Blazing looked out into the empty field. Not moving a single muscle. Never blinking. Spitfire was focused on his appearance and actions, but what she didn't see was what was going on in his mind.
Memories flashed through Blazing's mind at extreme speeds. Memories of his childhood, memories from a few moments ago, and memories that weren't even his. The memories began to bleed into each other. Suddenly his fifth birthday party became his fifth birthday party in the middle of the ocean surrounded by dead bodies. A memory of playing on the swings turned into him suspended in the air as ponies with melted faces laughed at a chicken eating blue pumpkin seeds. A memory of his mother hugging him turned into him struggling to break free from shackles. Then his mind stuck to one memory. A heart attack.
"Agh!" Blazing grabbed at his chest. He gasped for air. He began twitching uncontrollably, he fell over, then he started speaking complete nonsense. "Nothing is sacred. This is blizzard nine eight lumber. Lizard outing. M-M-Mom?" Then he started mumbling, then screaming, then mumbling again.
"Help! Help!" Spitfire screamed. She rushed to Blazing and tried talking to him. "What's going on!? W-what is this? Can you hear me!?" Two guards rushed into the room.
"What happened!?" one said.
"I don't know! I think he might be having a heart attack!"
"Medic! I need a medic! You! Go get a medic!"
"Yes sir." the other guard obeyed. He ran out of the room. Blazing continued twitching and clutching his chest, but now his mouth started to foam. He was having a seizure too! Through his mind raced thousands of memories. However, the heart attack was always present. He heard his mother and siblings screaming his name!
The other guard came back with a zebra mare. She was holding a small, wood box with engravings on it. Without a word, she rushed over to Blazing. She opened the box, and inside was a mortar and pestle and several herbs. She immediately began crushing and stirring the herbs together. "Where's the daybloom!? No no no!" she began to panic.
"What's daybloom!? What's going on!?" questioned Spitfire.
"He's having a mental collapse! I need to make an antidote!" the zebra replied. "Daybloom is an ingredient I need!"
"Isn't daybloom rare?" one guard said.
"Indeed it is." said the zebra.
"If it's rare, how are we supposed to get it?" Spitfire asked.
"What about that florist that comes around here?" one of the two guards said. "I saw her downstairs."
"Go get her!" The zebra mare shouted. With little else to do, she explained what was happening to the guards and Spitfire. "My name is Zarra. Blazing sometimes has these instances where his memories collapse and blend into each other. Weird stuff like this tends to happen, though I've never seen a collapse this bad. We need that daybloom now!"
A minute later, the guard brought back a earth pony mare with white-pink fur and a red mane. She had a big crate of flowers in hand. "Oh dear Celestia! What's happening to him!?" she screamed.
"Shut up and help us!" Zarra shouted.
"I-I have some rare flowers." She muttered. "Here." She slowly set the box down next to Zarra.
"Do you have any daybloom!?"
"Right there."
As Zarra chewed the daybloom to a pulp, Blazing, still seizing and having a heart attack, seemed to rest his head as his eyes met the florist's. Just for a moment. It was as if he knew she just saved his life. He then returned to seizing.
"What's your name?" Zarra asked the florist while stirring the herbs with the daybloom.
"Flora Scent." Zarra poured hot water into the mortar with the herbs and stirred.
"Well Flora. You've just saved a life." Zarra dipped her index finger into the mortar, and slid that finger across Blazing's forehead. In a few seconds he stopped seizing. Zarra took this opportunity to spill the rest of the mixture down Blazing's throat. A few seconds later, he fell unconscious. Then in another few seconds, he gasped and sat up.
"What happened!?" he exclaimed.
"Calm down Blazing. You had a mental collapse." Zarra said.
"A... mental... oh." Zarra helped him up. "So you actually did get more daybloom like I said. I told you this could happen again."
"Actually," said Zarra, "Flora here got the daybloom, just now. If it wasn't for her, you'd be dead."
"Is this true?" Blazing asked Flora.
"Uh. Y-yes. If it had been any other day, I wouldn't have had it."
"Thank you. Thank you so much. Alright. Spitfire, guards, dismissed."
"Blazing," Zarra said, "I have to get you to the infirmary."
"Right. Right. Do whatever you have to."
So Zarra lead Blazing to the infirmiry, the two guards went back to what they were doing, and Spitfire packed up and left for Cloudsdale. She wondered what would become of Blazing. She knew that anyone with a disorder or disease this crippling could never hope to be in the military or in a position of authority. What happened? Why did it happen? How did it happen? These were questions on Spitfire's mind. She felt ashamed for assuming that Blazing was looking out that window to be lazy. Maybe this mental collapse thing caused all that. Whatever the case was, she decided to keep coming back.
A few days later, Blazing returned to work at the garrison. While he was making his way to his office, he ran into Flora Scent. It turned out she was delivering flowers for the garden Blazing had set up during his time as garrison captain of West Delamare.
"Hello there." he said.
Flora turned. "Oh hi! I'm glad to see you doing well."
"Same here. I mean, glad I am. Look. I wanted to thank you. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here."
"I know, but I feel like I really didn't do anything. All I did was be here."
"Well. I'm thankful you decided to bring daybloom on the day you did. And I'm glad you brought flowers for my garden."
"You're welcome."
"Listen, Flora was it? Would you like to... well... go out for lunch? I wanted to thank you personally." Flora giggled.
"Sure. Why not? When?"
"I'm free at twelve. Uh... you?"
"Twelve works."
"Uh good. See you then.
Flora and Blazing went their separate ways. Blazing thought about what had happened that day. He couldn't remember much. But one thing he did remember was locking eyes with Flora. It may have been just for a second. But in that second, he saw many things. He saw her emotions, her thoughts, her very soul. And he saw his mother. She had a hand on Flora's shoulder. Thinking back on it made him smile.