//------------------------------// // Looking Back // Story: Fizzlepop's Past // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// She wasn't sure what had happened, or how long she had been here. Minutes? Hours? Days? She was in a bedroom, that was the most obvious point. She sat on the edge of a twin bed, on a comforter patterned with sparkles and lightning bolts. An oak three-tier dresser was on the adjacent wall. But when she looked into the mirror, she didn't see a reflection. Even glancing down to the body sitting on the bed, she didn't see anything. When she thought really hard about it, she remembered... A potion? Yes, she had taken a potion from a friend. Was it an invisibility potion? Was she testing it for this friend? She couldn't quite remember what it was, or who she had gotten it from, just that she was anxious to do so, and that she trusted them. Every other detail seemed to be just beyond her mental reach. For now, all that was clear was this bedroom. It certainly seemed fit for somepony young. Was she young? How old was she? How long had she been here? She had a feeling that continuing to look for answers to these questions would just frustrate her. Perhaps for now, it was best to just be in the moment. And in that moment, the bedroom door slowly creaked open. A young, unicorn filly trotted into the room before kicking the door closed with a hind leg. The first detail she noticed about the filly was her broken horn, quickly followed by the white bandage taped over her right eye. She had a dark orchid coat, and her cutie mark was a pair of exploding blue and pink fireworks. The more she looked at this filly, the less she was concerned with her own invisibility predicament, instead wondering what had happened to her. She had clearly been hurt, and recently, as she had to double check herself as she tried to open one the bottom dresser drawer with her magic, only for her horn to spark, fizzle, and pop. She groaned frustratingly before resorting to pulling it open with her hooves. "Um, hi there?" She asked the filly who proceeded to dig through the articles of clothing in the drawer. The filly didn't acknowledge the voice at all, and now she was wondering if it would be a good idea to continue trying to get her attention. After all, until this invisibility wore off, it might not be the best decision to make her think that a disembodied voice was here with her in the room. After half a minute of digging through clothes, the filly came out with a soft cloth purple bucket hat, brighter and richer than her coat, and tugged it on over her head, concealing her broken horn. It was now that she noticed all the magic-related items around the bedroom. Posters of wizards, books with fantastical sounding titles lining the bookshelf. Clearly, this filly was quite passionate about all things magical. From the bandage over her eye, she surmised that this injury had just happened. She wasn't 100% sure of who she was or what she was doing here, but she had a growing feeling that it was tied to this little one, and was content to sit and watch her as she began to dig through her toy box. Gallus was up at the crack of dawn, standing in front of one of the mirrors in the armory in the castle basement, several dirty rags and a bottle of protective oil polish on the bench next to him. Though his physical prowess was improving steadily, one of the areas he had been struggling with early on was his appearance, and keeping his armor clean. Knowing what he wanted to do, he got up before the night shift was relieved, and sat in the armory and spent an hour buffing and polishing his armor, getting it looking as new as the day Rarity had given it to him. Doing one final inspection of his helmet from every angle before slipping it on, he turned and exited out of the armory and into the hall, going straight to the stairs and up to the foyer. Today was technically his day off, but it didn't feel right to have a day off when the pony who had given him this chance was fighting for a full recovery in the hospital, and there was now an extra slot in the duty roster for ponies to keep watch outside her room. So after a small breakfast in the dining hall, the griffon headed out the front doors of the castle, and marched from the north side of town to the south side, directly to the Ponyville General Observation Wing, where he found Captain Thunderlane standing watch outside of Lieutenant Colonel Berrytwist's room. "Captain Thunderlane, sir." Gallus announced, saluting with his right wing. "You're not on duty this morning, Private. What can I do for you?" The charcoal pegasus asked, beginning to look visibly tired from standing watch the second half of the night after taking over for Amethyst at midnight. "I'm aware of that, sir. I'd like to volunteer for the next watch, sir." Gallus replied. Thunderlane looked the E.U.P.'s newest recruit up and down, and noticed that his armor looked better than it had in weeks. "If you insist, rookie. The watch is yours. I'll make sure you're relieved at lunch." Thunderlane told the griffon. Thunderlane stepped to the side, and let Gallus take his place and stand at parade rest just beside the door to Fizzlepop's room. He glanced in, seeing his commander still unconscious on the bed, and her mother just waking up in the chair next to her. With another pony on watch, he might as well get her some breakfast before he headed back to the castle for some of his own food, and some rest. He was halfway to the cafeteria when he encountered Grubber, coming in with a plastic tub full of fresh muffins, and a backpack on his shoulders. "Morning, Captain. I was just on my way to give you a couple of these." The hedgehog said, opening the tub and offering a muffin to the pegasus. "Thanks, Grubber. Was just about to get some breakfast for Miss Soapberry." "Nope. No guest of Fizzlepop, no matter the crisis, is getting hospital food for breakfast. Plenty of muffins to go around." Grubber replied, continuing down the hall, tossing a muffin to Gallus before walking into the room. "Good morning, Miss Soapberry. Got fresh warm muffins for you." Grubber greeted, again taking the lid off of the plastic tub and offered her one. "Thank you, Grubber. It's been quite a restless night for me." Soapberry told him, accepting the warm blueberry muffin he was offering. "Has she woken up at all?" Grubber asked, looking at the unicorn worriedly. "For only a few minutes early last night. The doctor says she's going to spend nearly the entire time deep in her memories because of Zecora's potion and the Timberwolf venom. Grubber set the tub of muffins down on the table, and took off his backpack. He unzipped it and reached inside, coming out with a small plushie of Princess Twilight. "I know she'd want this." He said, coming up to her bed and tucking it under her left leg. "Sweet dreams, Fizzlepop."