//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: In My Future Life // by flutterJackdash //------------------------------// The sky was blue and only that. There remained no clouds at all, what I could see through the canopy of a pair of trees glistened in the evening sunlight. A warm muggy summer breeze passed over me as I stared at the sky, after a moment my gaze turned to see a building stood three stories high and made of red brick, it looked lonesome and intimidating. I took a deep breath, and everything became blurry and indistinct. My world became darkness. My world was flooded with light as I opened my eyes. I was in pain, sore, and found my responses quite sluggish. I examined first the wall immediately in front of me. It was white, clean and sterile in appearance, a hospital wall. The chime and beep of machines connected to me brought together the last moments I could recall. I stared in the eyes of Celestia, and she asked that I not blame myself. Then there was nothing but white. I came to in a room of white, four walls, a ceiling, and a floor awaited me. The strange, yet somehow familiar, beeping of machines dedicated to regulation my body’s many functions the only company I had. Then my gaze turned to the door, which was closed. In front of it stood a tall white mare, scuffed and bruised, bandaged but smiling just the same. She gazed at me, and I could see relief visible on her features. I did not know what to make of that. “Tempest… You are awake,” she said quietly. I could not decide if she’d meant to address me or merely spoke to herself. “What of Twilight Sparkle?” I asked, my voice sounded coarse to my own ears and I found that they folded back against my skull in response. “She will be alright, in time…,” she said gently. I pushed myself up and rolled out of the bed I was in. I carelessly removed the IV tube from my neck and grunted at the slight pain that caused, then resumed my original course toward the door. Celestia made no effort to move out of my way, and I stopped before her. “What happened?” I asked. Celestia closed her eyes and took a breath in through her nostrils, it was graceful and intimidating at the same time. I stood, awaiting her reply. She extended her wings briefly, then settled them back down on her sides and rolled her neck. At length she came to gaze upon me again, her eyes spoke volumes more to me than her words. In them, I could see fear, but a reluctance to obey it. “You were lost to us… Something overcame you, you were violent… and strong… you attacked Twilight first, and she fought back bravely but she scarcely scratched you with all of her power… then I became involved, and the fight took a decidedly different turn. You were still strong, and I did not get out of it unscathed, but at last, you collapsed and I could breathe and focus long enough to cast out the Shadows that had claimed you…” I stared at her for a moment before my gaze found the tile floor beneath my hooves, and I closed my eyes. I felt a terrible weight in my lungs, the air became uncomfortable to take in, but I still managed. “I’m sorry… I am so sorry,” I said slowly and deliberately. Measuring into each word all of the guilt that I felt for my actions. Celestia responded with a light chuckle, and I felt a pair of wings surround me and embrace me. For a moment the world was warmth and safety, then I recovered myself and knew it was nothing of the sort. “Everything will be alright… But it is for you to make amends with your new friends, and with Twilight herself. I think she will not hold it against you, I think she understood even as she was overwhelmed by you,” she replied. I disentangled myself from her embrace and stepped around her, heading for the door. I stared at it for a moment, then spoke to the door though the words were for Celestia’s ears. “You fear me,” I said simply. “I fear you,” she replied without hesitation. “I don’t want to be feared,” I said quietly, believing that only I could hear my words. I stepped out through the door and into the hall, some nurses traveled briskly on their rounds and ignored me. I looked up and down the hall and decided to head up, towards the large window at the end. I marched past several doors before one yielded a familiar purple form, and I stopped. I cringed but turned my gaze toward her. It was a frightful sight, bandages wrapped around her barrel and three of her legs, where the last, her right foreleg, was held in a cast. Bandages were carefully wrapped around her head and horn both, but her snout poked out of these and allowed her to breathe comfortably. The look on her face suggested a fitful rest, and the red stains on some of the bandages told me she was still healing. I swallowed as I continued to watch her, the muted beeps of the machines keeping her stable barely registered in my mind as I noticed the red liquid delicately flowing into her body through a long plastic tube and a needle, then I noticed her liquids besides. I closed my eyes and found my legs were too weak to continue standing, I settled for my haunches and took a deep breath. I noticed some stitching the bandages had not covered, and I slammed a hoof onto the floor as my mind caught up with what I had seen. A tear slipped from my eye and rolled down my cheek, but whether it made it to the floor wasn’t known to me. My world had become upside down, there was a sharp pain in my side and my jaw, and I found myself soon against the wall with a pair of rose eyes glaring into mine from mere inches away. “What are you doing here?” she spat, her voice venomous, a forehoof raised in threat. “I came to ap-” I grunted as the forehoof crashed into my jaw against, and I spat blood on the floor. I ignored it, turning my gaze back to Rainbow, then I noticed a pair of green eyes were also on me. I saw anger in them and hurt that I didn’t understand, but mostly a desire to protect. I felt then that if it weren’t for Rainbow upon me, it would have been her instead. I closed my eyes. “I’m sorry…,” I said weakly. “Ain’t gonna make Twah any better now, is it? Ah appreciate the apology, but ya need to leave here now. We don’t trust ya, and don’t want ya around us,” she said calmly, though I could see her warring inside to release the true volume at which she wanted to speak it. “Then… I’ll leave,” I said quietly. Rainbow hesitated for a moment, but I heard a flap of wings as I felt her weight lift off of me and move to the side. When I looked up, she wasn’t facing me but Twilight. Pinkie leaned against her, and she, in turn, leaned against Pinkie. There was affection there, something tender and fragile, and I turned away from it. I made my way to the door, stopped only by the sound of Applejack clearing her throat. I turned to look at her, surprised at the anger I saw in her eyes when I shouldn’t have been surprised at all. “Don’t come back,” she said quietly before turning to Twilight. I sighed and left the room, and nearly collided with a yellow mare who squeaked and shrank in response. I swallowed and turned away from her, paying her little mind as I continued on my way. A quiet voice, almost inaudible amidst the ambiance, spoke to me. “Um… wait, please?” I stopped and sightlessly looked at the ceiling through my eyelids, then turned to face her. “Yes?” I said. “Are you, um… Are you okay?” she asked, quietly. “That is not important,” I replied. “Oh, um… That isn’t true at all! Everypony matters! But um, I was wondering if um… If you had seen Twilight?” I nodded, wincing at the mention of her name and fought to settle my breathing with the building anxiety. “Why did you do that?” she asked, timidity mixed with resolve. “I know only that I did not mean to hurt her… I was not even aware of myself when it happened,” I said quietly. “And um… Have you seen Celestia?” “Yes, she fairs well I think… At least she is awake and moving about,” I said in reflection. “Oh, um… Okay, I’m glad she spoke to you then. She um… nopony has seen her since she brought you and Twilight here,” she said in a voice that threatened to taper off into nothing. I blinked, staring at her for a moment before remembering myself and manners and turning my gaze away. “Um… Please stay safe, okay? When Twilight wakes up, please come and apologize to her…,” she said even more quietly, I thought it miraculous that I could make out her words at all. I nodded to her, then turned and walked. ******** “Dashie… I know you’re maddy mad as can be, but you don’t have to hurt him… I don’t think Twilight wants that, either,” spoke the pink mare, nosing Dash’s mane as she did. “Couldn’t help it… That bastard almost killed her, and why? What for? She tried to help him, and that’s how he paid her back? By attacking her?” she grunted. The orange mare in the room remained quiet, just gazing at Twilight Sparkle, gently brushing her mane away from her eyes with a forehoof and sighing only after that. The machines continued to beep and whir, air was carefully fed into the purple mare while blood dripped and lazily found its way into her circulatory system. “I know… I don’t understand it either, Dashie, but I don’t think he’s a bad pony,” she said, pulling her nose away from Rainbow Dash’s mane and carefully directing the blue mare’s gaze to her own eyes, “and I don’t want you to get hurt either. I couldn’t take it, Dashie, please?” Rainbow grunted, then sighed. She pressed her snout gently to Pinkie’s and then wrapped her forelegs and wings around the pink mare, “Yes, okay… I promise, whatever.” A yellow mare stepped quietly into the room and gasped when she saw Twilight. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen Twilight, and she’d been there when Tempest started attacking and the fight dragged into the Everfree Forest. She’d been too terrified to follow it, but Princess Celestia didn’t hesitate at all. She shook her head, her long elegant mane swaying from side to side as she did before she finally settled on speaking up as the next thing to do. “Um… Hello everypony,” she said quietly. Applejack turned and nodded at her, turning back to Twilight soon after. Rainbow and Pinkie smiled at her, Pinkie waving as she did. “Hey, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash. “Hiya Fluttershy!” said Pinkie with entirely too much mirth for the other ponies in the room. Applejack winced and looked up at Pinkie. “Gosh darnit, Pinkie, would ya hush up? Ya might disturb…,” her voice trailed off as she looked back at Twilight, then she shook her head and turned back to Pinkie. “Ah’m sorry, Ah guess she ain’t gonna wake too soon… Ah went her too, wanna know she’s okay… How long’s it been, anyway?” she asked everypony in the room. Fluttershy spoke up. “Three weeks,” she said quietly as she rustled through a cabinet and pulled out some bandaging, “now, please help me to change her bandages… They’re getting dirty again,” she said quietly as she approached Applejack. The farm mare nodded and proceeded to help Fluttershy. Together they unraveled Twilight’s bandages, revealing the network of cuts and abrasions that opened along her coat. A lot had healed, and there wasn’t much bleeding anymore. It was painful to look at, downright terrifying to think of how it had happened, and sad that she wasn’t awake to reassure them she was okay. Fluttershy filled a basin with water, then took a sponge in her mouth and dipped it in the water and began to carefully clean Twilight’s wounds. Applejack watched, frowning. The sight of the damage set her on edge, made her want to hunt Tempest down and beat him just as badly as he’d beat Twilight. No, she wanted to beat him worse. She had no idea where she’d found the control not to when Rainbow had him down, and secretly she was grateful Rainbow had hit him. He didn’t fight back, she couldn’t help noticing that. A few minutes' time passed, and Twilight’s wounds were cleaned up. Fluttershy had applied some ointment from her own collection. Applejack and Fluttershy worked together to wrap her in fresh bandages, then sat down side by side and watched her chest as it began to work gently and rhythmically. “Oh… Oh my… Rainbow! Get the doctor!” she yelped, and Rainbow didn’t hesitate to unwrap her wings and forelegs from Pinkie and rush out of the room in a blur. Pinkie blinked and turned to look at Twilight. She didn’t notice anything amiss, so she asked. “What’s up, Flutters?” she asked. “She’s… She’s breathing on her own,” Fluttershy said quietly. A tear slipped down Applejack’s cheek as a small smile played across her lips. She sighed with no small amount of relief, and her shoulders slumped down as tension washed out of them. Pinkie grinned in reply, she knew this to be good news and it was all she could do not to throw a party right then and there in response.