//------------------------------// // 40 - Catharsis, Part 4 of 15 // Story: The Last Cutie Mark Crusader // by Jatheus //------------------------------// Duster found sleep difficult to obtain. Every time he swallowed, his throat hurt with a furious twinge. They had given him a shot to dull it, but that had worn off hours before. LD and Locknload had been sent out of the hospital, and the wounded stallion found himself alone. The worst part about it was the boredom. Doctors and nurses were still rushing around, tending to other ponies while he laid there, mostly ignored. He sighed and continued to wait, hoping that somepony would come check on him and give him something to either dull the pain or help him sleep. A nurse, as if responding to his desire, approached. One look at her was all he needed to assess just how tired she was. Most likely she’d been here since the battle had begun that morning. She checked the bandage on his throat, poking at it in a way that made Duster wince for the tightening pain he felt. The nurse unwrapped the dressing and applied fresh bandages. She seemed satisfied and began writing on a chart. She picked it up and finally looked him in the eye. "You’re good to go. Be careful standing, and get plenty of fluids. Come back in tomorrow to have that changed or if it starts bleeding again. Don’t think about trying to fly." Unceremoniously, she turned and walked away, taking his chart with her. Duster heeded her advice, slowly rolling from the row of armless chairs on which he’d been laying and placing his hooves against the floor. It was littered with odds and ends that had yet to be cleaned from a long hard day. Duster’s heart was pounding, and each pulse made his wound hurt sharply, but it was tolerable. He ambled to the door, glad to leave the stench of blood and chemicals behind. Strictly speaking, calling the outside air fresh would have been a bit of a stretch. The stench of death and timberwolves hung heavily over town, as the wind that had been blowing it south was no longer cooperating. Duster found walking easy enough, but he did feel light-headed, no doubt from the loss of blood he had suffered from the wound. "There he is!" a voice shouted from a short distance. Duster turned to see LD and Locknload approaching awkwardly. They were staggering a bit. "Hey, pal!" LD said, throwing a side embrace around the stallion, "I’m ghlad they let yhou go. It’ssh ghood." Duster tried to back away but was grabbed tighter. "Todhay wassh a ghood dhay," Locknload said; he sounded cheerful. They both smelled sickly sweet. Duster felt somewhat amused at their state as he produced his paper and pencil. There was just enough light coming from the open hospital door for him to communicate with the duo. ‘You two are smashed.’ LD struggled to read the paper and then shook his head, "Nho... nho, I’m ghood. I only hhad… had a couphle. I’m nhot dhrunk." "Todhay wassh a ghood dhay," Locknload repeated vacantly. ‘We should go to the castle.’ "Nhope, nhope," LD said, again shaking his head. "Whe dhon’t nheed to. Whe have a placessh to sshtay at Sshweet Apple Acres. Sshhe issh thhere! And I, will sshee hher... aghain!" Duster had no idea about what or whom LD might be talking, but the inebriated pegasus began walking, still embracing Duster. The sober pony knew one thing he could expect to find at Sweet Apple Acres: family. Wrangling the two was quite a hoof-full especially considering Duster’s weariness, and it wasn’t exactly fun to be the one sober pony in the group. Between Locknload repeating himself, LD’s loss of personal boundaries, and a sing-a-long that began when they reached the edge of the farm, it was all Duster could do just to keep them on the path. Their own ruckus aside, the town was quiet as they stumbled through the moonlit streets and through the countryside of the farm. The light that Duster finally saw from the farmhouse seemed rather welcoming. LD stopped singing and said, "Thhere sshhe issh! Sshhe issh, the mhost bheautiful... the prettiests, I mean... I mean..." He looked toward the farmhouse, but his gaze became detached, as if a thought might occur to him. Rather suddenly, he began singing again, badly. They continued in this manner until they arrived at the door. Duster knocked, but nearly fell over when LD’s weight shifted. The door creaked open, and a yellow stallion with an orange mane stood before them. Duster realized his folly when neither of the others spoke. He hurriedly prepared a note, ‘Hello, I’m Private Duster.’ LD stopped singing. "Lightning Dasher?" the stallion within the house said. LD looked up at him stupidly before a wide grin came across his face, "Mr. Cake! Whhere’s Apple Bhloom? I am hhere, to sshee Apple Bhloom!” Mr. Cake wrinkled his nose at the stench of the amorous pegasus’ breath, a hint of disgust was detected at the way LD was behaving. "Private Duster, you say," Mr. Cake seemed to have a recognition at the name. "Oh! Of course, you’re Twinklestar’s son. Come in." "Todhay wassh a ghood... dhay," Locknload said; his eyes were growing heavy. Mr. Cake called through the house, "Honeybun! Duster came to see his family!" From an unseen vantage point, confetti blasted out and sprayed through the room. Duster’s heart nearly stopped, LD fell over from fright, nearly taking Duster with him. The sober pegasus managed to shrug off the other and let him fall. Locknload didn’t react at whatsoever, as if he hadn’t heard the noise of the canon. The injury in Duster’s throat pounded as he gasped. "Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!" a pink mare shouted as she zoomed out, stopping in front of Duster. "Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie, but you wouldn’t know that because you hadn’t met me before, but that’s only because you hadn’t been here before, and I wanted to make sure you felt welcome when you first came, so that’s why I had the party cannon ready! Well, do you feel welcome? Do you? Do you?" Duster was backed against the wall by the advancing onslaught of cheerfulness that was Pinkie Pie. He nodded, nearly speaking, but he caught himself and pointed to the bandages on his throat. "Oh no! You can’t talk? I’m so sorry to hear that! Don’t worry! You can stick with me, and I’ll do enough talking for the both of us!" Of that, Duster had no doubt. From the stairs, several colts and fillies giggled. Duster didn’t recognize two of them, but Thunderfly leapt down the stairs and bolted across the room; warmth filled Duster’s heart at the sight of him. "Welcome back, Duster!” he said, embracing his brother in a big hug. The life was nearly squeezed from the stallion when Pinkie Pie joined this effort to welcome the soldier home. When he was able to get air again, he saw Twinklestar coming down the stairs with Shimmerpuff closely behind her flank. His Momma Mare wore a huge grin and tears were already flowing freely from her eyes. She crossed and grabbed Duster close. Pinkie Pie stood back and blew her nose on a cloth, "I just love family reunions!" Duster couldn’t stifle the giggle at her antics, but it sent another wave of pain from his throat. His mother backed away, keeping her hooves on his shoulders as she regarded her son. "Whhere… issh Apple Blhoom!" LD shouted out, having regained his hooves in a wobbly wide stance. He effectively drew everypony’s attention for a moment. Oddly enough, it was the exuberant mare that sprang into action to deal with the intoxicated pair. "Uh oh!" Pinkie Pie said. "It looks like somepony’s had a little too much party. Come with Auntie Pinkie Pie, I’ll get you two fixed right up!" "Bhut I nheed to sshee… Apple Bhloom!" Pinkie Pie tilted her head and said, "Well, she’s not here right now, and besides, you can’t let her see you looking like that, silly! I’ll help you get ready!" With Mr. Cakes’ help, the pair led the inebriated soldiers away as LD began another song, leaving the family by themselves for the moment. By this time, Glitterdust had arrived at the stairs. She didn’t approach, but her usual disgusted look was softer than usual. "Oh, you’re so much bigger and stronger since I last saw you," Twinklestar said, still holding her son’s shoulders. She let a nervous glance fall on his bandaged neck before she hugged him again. Duster felt warm and whole in that moment. "You’ll have to tell me everything," she said, backing away and looking at him again. "I know you were assigned with your sister. How is she?" All the warmth left the room. She may as well have punched him in the gut. Duster looked away, finding even drawing breath to be laborious and difficult. A sheen of cold sweat formed on his brow as he looked down at his scrap of paper, unsure what to write. Twinklestar gently turned his head back to face her. A deep concern was in her gaze; it quickly grew into unbridled fear. His eyes must surely have betrayed his own feelings. "To bed, all of you," Twinklestar said with forced calm. The little ones began complaining, but she shot a look to Glitterdust, whose expression became one of understanding. "Come on, before she whoops all of us," she said to her younger siblings. Shimmerpuff and Thunderfly reluctantly followed their sister up the stairs, crying loudly about it. Then Duster and his mother were alone. "Tell me," she said, her voice a ghostly whisper. Duster took his paper and pencil again, but he still found himself unable to write anything. Speaking was out of the question. He looked back up at her. Momma Mare was shaking; she bit her lip and took a breath. She spoke quietly, barely even audible in an icy tone, “Did Sparklefly get hurt?” Duster was holding back tears. He didn’t want to hurt her. “Is... is Sparklefly dead?" The words she uttered brought time to a halt. The question hung in the air like a bomb waiting to explode. The mix of emotions in her eyes broke his heart. She knew; she already knew what he was going to tell her. She didn’t want to hear it, but she had to know. Slowly, he nodded as the tears formed in her eyes. "Are..." she swallowed, and a kind of grin, not the happy sort, contorted her face with a feigning of control. "Are you sure?" His vision began to blur; Duster remembered what was in his pocket. He withdrew his sister’s eye patch and offered it to his mother. Twinklestar didn’t say another word; she didn’t have to. She embraced her son, and the two of them let their emotions flow.