//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Lifechanging Incidents // Story: Life Goes on // by beelicious //------------------------------// Rarity stretched her tired limbs, looking through the window in her bedroom to see the sun rising in the distance. She glanced at her alarm which she had just shut off: it was 7am. Yet another ordinary grind designing a few gala dresses for next month. Rarity had actually gotten a lot more commissions this summer, likely due to Twilight’s recommendation of her boutique. Rarity yawned, got up, and lit up her horn to levitate the hairbrush laying on the nightstand to her. She trotted to the mirror, and wondered why her mane looked much messier than usual, but then realized it must have been because she didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. Twilight leaving Ponyville had got her a bit worked up, so sleeping wasn’t as easy as it used to be. But, when Rarity was done with her hair, she noticed it looked much shinier than before, which definitely cheered her up. She took off her robe in which she slept in, and switched on a pure white frilly top: it was going to be yet another very hot day in Ponyville, just like yesterday. Rarity also tied her mane up in a little, curly ponytail to let her forehead breathe. She put her robe in the closet next to the mirror, and decided to head downstairs to see if she had any eager customers already lined up at her door. It wasn’t often that she did, but as it seemed, this day was an exception. Behind the door stood Soarin along with Fleetfoot, both looking a bit tense. They were, in fact, supposed to pick up the show costumes from Rarity yesterday evening, but seemed to have forgotten as they didn’t show up then. Rarity opened the door to them, and they looked more than glad to see her.  “Oh thank god, Rarity!” Fleetfoot said, sounding excited. “We’re here to pick up the outfits… sorry we didn’t show up yesterday like we were supposed to. We were just so busy with booking up another train that we forgot. Would you mind letting us pick up them now?” “Yeah” Soarin added. “We’re kind of in a hurry right now, our train leaves in, uhh… Soarin glanced at the clock that was hanging on top of the Ponyville town hall. “Fifteen minutes.” “Oh for sure!” Rarity smiled, stepping out of the doorway to let the two ponies in. “They’re in the backroom, let me show you.” The trio began to trot towards Rarity’s backroom, and when they reached the door, Rarity lit up her horn to open it.  “Sorry about the mess…” Rarity apologized, trotting in with Soarin and Fleetfoot. “I have a bunch of commissions for gala dresses lined up.” Rarity opened one of the many closets in the room and levitated out shiny, glittery, sliver, and pink skin-tight outfits. She handed them to Fleetfoot and Soarin, and Soarin seemed excited, saying: “Wow, thanks a bunch, Miss Rarity! They’re… they’re gorgeous.” “Oh well thank you, Soarin!” Rarity thanked him. “It was quite hard to nail down the exact shade of pink that would stand out in the sky and look good at the same time, but… glitter fixes everything, does it not?” “It sure does…” Soarin said, looking at Rarity straight in the eyes, shortly before being cut off by Fleetfoot.  “Hey! We’ve got a train to catch, loverboy. Thanks again Rarity, we’d love to stay and chat, but… we’re in a bit of a hurry.“  “Oh, yes! Go now, I’m actually busy as a bee too. Good luck with your show!” The two pegasi lifted off, waving and flying off towards the train station. Rarity sighed, glad that the wonderbolts had remembered to pick them up before leaving. Rarity then picked up one of the drafts for a gala dress, and began to work as per usual.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spitfire glanced at her watch, groaning: “What on earth could be taking those two so long? If they don’t show up soon we’re going to be late from the train.” “Rarity opens up her shop at 7am.” Rainbow Dash responded. “And, well, it’s 7am right now.” Spitfire sighed, tapping the wood flooring on the train station with her hoof. She turned back to look at Dash, saying: “You know, with Blaze and Surprise not showing up to Appaloosa with us, we’re going to have to shift the choreography a bit. And we’ve only got a couple of hours free time before the show to practice. Ya up for it?” “Of course, ma’am!” Rainbow said, raising her chin. “Trust me, nothing’s gonna go wrong, especially with the choreography! I’ve got it down.” “Well, we can only hope so.” Spitfire said.  “Oh hey, look!” Dash said, pointing to the sky. “They’re back!” Spitfire glanced at the direction Dash was pointing in, seeing Fleetfoot and Soarin approaching them with what looked like the costumes with them. The morning sun reflecting from the glitter on the suits almost blinded Spitfire and Dash. Soarin and Fleetfoot landed on the ground, and handed a few suits to the others.  “Rarity was kind enough to let us in so early.” Soarin said excitedly. “Not a lot of people do that nowadays.” “Yeah, yeah,” Fleetfoot said. “Rainbow, mind saying thanks to her from us? We know she’s your friend- right?” “Of course!” Dash nodded. “And that’s just classic Rarity, always lending her hoof to others even if it means sacrificing something herself… this time her sleep, apparently.” Everyone chuckled a bit, and heard the distant sounds of train horn whistling in the air. They turned to look, but the train didn’t seem to be close yet.  “So…” Spitfire said. “I already explained it to Dash here, but… we’re going to have to make serious changes to the choreography today. We only have a few hours of free time to practice, so I expect full attention from all three of you!” The three pegasi nodded, signaling Spitfire they had understood.  “You can trust us, ma’am!” Fleetfoot smiled. “Unlike Blaze and Surprise, it seems…” “Yeah.” Spitfire agreed. “There’s a reason those two are still on such low ranks.” The train approached the station and slowed down. It seemed to be just on schedule, and the four ponies trotted in with their luggage and the costumes they had just picked up.  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy sighed, dropping a few carrots into the mix.  She was cooking at her cottage, as she and Discord had planned for a dinner date that evening. Fluttershy was normally okay at cooking, but for some reason this time she felt more sloppy.  “Oh Angel…” She sighed, stirring the pot that was boiling on the stovetop. “What would I ever do if I mess this up?” Angel didn’t seem interested in having a conversation as he quickly turned his head away from Fluttershy, who, however, continued talking: “I’m just not feeling like myself today. I don’t know why, but I feel like I’m on edge constantly. It’s like- It’s as if my whole life depended on this one day! But I know that’s stupid… Why would it ever be like that?” Fluttershy noticed that the soup had overheated, and she quickly moved it away from the stovetop.  “Oh wow, look at this!” Fluttershy sighed, sounding disappointed in herself. “I messed up basic soup! Oh Fluttershy, you big, silly, goose…”  Fluttershy was about to grab the cookbook standing behind the pot, but suddenly got startled.  “Ah!” She shouted, falling to the floor.  A swarm of pegasi had just swooped right past her window, and Fluttershy got so startled that she managed to spill over the pot that was standing before her on the counter. It spilled all over the floor, but most importantly: on Fluttershy’s eye. Fluttershy screamed over the top of her lungs over the pain of boiling water on her right eye. She struggled to stand up, and held her eye with her hoof. She could not see- she was in so much pain.  “Fluttershy?” Aj asked.  Aj was standing right outside the door to Fluttershy’s cottage, and had heard her scream. She then noticed the door was locked, and turned around to forcefully buck it open. The door gave in to her powerful kick, and burst open. There, Aj found the weeping Fluttershy laying on the kitchen floor. Aj quickly swooped to her, asking what had happened. She got her answer when she accidentally stepped on the soup that was laying on the kitchen floor.  “It got on your eye?” Aj asked, sounding frantic. “Ah, ah…” She struggled to think of what to do next, and said: “Come on, sugarcube, we gotta get you to the hospital! Get up… I know it hurts, but we just gotta before it gets infected.  Fluttershy sobbed, and a few of her animals had already come to see if she was okay, and were standing by the two ponies. Aj held Fluttershy’s hoof and helped her stand up.  “The tears only hurt more…” Aj tried to calm Fluttershy down: she was still pressing her hoof on her eye.  Aj also noticed that Fluttershy’s skin and fur had also been slightly burned by the boiling soup, so she quickly grabbed a blanket from on top of the living room couch, and tied it around her friend. “Come on! We’ve gotta move!” Aj tried to get Fluttershy walking. After that encouragement, Fluttershy was able to move her hooves and blindly follow Applejack, who she was clinging onto.  “It’s not a long walk, sugarcube.” Aj said, trying to cheer Fluttershy up. “You’re doing great.” Angel, for a change, seemed to look scared and worried about Fluttershy. He didn’t follow Aj and her outside, though, and let them go on their own.  “Did it get in both of your eyes?” Aj asked, guiding Fluttershy across the field towards Ponyville hospital.  “I… I don’t know..:” Fluttershy said, holding in her sobs.  Aj sighed, and held onto her friend tighter. Fluttershy didn’t know where she was or where they were going: she couldn’t see. She also almost tripped over branches and rocks multiple times on their way. Aj tried her best to guide her away from tripping hazards, but even the smallest pebble could get in their way.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight was already out of breath as she and Flash climbed up one of the towers in the Canterlot castle. Flash smiled a bit, and said: “It’s a shame that your bedroom is up here… Imagine walking this multiple times every day, ahaha!” “Yeah…” Twilight panted. “Imagine that. Imagine that.” “Hey, Princess…” Flash said. “Can’t you just teleport there? Wouldn’t it be much easier for you?” “Can’t teleport to places I’ve haven’t been to before…” She struggled to reply. “At least I’ll only have to climb this once…”  “Hmm, yeah. Makes sense.” Flash replied.  The two ponies reached the top floor, and opened the doors to reveal a royal-looking bedroom: it had a double bed with a deep purple cover, a bunch of desks, drawers and cabinets, and a huge, built-in closet. It also had multiple windows, where you could gaze out of and see the entirety of Canterlot. It looked beautiful, especially at night.  “Here we are, your majesty. I’ll just leave your luggage here and see you the library, is that ok?” Twilight panted, saying: “Yeah. At least I’ve been to the library before…” Flash placed Twilight’s luggage next to her new bed, and said: “You’ve got one nice room, eh? I’d love to watch the nightlife out of one of these boys!” Flash flew over to one of the windows, and looked out.  “Ah, well, enough daydreaming. Ready to head off to the library, Princess?” “Yeah… just… give me a… minute, please.” She said, trying to catch her breath. Flash chuckled a bit, and kept an eye on the princess while she calmed down.  When Twilight had finally caught her breath, she got up to stand and lit up her horn.  “I’ll see you at the library!” Flash said, lifting off from the ground, and flying towards the door.  “Yeah…” Twilight said, sounding agitated.  She then teleported herself into the castle library, and felt a bit dizzy and out-of-it- She hadn’t teleported much inside the castle.  “Phew... “ Twilight said, looking around to confirm that she was, in fact, in the library. “Okay. Restricted section, here I come!”  Twilight began to gallop towards the door to the restricted section, but then realized she was in a library and slowed down to trot. Her mind thought otherwise as she seemed to have a burning desire to gallop full-speed. When Twilight entered the room, she lifted off from the ground to look for the astrology section.  “A...A… A star’s little tale: Star signs for dummies… no, that’s not right. B… C…Aha! Celestial bodies 101! That’s the book Luna told me to read.”  Twilight grabbed the book from the shelf with her magic and sat down at one of the couches to start reading the synopsis.  “This book teaches young unicorns how raising the sun and the moon works. Granted, these spells are only for the most powerful of unicorns, and not to be taken lightly. Written by Taigahorn the unicorn in the year 100 BC.” Twilight wondered if she could be able to perform the spells listed, so she started to read what was included, a slight sweat on her forehead.  “Chapter 1: Where the sun and moon come from and where they are located. Alright, seems easy enough, eh? Chapter 2: Levitation magic of the highest caliber. Wait… so is raising the sun and moon just glorified levitation magic?”  Reading that, Twilight felt a bit more at ease: she had mastered levitation a long, long time ago.  “Chapter 3: the meat of the matter.” Twilight got curious as to what “meat of the matter” could be referring to, so she skipped the first two chapters to go read the third one.  “Raising the sun and moon is not just one-sided: they have to be lowered too, preferably at the same exact time. Doing so will prevent weird currents and confusion with the clock, as well as help plants grow more effectively. If one unicorn performs the raising of both the sun and the moon, that same pony will have to take control of both of them at the same time: for example, if it’s sunset, that pony will have to take control of the sun and bring it down while simultaneously bringing the moon up. Same repeats at sunrise.” Twilight put her hoof on her chin to think more deeply about what she had just read. “But… levitating multiple objects is already hard as it is. How on earth am I supposed to levitate two celestial bodies at the same time??” Twilight decided to try out her abilities, and lit up her horn to levitate each book in the restricted section up a few inches. Even that got her feeling dizzy, so she let them go to fall back down.  “Wow…” Twilight thought to herself. “This sure… seems mighty difficult.” She then heard the door creak: and out came Flash Sentry. He spotted Twilight, and flew to her.  “You found the book already, it seems.” He said, glancing at the page Twilight was reading. “Did I now?” Twilight said, smirking. “What could have made you think that?” Flash paused, and looked at Twilight straight in the eyes.  “Yes.” Twilight said. “Yes, I found the book already.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Alright now, easy does it.” Aj said.  Her and Fluttershy had almost made their way to the hospital and were at the main entrance.  “We’re here. Hold up, I’ll open the door for you.” Aj said, reaching for the handle of the door.  She opened it, and stepped into the waiting room with the weeping Fluttershy, who was still holding her hoof to her eye. Aj guided her to sit at one of the couches, saying: “I’ll register you in, you just wait here. I’ll be back right away: I’ll just fetch the doctor for you.”  Aj let go of Fluttershy and galloped across the empty halls of the hospital. She soon came across Doctor Horse, and panted: “Excuse me, sir?” Doctor Horse looked at Aj confused and slightly concerned. “Yes, ma’am? Everything alright with you?” “Ah- my friend spilled boiling hot soup on her eye… she’s in the waiting room.” “Oh! I have a patient right now, I’ll take a look after I’m done with him, would that be ok?” “O-oh, sure. How long do we have to wait?” “Only ten minutes, ma’am. Either me or one of my coworkers will approach you two soon enough.” “Thank you kindly, doctor.” Aj sighed with relief. “She’s a yellow pegasus, pink mane.” “Got it. Now excuse me… I kind of have a patient to are for.” “Oh, right. Sorry, and thank you” Aj smiled awkwardly, as Doctor Horse trotted off into one of the rooms on the side of the hallway.  Aj turned back around and trotted back to sit next to Fluttershy in the waiting room. When she arrived, she put her hoof on her shoulder, saying: “They said they’d have time in 10 minutes. Can you wait that long, sugarcube?” “Mmh…” Fluttershy mumbled as a response.  “I’m so glad I happened to pay you a visit at that time…” Applejack said. “I was actually looking for Spike, I figured he might be hanging out with you or something, so I came to check. Now there’s two important news I have to share with Twilight… Why’d everything have to go wrong now out of all times?” Fluttershy stayed quiet, and leaned forward, hiding her face in her long, flowy mane. Applejack patted her on the back, trying to cheer her up.  “Weren’t you supposed to have dinner with Discord this evening?” Applejack asked from Fluttershy. “Ah, I guess that’s what you were cooking for. I’m mighty sorry about all this. It’ll be okay though. Everything always is.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “You think she’s even home, Spike?” Pinkie asked, curious as to why Rraity wasn’t opening the door to her boutique.  They were standing outside the Carousel boutique, hoping to pay Rarity a little visit and hopefully find a gift for Twilight as well- even though the sign said the shop was open, the door was locked and Rarity was nowhere to be seen.  “This is a bit weird, I must admit.” Spike said, stepping away from the door. “Hold on… my fingers are so pointy, I can pick any lock.” “Oh wow, cool trick!” Pinkie giggled as Spike flew upwards to the door lock and started to pick it open.  “This sure as fire ain’t legal, but… it’s for Rarity’s sake.” Spike laughed along with Pinkie. “What if she’s hurt, you know, and that’s why she couldn’t come open the door.  “Aw... “ Pinkie said, looking saddened. “I really hope she’s not hurt. That’d be awful…” Spike then managed to pick the lock open as it made a slight “click” sound. Spike also pushed the door open, and found the lights on just like normally.  “Rarity?” Spike shouted into the empty shop. “You here? The sign said open, but your door was locked!” “I- I’m here!” Pinkie and Spike heard Rarity’s faint shout from the back room where she usually did most of her work nowadays.  Pinkie and Spike entered the shop and walked towards the backroom door, and when they reached it, they found Rarity there: laying on the floor.  “Rarity!” Spike said, sprinting to her friend.  Suddenly, Spike felt a searing pain in his foot, as if he had stepped on something. He turned to look at what was on the ground: it looked like pure white shards of glass.  Rarity then turned to face Spike. She had tears in her eyes, but most importantly: her horn was shattered.  “Woah!” Pinkie and Spike gasped in unison. Spike lifted off to fly to not step on any more of the horn bits of the ground, and Pinkie stayed standing in the doorway, as she obviously couldn’t fly.  “Are you… okay?” Spike asked, putting his claws near Rarity to try and calm her.  “My… my horn…” She weeped. “I.. I just kind of hit my head on my table and it… it just broke off…!” Spike struggled thinking of what to do next, until Pinkie made a comment: “Shouldn’t we get her to the hospital, Spike? That looks pretty painful… Is it painful, Rarity?” Rarity nodded as a response. “Oh… right, right!” Spike shook his head to get his thoughts together. “Yeah, maybe we should go to the hospital. Can you get up? “Yeah…” Rarity said, her voice cracking.  Rarity stood up, and walked out of the backroom with Pinkie and Spike, careful to not step on any shards of what was once her horn. The trio made their way out of the boutique, and Spike made sure to flip the “open” sign to “closed” instead. He then caught up with Pinkie and Rarity, and asked: “How did you hurt your horn? You said something about a table?” “Mmhm...” Rarity mumbled. “I… I messed up one of the wonderbolts’ costumes! I found out I used the wrong type of thread to stick it together… and I got so upset I hit my head on my desk! And now look at me, my beauty forever in ruins!” “Aw, don’t overreact... “ Pinkie said. “Remember Fizzlepop and how awesomely amazing and cool she was, even without her horn? Now you two can be the coolest twins on the block!” Hearing Pinkie say that cheered Rarity up a bit, and she let out a slight smile.  “Thank you, Pinkie. But Fizzlepop’s style was edgy and dark, and the broken horn fit her aesthetic! And mine, well…” “You can always go edgy and dark too, Rarity!” Pinkie smiled. “Your color scheme definitely fits it, just like Fizzlepop!” “Hm, well… I suppose that wouldn't be a bad idea. Maybe I can dye my mane and tail black!” Rarity started brainstorming. “A bit of dark lipstick contrasted with my white fur would look… gorgeous!” “That’s more like it!” Pinkie giggled.  The trio reached the hospital, and entered the waiting room. There, they instantly spotted Applejack and Fluttershy. “Fluttershy?” Pinkie gasped, sounding concerned.  “Applejack?” Rarity asked, confused.  “What are you two doing here?” Spike asked, flying closer to Fluttershy, who looked like she was in pain.  “Fluttershy hurt her eye… but what about y-” Applejack’s sentence was stopped midway through, as her eyes landed on Rarity. “Rarity?! Oh my gosh, are you ok? Your horn-!” “Oh, yes, darling. I’m alright. But poor Fluttershy here!” Rarity said, galloping to sit next to Fluttershy.  “But, Rarity!” Applejack tried to say. “Your horn, it’s… it’s…” “Yes, it might be broken, but at least I’m not in pain anymore…” Rarity sighed. “What happened to Fluttershy here?” “Some boiling soup fell on her… it got in her eye. I don’t think she can see out of it anymore. Can you?” “I… I don’t know…” Fluttershy said, hiding her face in her mane. “But, Rarity… what happened? What happened to your horn?” Fluttershy asked with a weak voice. “Ah, I just hit it on the table… No worries, dear…” Then, Nurse Redheart entered the waiting room, spotting Fluttershy on the couch.  “Hello, miss. Are you… Fluttershy? The one that hurt her eye?” “Yes, that’s her, ma’am…” Applejack said. “Oh, and… my friend Rarity here hurt her horn pretty badly… could you check that out too? Nurse Redheart took a closer look at Rarity, and looked a bit shocked.  “Actually.. If Fluttershy doesn’t mind, we can take you both in at once. We have a double room free.” “Would it be ok with you if Rarity came along too?” Applejack asked Fluttershy, who nodded as a response.  “Alright. Rarity, Fluttershy, follow me." Nurse Redheart responded. "And, Applejack, was it? You’re the one that registered Fluttershy in, so you can come too… if you want.”  “Oh, it’d be my pleasure.” “Can Spike and Pinkie Pie here come too?” Rarity asked, pointing to the two. “They helped me get here.” “Sure, sure.” Nurse Redheart said. “Now follow me, girls… Can both of you walk on your own?” Applejack helped Fluttershy stand back up from the couch, saying: “Yeah. I think she’ll be fine.” The five friends followed Nurse Redheart into the depths of the hospital, and when they had been walking for a while, she then opened one of the doors on the right side of the hallway.  “Here we go… This is the room. Be careful now…” Applejack led the blind Fluttershy in first, and laid her on the right bed. Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike came in afterward and Rarity sat on the left bed. The whole room was white as one would expect from a hospital, but it didn’t have all the mechanical equipment that was found in ordinary rooms, which probably meant this was just a diagnosis room.  “Dr. Horse will arrive here shortly to help you, Miss Rarity.” Nurse Redheart said, turning towards the right bed. ”I’ll focus on Fluttershy here. So, something about boiling water, was it?” “Mmhm.” Applejack responded in place of Fluttershy. “She was cooking at her home and the soup pot fell over. I think some got on her fur, too…” Nurse Redheart stepped closer to the patient, and asked. “Could I take a little look at your eye, Miss Fluttershy? It might hurt, but… I need to know how bad the damage is.” Fluttershy swept her mane away from her face to let Nurse Redheart look. Her eye was still closed, so the nurse had to force it open.  “Eek!” Fluttershy yelped in pain.  “Just sit there, ok, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. “It’s gonna be ok now.” Nurse Redheart soon took her hooves away, sighing.  “I’m not entirely sure, but… I don’t think there's much chance for the eye to fully recover, ever. The water must have burnt through the lens in her eye.  “Is Fluttershy not going to see anymore??” Pinkie asked, outraged. “I’m afraid this eye is beyond repair.” Nurse Redheart said, looking sympathetic.