she could convince Celestia to leave the nobles of Canterlot for a week on a quiet stretch of ocean beach somewhere… Luna laughed to herself as a plan slowly formed. Looking down, the younger sister’s laughter died in her throat as a monstrous creature leaped out of the water, its tail snapping one of the ship’s masts. Diving down, Luna quickly noted that the ship’s crew now consisted of one lone colt. Weaving between the shattered mast and its intact sibling, Luna landed next to the colt as the creature sprayed the ship with fire, a shield barely forming in time to protect the ship.
Overhead, cracks appeared in the shield, quickly racing from one end to the other before the sound of shattering glass signaled the end of the colt’s spell. Glaring at the creature, Luna ignited her horn, slamming the monster’s jaw shut as it tried to spray the ship with fire. Launching herself from the ship’s deck, Luna flew straight at the creature before slamming her whole body into it. Rising into the air, the princess grabbed her target’s tail with her magic, spinning the creature above her head like a rope before slamming it head first into the water below. Without missing a beat, Luna grabbed the creature, shaking it like a doll before bringing it to a hover before her. “Creature of Tartarus” She called out, loud enough for the colt below to hear “BE GONE!” The royal sister released her grip on the monster as she gave it a demonstration of her infamous Royal Canterlot Voice. Instead of falling back into the ocean, the creature flew into the sky like an arrow, disappearing from view as the moon slowly rose behind it. A few seconds later, Luna watched a new crater form on her beloved moon.
Turning her back to her moon, Luna slowly descended, gently landing in front of the stunned colt. Smiling, Luna could barely contain herself as Shadow’s jaw slowly hit the deck. Sitting heavily, the young alicorn’s gaze slowly turned to the lunar princess before he scrambled to his hooves, bowing to her a second later.
Before she could say anything, the world around Luna shifted, with trees and snowcapped mountains replacing the endless waves. Before she could get her bearings, screams of pure terror and panic assaulted her ears. Finding herself alone, Luna took to the air. Above her, wave after wave of pegasus drawn chariots filled the air as the unicorn passengers rained death and destruction on the ponies below. Luna watched in horror as one particularly well aimed magical blast smashed into a young filly as she ran for cover, the echo of her scream of terror disappearing among the screams of other ponies. Overhead, the sun pulsed as a shaft of light as thick as Canterlot Castle slammed into the side of a mountain on the far side of the valley, reducing the mountain’s face to slag. Hearing a laugh that chilled the princess to her core, Luna looked up. Hovering above the carnage, a pure white alicorn smirked at her hoof-work as a second solar blast slammed into the valley’s only exit, ensuring that nopony would escape.
Barely able to comprehend the carnage that was the colt’s dream, Luna nearly missed the white alicorn dive from the sky, her horn blazing as a series of blasts slammed into the ground below, cutting off a certain young alicorn as he tried to run. Landing next to the colt unseen, Luna watched in horror as the larger alicorn slowly stepped through the curtain of flames surrounding the colt. Despite everything she knew, despite the mare’s flaming mane and tail, despite her look of barely concealed contempt, Luna knew that she was staring at her sister. “What, nothing to say to your Empress?” The faux-Celestia sneered as she casually batted away a wall of flames with her wings. “I must admit, I never knew about your little island until I found you.”
“No.”
“Oh yes.” The armored Celestia said as she slowly stalked around the colt. “Never had the faintest notion this place existed. If I had, I would have wiped it from the face of Equus long ago, but as the saying goes…” The mare leaned down until her mouth was next to Shadow’s ear “‘No time like the present.’” Leaving the colt in stunned silence, the monster that was her sister slowly sauntered away for a moment before turning back. “Ready to join those you got killed?” Not hearing a response, Celestia charged her horn.
Before her sister could do anything, Luna’s horn blazed as her attack slammed into her sister, sending the unprepared mare flying through a nearby building, which promptly collapsed. Before she could blink, the building erupted like a volcano as the deranged mare inside blasted her way free. Taking to the air, Celestia glided over to Luna, coming to a stop several body lengths away. “Luna! What a surprise seeing you here, sister. Apparently, I didn’t kill you enough last time.”
“You are not my sister.”
“I am so glad we agree. That will make this so much easier…” Luna threw up a shield between her and Celestia as the larger mare launched a spell at her. Despite the shield holding against the magical blast, Luna barely avoided a golden shod hoof as it smashed through her shield, aimed squarely for her head. Spinning on her hooves, Luna bucked her sister in the chest, sending the white mare stumbling. Taking the opening, Luna grabbed the stunned Shadow with her magic, setting him on a nearby cloud and casting a shield around him. “How cute” Celestia said as she charged, catching Luna off guard with a kick to a knee.
“You can’t have him” Luna said, blasting her sister into the side of a mountain with her magic.
“Why not!” Celestia roared as she tore through the air aiming for her sister.
“Because he’s MINE!” Luna roared, grabbing her sister from the air and throwing her into the nearby lake. Her horn blazing, Luna’s eyes glowed bone white as her moon rose over head, banishing her sister’s sun. Rising into the air, Luna called on her magic, sending everything she had into the floundering figure in the middle of the lake. Ignoring the monster’s screams, Luna didn’t relent until the thing’s scream echoed into silence.
Glaring one last time at where Celestia had been, Luna slowly walked back to Shadow, dispelling the shield around him. “That thing will not bother you anymore, my little pony.”
“Thank you, my queen.”
Luna smiled as the colt bowed. “Not a title I am fond of, but let us find someplace calmer.” Lighting her horn, the world around the two ponies dissolved as the chaos and destruction washing away, until it was replaced by a small hill with a large tree at the top. Overhead, the sun slowly disappeared below the horizon as her moon rose to take its place in the sky. Hearing a sigh, Luna looked down to her side, watching as Shadow curled up in the cool grass beneath the tree. Sleep well, young colt.
Opening her eyes, Luna looked at the small flame above Shadow, smiling at how it had grown. Knowing that he’d be safe for the night, the world around the lunar princess shifted until it was the more familiar Realm of Dreams. Finding herself surrounded by more doors than she could count, Luna looked around until she found what she was looking for. The door itself was nothing special, scratched and battered with faded paint that was beginning to peel, but Luna ignored the door’s exterior, knowing that what mattered was on the other side. Stepping through, Luna felt her hooves sink into the soft dirt of the farmer’s field. Nearby, a light grey earth pony stallion with a dark grey mane stood with his back to her, watching as a young filly and colt played on a swing set next to a beautiful farm house. Enjoying the feeling of soft dirt beneath her hooves, Luna slowly approached the stallion. Having heard something, the stallion turned around, bowing to Luna as soon as he saw her “Princess! I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you coming.”
Luna gently lifted the stallion back up. “It is quite alright, my good sir.”
“What can I do for you, Princess?”
Luna smiled at the simple request. “Tell me your story.”
The sound of the book hitting the nightstand echoed around the room as the room’s lone occupant groaned. Stretching limbs sore from the lack of use, the young pegasus mare let her head sink into the pillow as she stared at the ceiling above. One week. It had been one full week since she had broken her wing in the forest fire, and yet here she was, stuck in bed. Gritting her teeth in frustration, Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder at her injured wing, wondering how much longer she’d be stuck there. The sky blue mare could feel the itch to move around building up inside her, but she mercilessly stomped it back into submission. As much as she wanted to, no, needed to move around, she knew she had to stay in bed, if only to keep everypony happy. At first, she had spent the first day or so sleeping, which hadn’t been so bad. Everypony in town knew about her love for naps and she had taken the opportunity to catch up on her sleep, which hadn’t been as good as it could have been ever since the accident at the Weather Factory.
That had lasted for about a day, after which, Rainbow Dash found herself desperate to distract herself. At first it hadn’t been too hard, since one of the nurses brought a radio into the room for the grounded flyer to listen to. Before that could lose its appeal, her friends had stopped by, bringing her cards and balloons, or in the case of Pinkie Pie, a box filled with chocolates that she had somehow hidden in her mane. Rainbow didn’t even bother to wonder how her friend had managed to fit a box larger than her head into her mane, she had just been grateful for the sugar filled treats. Turning her head, the mare looked at the now exiled book next to her. Twilight had stopped by during her first full day in the hospital, setting the book on the nightstand as she explained how she had stopped by Rainbow’s home and had grabbed the pegasus’ pet tortoise Tank, bringing him to Fluttershy while she was in the hospital. The young alicorn mentioned that she thought Rainbow might enjoy the book, since she had read the entire Daring Do series, and this author’s work was similar, despite being science fiction. Desperate for anything to take her mind off her current situation, Rainbow Dash dove into the book as soon as the door closed behind Twilight. Within the first half hour, she had come to two, inescapable conclusions: Twilight was wrong, and this was one of the worst books the young flyer had ever read.
Over the next few days, she had tried to read the book several times, but each attempt ended sooner that the last, until she had finally given up and tossed the book away in frustration. Groaning in frustration, the mare sat up, grabbing the radio from the nightstand. Before she could turn it on, Rainbow looked up at the room’s lone door as somepony knocked on it. As she opened her mouth, the door slowly opened as Nurse Tenderheart pushed a small book laden cart ahead of her. “Oh thank Celestia!”
The green maned earth pony smiled at Rainbow Dash’s cry as she entered. “How are we doing, this afternoon?”
“Bored!” Rainbow replied as she leaned against her bed’s headboard.
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me, though I’m surprised I haven’t seen you walking the halls.”
“What do you mean? I thought I wasn’t allowed out of bed.”
Raising an eyebrow, the nurse walked over to the foot of Rainbow’s Dash’s bed, grabbing the handing chart with a hoof as she leafed through the pages. “I don’t know who told you that” she said, shaking her head as she went through the papers for a second time, “but there’s nothing in here saying you have to stay in bed.”
“Really!”
“Yup. In fact…” The earth pony mare looked over the chart one last time before putting it back in place, “We could probably remove that I.V. as well.”
Wordlessly, the room’s resident held out her leg, letting the nurse know her opinion. Rainbow barely felt the needle slide out of her skin as her mind focused squarely on her impending freedom. As soon as the nurse backed up, Rainbow Dash swung her back legs over the side of the bed. Wincing at the icy chill of the floor, she ignored it as her front legs followed suit, stumbling slightly as she stood for the first time in a week. Smiling, she looked up at Nurse Tenderheart, who was smiling back.
“You’ll feel weak at first, but that should pass quickly enough. Just be sure to stay on hospital grounds, because I don’t want to have to chase you down. Again.”
Rainbow Dash winced as she rubbed the back of her neck at the mention of that incident, “Deal.”
“Good. Now, before you leave…” The nurse turned the cart until Rainbow could see the books on it “You want a book?”
Sighing in contentment, Rainbow Dash lay on a bench in the sprawling garden behind the hospital. Despite the Daring Do book sitting next to her, she ignored it for a moment, happy to simply be out of her room and able to enjoy the sun. Looking at the cover of her book, the injured pegasus was in no rush to read it. It was the first book in the series and she had already read it more times than she could remember. Instead, she simply lay there, sighing in pleasure as a stray breeze blew across her back and played with her mane. Around her, the trees rustled and swayed in the breeze while some nearby birds sang. It was a peaceful calm she hadn’t realized she missed until that moment. Unfortunately, her stomach ruined the moment as it rumbled at being empty. Groaning, the mare lifted her head to look around. Finding herself alone for the moment, Rainbow leaned down from the bench, giving a nearby flower one final sniff before separating it from its stem with one quick bite. As she swallowed, the young flyer knew she had made a mistake as her stomach rumbled even louder. Groaning, she slowly got to her hooves, knowing she’d have to find something to eat if she was going to get any peace. Tucking the book beneath her good wing, Rainbow Dash slowly began the walk back to the hospital.
Not in any real rush to get back to her room, Rainbow slowly walked the halls of the hospital. Getting into an elevator, she pushed the button for her floor. Lost in the utterly forgettable music playing overhead, the pegasus didn’t realize she had pushed the wrong button until the doors closed behind her. Looking around, Rainbow felt a shiver crawl down her spine as she noticed the quiet and less happy atmosphere of the floor. Curious, she walked down the short hallway into what she immediately knew was the ICU, despite never having been there herself or reading the wording on the wall next to her.
Wordlessly, the normally self-assured pegasus found her confidence flagging as she walked deeper into the unit. In the back of her mind, she knew she should be here, but in one of the rooms instead of walking around outside them. When she had woken up the morning after the fire, she couldn’t remember anything from the previous day after taking off for that signal from the Everfree. Twilight had filled in the blanks, telling her friend how she had crashed while trying to rescue the crusaders and how a colt who had been with the fillies had kept her from crashing even harder than she had and how he had protected her and the crusaders until help had arrived. Now, he was here, fighting for his life when, if things had been slightly different, she could have been here as well. Sighing as the weight of the unit’s atmosphere finally hit her, Rainbow trudged down the hall, spotting a black colt sitting along the wall halfway down.
As she neared, the colt looked up from what he was doing to stare at her for a moment. Rainbow watched his eyes slowly look her over before settling on her bandaged wing. “How’s the wing?”
Rainbow Dash looked at the injured limb for a moment before answering “I’ve had worse.” She wasn’t sure what to make of the colt’s raised eyebrow, but before she could think about it, as smile slowly grew on his face.
“Been there myself. Shit happens.” The colt set his crayon aside before turning to her again. “You can go inside if you want. He’s been wondering about you, but nopony would tell us anything other than that you were fine.” The colt finished the offer with a snort and a roll of his eyes.
“Thanks.” Rainbow replied. She didn’t quite know why, but even though she had just met the colt, she liked him. Steeling herself, she knocked on the room’s glass door before letting herself in. Instead of a pony in a bed, she found herself confused at the sight of a mass of bandages floating in midair. It was only as she spotted the wires and tubes disappearing into the bandages that she realized that there was a pony underneath. “Hello?”
The floating bundle twitched as the room’s occupant reacted to her voice. “Who’s there?”
“It’s the mare you were asking about.” Rainbow turned to find the colt from outside standing beside her. “Don’t worry, she’s cool.” Smiling at the colt’s tilted head, Rainbow Dash slowly walked into the room, the sound of her hooves matching the noise from the various monitors around the room. Walking around to what she assumed was the colt’s head; she quickly found a pair of golden eyes staring back at her as she sat down in the chair in front of him.
“How’s the wing?”
“I’ll be fine.” Rainbow Dash replied, finding herself suddenly uncomfortable. “It’s not the first time I broke it, and it probably won’t be the last.” The bandaged colt smiled at her response. Feeling herself brighten slightly, the pegasus returned the favor “The name’s Rainbow Dash.”
“Shadow.”
“So, Shadow… how are you?”
“I’ve been worse, though this time it was more quantity than quality.”
“Really? What happened?”
“I don’t know. One minute I’m coming back to my camp site after relieving myself, then the next thing I know, I’m running for my life from a massive fire.” Shadow sighed, trying to ignore the itch that he couldn’t reach. “I’ve heard of forest fires before, but I’ve never seen one myself, much less seen one spread so quickly.”
“Normally it wouldn’t have spread at all, but we’ve been dealing with a drought ever since the accident at the Weather Factory.”
“What happened?”
Rainbow winced at the innocent question. “No pony knows for sure.” Rainbow sighed as she looked out the window at Cloudsdale in the distance.
“What’s wrong?”
“I should have been there.” She turned to the injured colt. “I was scheduled to be working on the main floor that day, but I accidentally overslept” She added at Shadow’s confused look. “I was on my way there when it happened. One moment everything was fine, the next… the entire building was replaced by a massive fireball.” The rainbow maned mare wiped a few rebellious tears away as she spoke. “I was the first pony on the scene, but it didn’t matter.”
Shadow watched the mare, feeling for her. Part of him rebelled at his feelings, reminding him that it could all be a set up by Celestia to get him to lower his guard, yet another part of him argued against that, saying that what she said made perfect sense, considering everything he had seen. “A couple months ago, I was sleeping when my sister woke me up, saying she smelled smoke” Shadow said before he could stop himself. “I told her to go back to sleep, but she wouldn’t.” He looked up at Rainbow and the slowly growing horror on her face “Then I smelled it too.” He shook his head at the memory. “I should have jumped out the window with her right then and gotten clear. Instead, I opened the door to look downstairs.” He closed his eyes as he heard his sister scream “I was the only one who got out in time” he whispered.
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” Rainbow smiled. “Don’t worry; you’ll be out of here in no time. Then you can help me catch up on all of the pranks I’m missing out on.”
“Pranks?”
“Oh, you know. Replacing regular ink with disappearing ink, joy buzzers, whoopee cushions, switching the apples on a friend’s tree with rubber versions… Pranks.”
Shadow smiled as Rainbow Dash’s face lit up at the topic. “That’s all child’s play.”
“Oh, really?” Rainbow Dash knew a challenge when she heard it. “And you can top those?”
“Oh, I know a few…”
“Like what?”
Shadow smirked as he spoke, “Two words: Screaming Chairs.”
“What?”
“Take a chair, and put a spell on it to make it scream whenever anypony sits on it.”
Rainbow Dash’s rough laughter filled the room at the idea “Really?”
Shadow smiled like a pony who had just aced a test “Invented it myself.”
“Nice, but wouldn’t everypony know who to blame?”
“Well sure, if I hadn’t taught it to every unicorn in my class back home.” Rainbow’s laughter increased as she imagined how useful that spell could be. “But that’s not my best one.”
“No?”
“Growing up, I was never allowed to fly out in the open, while my sister the pegasus…” Shadow knew the mare knew what he was. His clone told him it was literally written on the wall outside. “So one night, she wakes me in the middle of the night, asking if I wanted to try sleeping on a cloud. I’d never touched a cloud before, so you can probably guess my answer. I had barely nodded before she was flying out the window.” Shadow smiled as the memory played out in his mind. “I must have fallen asleep waiting for her, because the next time I woke up, there she was asleep on a cloud in the middle of our room.” He started to laugh, knowing what came next. “Star Gazer had a knack of predicting the weather and she had predicted rain the day before. I don’t know why she chose that particular cloud, but it must have been a scout for the others, because I watched as it went from a sweet, innocent white fluffball to a barely contained ball of fury and lightning. She was out cold on a small thunderhead I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.”
Rainbow could barely contain herself as she could see where this story was going “But you did anyway.”
Shadow simply nodded. “All I had to do was give it a slight poke with my magic. The ringing didn’t go away until the next night, but as soon as I could see again, my sister was no longer sleeping on her cloud. I didn’t know where she went” Shadow mimicked the actions “until I looked up.”
“There she was?”
“There she was; clinging to one of the rafters and shaking like a leaf! It took me half an hour to pry her off the beam and get her back down. The best part is that our parents never found out.”
“Never?”
“Never; the predicted storm broke at that moment.” Shadow winced as his ribs protested his laughter, while Rainbow nearly fell out of her chair. “Oh sweet Luna, that was the best prank I ever pulled on her.” The smile on his face slowly vanished “less than a week later, I listened to her die.”
The laughter in Rainbow’s throat died at the colt’s last sentence.
The room grew quiet as the two ponies thought about what had happened to the other. Looking around, Rainbow spotted a dark red object stuffed between the side of a cabinet and a wall. Her curiosity piqued, she walked over to the hidden object, pulling out a lone saddlebag. “What’s this?” She asked as she walked back with the bag in her mouth, setting it on her chair.
“My bags!” The colt’s shout caught the mare off guard. “I thought I lost them in… the…” As he spoke, the lone bag fell forward, revealing its lack of a twin. Rainbow Dash watched the colt’s eyes shrink to pinpricks. Around the room, the various monitors slowly began to fill the room with noise. Looking at the bag, then at Shadow, she could see his chest starting to heave as he tried to catch his breath. “I need to see it.”
“What?” Rainbow asked, barely able to hear him over the noise in the room.
“The bag. I need to see it now!” The colt shouted, a bandaged leg reaching out for it. Rolling a nearby table in front of him, Rainbow set the bag on it, well within his reach. Without warning, Shadow bit through the bandage covering his hoof before placing it on the bags latch, which opened with a bang as the door behind her slammed open. Jumping at the sound, Rainbow Dash backed off as the doctor and two nurses rushed in. All of this she noticed, was lost to Shadow as he all but ripped the bag open. Almost immediately, the chaotic monitors settled back to normal as the colt started to laugh, a few tears rolling down his cheeks. “They survived. Thank Luna they’re still here.”
As the doctor and nurses checked him over, Rainbow slowly approached Shadow, wondering what was so important. Looking inside, she was greeted by four books, two of which she could tell by the smell could be classified as ridiculously old “Books?”
Shadow look up at his guest’s incredulous stare “This is literally everything I own.”
“Anything good?”
“Depends on your tastes” The colt replied with a contented sigh. Lowering his head, Shadow grabbed the smallest of the books with his teeth. Pulling it out, the book was almost immediately surrounded by a golden field of magic as the clone took it from him.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but visiting hours are over” Nurse Redheart said, making her presence known for the first time. “He needs to rest, and so do you, Ms. Dash.”
“Sure thing, see ya later kid.” Rainbow said as she was led out of the room.
“See ya.”
Luna gently stepped out onto the cloud. She knew the lone colt was aware of her; she had used none of the normal spells and tricks she knew when she wanted to remain hidden. Yet, even as she lay down next to him, Shadow didn't twitch. Not wanting to break the moment, Luna looked down. Below the cloud, smoke gently rose from homes in a town whose name she did not know, in a mountain lined valley she had never seen. In the distance, the shadows grew longer on the mountains as the day slowly gave way to her night. Against a sheer cliff face, the lunar princess saw black dots rise and fall against the stone backdrop as some chased each other while others simply rode the alpine breeze. She knew from a glance that they weren’t birds, since they flew more like pegasi, but lacked the typical variety of color of most ponies… Were those thestrals?
Before she could wonder, Luna's ears perked at the sound of laughter in the distance. Like it knew what she wanted, the dream shifted until the cloud hovered over a lone house. Around the small clearing among the trees a pair of kids, a filly and colt chased each other. Hearing an almost silent sigh, Luna extended a wing, gently draping it over the colt next to her. She wouldn't push him. She knew he'd talk when he was ready. Until then, she'd stay by his side, as they watched him and his sister play.