//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Magnificent Might of Midnight Sight Sorcerer Supreme // by Element of Malice //------------------------------// Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy sat with Good Light in the waiting room of the Ponyville Hospital ER. Rarity was at the spa making special arrangements for when the Stallion gets released, Twilight was outside waiting for Celestia to talk about Good Light’s condition, and Pinkie was at Sugar Cube Corner making improvements on the cake. Good Light’s ears were swiveling rapidly, trying to be in every direction at the same time. The more time that passed, the heavier his breathing became. His right shoulder wouldn’t stop quivering, and the shakiness was spreading to various parts of his body. The stallion’s distress got to point where Fluttershy had to say something, “There’s no need to worry, nothing is going to hurt you.” Hearing her say that did little to calm his nerves. When the yellow pegasus saw this, she continued, “If it helps any, you could tell me what’s making you so tense. Keeping it in won’t help us help you.” Good Light gave a sharp inhale followed by a hard exhale, then he spoke in a fearful whisper, “Clicking… the echoes their… gasp… their everywhere…” Sweat was dripping down his face, and his speech had reverted back to when he was found. He could hear every hoof step echoing throughout the building. “You’re okay, I’m right here,” Fluttershy said rubbing his back. His emerald green eyes kept darting around. The moment they approached the hospital, he told them the lights were fuzzier than they usually were, now they were almost blacked out entirely. “The walls… they… they’re closing… in… I… I need… I can’t… Air… I need air… I can’t breathe!” he began to hyperventilate “I-I-I can’t go back!!” “Hey, look at me. Look at… err my light…? Uh, whatever just look.” Rainbow Dash put herself in front of Good Light and made him face her. “Focus only on me. My light, and my voice. Just me, nothing else.” “Careful Dash.” Applejack warned, preparing herself for Good Light to start freaking out. “Last time I laid my hoofs on him when he was like this, didn’t end well for me or Big Mac.” Ignoring her friend’s advice Rainbow continued and moved her hooves down to his shoulders. “My friends and I have fought off plenty of villains and monsters, there isn’t anywhere in all of Equestria safer for you to be than with us.” Being used to having panic attacks, Fluttershy started teaching the stallion a few different exercises that have helped her. By the time Good Light was ready to be looked at, his distress level had dropped to a reasonable amount. However, his shoulder was still shuddering uncontrollably, and he acquired a bloody nose, staining the white fur on his muzzle. “Okay, mister… Light,” Said a white earth pony mare when she came through the doors. “Due to your circumstance, our policy requires you to use a wheelchair during your stay. I have one ready for you right here. Do you need a guide?” “That would be us,” Fluttershy said quickly as she stood up to led Good Light over to the chair. Applejack and Rainbow got up as well but were stopped by Red Heart. “I’m sorry but the same policy only allows a maximum of two individuals, aside from staff, to accompany the patient. One of you will have to stay behind.” The two mares stared at each other, the AJ spoke first, “Ah’ve spent the most time with him, ah think ah go.” “Ugh, fair enough, I’ll go wait with Twilight outside,” Rainbow said compliantly as she slowly flew out the front doors. When she got outside she saw Twilight taping her hoof impatiently. “Rainbow, what doing out here?” Twilight asked when she saw the cyan pegasus sit down next to her. “Stupid hospitals and their stupid policies.” She said under her breath, “Only two ponies are allowed to be with him while he’s getting treated.” She said in a mocking tone. “You sound upset.” “Ho-oh, I’m only getting started,” Rainbow got herself into a fighting position, “When I get my hoofs on the one who’s responsible, I’ll knock them all the way to Tartarus!” she started kicking the air aggressively. “The policymakers?” Twilight asked. “What? No! I’m talking about the one who hurt Good Light.” Rainbow said clarifying what she meant to her previous statement. “I just… grr, now I understand why Fluttershy was so upset. What’s taking the princess so long!” Twilight saw the royal chariot heading their way as Rainbow was ranting, “I think you’ll be able to see them by the time I finished this sentence.” The chariot landed and the princesses exited to greet Twilight and Rainbow Dash, who bowed respectfully in their presence. “Thank you for coming at such short notice,” Twilight said greeting Celestia. “Not at all, my faithful student.” Celestia said regally before a concerned look crossed her face, “Now about your letter, I do have to question your choice of words. The description of the pony in it did seem a little… excessive to put it lightly.” “Believe me, I wish it was, but every word is about as accurate as it gets.” “Okay, so I’m going to have move you around a little in order for me to do a full examination,” Red Heart informed. “Are you fine with me coming into contact with you? I’m only asking because you seem a little jumpy.” “It’s most likely the environment,” Applejack said informing the nurse, “Ah think it’s reminding im of the place this happened at.” Good Light remained silent for a moment before he answered, “Will it… hurt?” “Well… maybe, but this is a place for healing, and sometimes that means it will hurt, but I promise that it will all be worth it in the end.” Red Heart said, carefully sugarcoating the words with her voice. After Good Light didn’t say anything, Fluttershy provided him encouragement, “It’s fine, you can trust her, she’s very good at what she does.” With a shaky sigh, Good Light spoke, “Okay… I’ll try not… I’ll… try… I’ll allow it. I just want to get this over with.” Red Heart brought out a small flashlight while gently holding the stallion’s eyelid open making him tense slightly, she then observed the reaction his irises had with the sudden change in light. “Hm, pupils are non-responsive, which tells me that there isn’t any light entering through them. In other words, you are in fact, completely blind.” The nurse took note of this on the clipboard. “But it says here you can see lights… instead of ponies… or animals? We’ll have to run a few tests later to find out what’s causing that.” Next, she delicately placed her hooves on the stallion’s cheek and chin, “Okay, I’ll need to turn your head this way… good.” She looked at every mark and scare on that side of his face before moving his head again, “And now the other side… let’s see if we can take care of that nosebleed.” The nurse walked over to a cupboard and pulled out a jar and a q tip, “This might feel a little weird but all I’m doing is putting a tiny dab of balm inside your nose to stop the bleeding. I’ll need you to hold as still as you can. Hold your breath… good,” Good Light clenched his jaw as she applied the gel. “And… done. Very good, you’re doing great. Now, next will be the ears and after that, I’m going to look in your mane and see what’s hiding in there.” “Is that… really necessary?” Good light said backing away a little with a hoof on his head. “I’m afraid so.” Red Heart said regrettably, “The more we examine the better we’ll understand what to treat you for. Now, this otoscope is going to feel a little cold” Good Light shied away from Red Heart as she inserted the metal cone into each of his ear canals, “That looks… like you have an ear infection.” The nurse made a note of what she found before moving on. Good Light squeezed his eyes shut and scrunched his face as the nurse gently laced her hooves through his hair, “Oh dear, that’s a nasty looking bump you got there. It looks like there’s something lodged in it as well and it’s most likely infected,” she went back to the cupboard and pulled out tweezers, cotton balls and rubbing alcohol. “Remember how I said that sometimes healing will hurt. Well, this is one of those times. It looks pretty bad, but I should be able to remove it. I do have a numbing agent, but I can’t guarantee it will take all the pain away.” Red Heart said apologetically, “It might be best if you two held him for this.” Applejack cracked her neck and stretched her forelegs, “Ah got this Fluttershy.” The yellow pegasus gave her friend a serious look, “Not a chance, I’ll hold him with you. I know you said he’s stronger than he looks, but I’ve wrestled bears and manticores, but before we do anything else,” She lightly placed a hoof on Good Light, “I am really, truly, sorry about doing this, but please understand that we need to in order for you to get better. Okay?” Good Light gritted his teeth to the point where the other mares could almost hear them cracking under the stress. “just do it!” Applejack and Fluttershy locked the heaving stallion into a firm hold of as Red Heart applied the numbing ointment, “Alright, now for the hard part, I’m going to remove it on the count of… three!” The stallion’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as the small jagged barbed object came out, then a scream followed. Good Light threw the two mares holding him off as a ball of electricity surrounded him, sparks flew off of every surface the lightning struck. “WHAT IN TARNATION!?!” Applejack cried out, Fluttershy and Red Heart just screamed in terror. “GIT DOWN!!” Unfortunately, the small room provided very little cover, so all three mares ended up backing themselves into a corner while trying to avoid being hit by stray bolts. Good Light, now hovering, spontaneously burst into blue and white flames, columns of crackling flames lashed out as randomly as the electrical energy. The flaming, out of control stallion glared at the three helpless ponies with the power of a thousand Fluttershy's and bellowed, “WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PATHETIC WORM!?! YOU HOR… Y-YOU HEARTLESS, HORRIBLE, OVERGROWN—” As quickly as it started it ended. Good Light fell to the ground with a hard thud, out cold. No electricity, no flames, but the most surprising of all was no damage, on him or the room for that matter. If it wasn’t for the limp body of the unconscious stallion in the middle of the floor, it was almost as if the whole ordeal had never happened. Nearly a minute passed before anypony said anything, and the one who spoke was Rainbow Dash who came barreling through door with a battle-cry, “What’s going on?! Who are we fighting!?” “Rainbow? How’d ya know we were in trouble?” Applejack asked the over-stimulated pegasus. The cyan mares face turned bright red from embarrassment, “It might be debatable as to whether I may, or may not, have been hiding in a cloud outside the window?” “You were spying on us.” Applejack stated bluntly. “Okay, yes, I was spying on you guys.” Rainbow admitted, “And for good reason, I brought backup for… whatever was happening in here!” Twilight, Celestia, and Luna quickly entered from behind. When they saw no signs of anything they turned to nurse Red Heart, “Don’t look at me! I blacked out!” When they looked at Fluttershy she answered similarly with, “I’m still trying to figure that out myself.” All eyes fell on Applejack who had just stopped looking at the hair on her foreleg and was now sniffing the air, “Yall smell that?” Everyone promptly sniffed the air, “No? What are you smelling?” Twilight asked. “That’s just it, ah don’t smell anything either,” She answered. “Good Light literally exploded in a ball of lightning bolts and white-hot flames. You’d think that’d be enough ta do… well, somthin’! But my fur ain’t even singed and I don’t smell any smoke.” “I do,” Luna said as she stood in the doorway, “But it smells like it’s coming from—” the sound of the fire alarm cut off the rest of Luna’s statement.