//------------------------------// // Bygones // Story: A Happy Accident // by ScriptScrolls //------------------------------// Author’s Note: For those of you who may be confused, Dr. Stable (a.k.a. Stable, M.D.) is the currently accepted name for the doctor in Season 2, Episode 16: “Read it and Weep.” (He is the unicorn with the heart monitor cutie mark.) Bygones ~~~~~~~~~~ A Happy Accident By ScriptScrolls ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Well, our best bet at this point would be to gather what knowledge we can. Perhaps reading up on romance and rela--” Twilight began eagerly before being cut off by the stallion’s voice. “Uh, ah don’t think books will be of much use here, Twilight,” Braeburn dissented, shaking his head. “Hmm, perhaps you’re right,” she admitted. Twilight put her hoof to her chin and concentrated for a few seconds before her eyes shot wide and a smile began to creep onto her face. “I’ve got a plan.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nurse Redheart wheeled her patient through the magical sliding-glass doors of the Ponyville Hospital. She took a moment to stare at the doors, trying her best to imagine the skill it must require to cast such a complex spell. The white mare quickly released the thought and concentrated on getting Caramel some medical attention. “Is there a consulting room open?” she questioned the mare behind the counter. The orange unicorn continued calmly filing her hoof and didn’t even bother to make eye contact with the impatient nurse. Infuriated with the young mare’s impudence, Nurse Redheart smacked a hoof forcefully on the counter, causing the unicorn to jump in surprise. “A room, if I may?” the nurse uttered through clenched teeth. The secretary smiled sheepishly and pointed out a room adjacent to the large desk she sat behind. Nurse Redheart shot her a look and gave a displeased hmph before pushing Caramel in the indicated direction. The amber pony was growing tired of being wheeled around as if he were some ancient retiree. “I can walk, you know,” he said irritably to the white mare as they approached the room. The nurse merely smiled and giggled softly in amusement. “Oh, of course I know that!” she exclaimed with a cheeky smirk. “You were walking when I came to get you; I... I just thought this might be a tad more fun,” Nurse Redheart trailed off, blushing noticeably through her white coat. They entered the consulting room, and Caramel stood up, stretching after having to sit in the uncomfortable wheelchair for so long. “Why did we even have to come to the hospital? Wouldn’t your clinic have been good enough?” the coffee-colored stallion questioned, yawning slightly after asking. Nurse Redheart started to paw at the tile floor with her hoof, avoiding eye contact deliberately. “Uh-m, funny story about that actually... I may have accidentally broken the X-ray machine... heh,” she chuckled nervously. Caramel frowned slightly, sympathizing greatly with the abashed mare. He had, after all, a large deal of infamy for his constant misfortune--something often mistaken for incompetence. Noise from a heated conversation just outside the door began to increase in volume as the two stallions approached it. Both the nurse and her patient turned to look at the shadows cast on the translucent window. “I am the single most qualified doctor in this hospital. Members of the royal court themselves take the hour-long carriage ride from Canterlot for my diagnoses. Princess Celestia herself appointed me the official doctor for the Elements of Harmony. So please, Dr. Forecolt, remind me why in Equestria I have to listen to ponies complain about their stomach aches and impotence!” “Because if you don’t, the Board of Trustees will fire both of us! Professor Scalpel already wants your head for the ‘tour’ of the psych ward you gave to his pupils last week. Some of the students are still suffering nightmares.” “Heh heh heh... So, let me get this straight. Because some interns lack a sense of humor, I have to waste time I could be spending diagnosing my patient on ponies with no real issues?” “When you put it that way, yes! Now get in there before I fire your sorry flank to cover my own!” A grunt came from outside the door before the doctor pushed it open. At first glance he appeared to be a normal physician; he wore a white lab coat, and his cutie mark was a heart-rate monitor--an obvious indication of medical expertise. After the first few milliseconds, however, both Caramel and the nurse realized he was no ordinary doctor. He had a familiar amber coat and coffee-colored mane with the odd wrinkle and strand of grey respectively. A death-like silence stormed the room, occupying it with such oppression that all any of the three ponies could hear were their own heartbeats and the soft hum of the heating system. Nopony breathed. Wind blowing waves of air past the window became the only perceptible movement. The doctor’s mind searched for something to say as his mouth which lay ajar moved up and down slightly. Caramel gulped and with wide eyes addressed a pony he presumed he’d never see in this life. “Dad?” The doctor stood frozen on his hooves, unable to process his surroundings. It simply couldn’t be. He could no longer count how many years since he last saw the stallion who now stood before him. ‘Stallion,’ he thought to himself, and it was true; Caramel had grown into an adult. That fact alone, more than his re-appearance, shocked Dr. Stable into a depressed silence as a tear came to his eye--one not of happiness, but of grief. He had missed seeing his only child grow up. He had missed teaching him how to put on horseshoes. He had missed playing hoofball with him. He had even missed teaching him about fillies and the facts of life. The foal he had held in his hooves over a decade past stood before him: now a stallion in his own right. Stable remembered how alike Caramel’s appearance had been to his own, even as a newborn, but he couldn’t believe just how much of his physical composition he had passed down. ‘Pretty much the only thing I ever gave him as a father,’ he mentally snorted. While he knew the circumstances under which he had lost Caramel, Stable doubted his son remembered. Even if he did, Cinnamon had most likely made sure he recalled it quite differently. Thinking of his wife now proved too much for Stable to bear as he collapsed to his haunches. Losing his wife and son had turned him into a cynical and bitter stallion--a pony few tried to befriend and from whom even fewer received any kindness in return. How could anypony expect him to be decent after he had lost his family? Well now, years later, he had gotten something back, and Stable convinced himself he wouldn’t let the only remnant of his family slip away from him again. Stable’s only hope was that Caramel had not followed in his father’s hoofsteps and hardened his heart. “Redheart, could you please wait outside?” he asked monotonously. “Y-yes, Doctor,” came the flat reply. Nurse Redheart slowly left the room, closing the door quietly behind her. “Caramel,” he whispered, shaking his head. “Yeah Pa, it’s me.” Caramel’s eyes had become like dinner plates in size and shade. Minus the horn, he would have believed he was staring at his future self. “I-I can’t believe it... after all these years I find you in the hospital! H-how? Where have you been?” “I was about to ask you the same question,” Caramel said in a somewhat hurt tone. He had been raised a bastard for some of his life and an orphan for the rest of it. All the while his father had been right here--at the village hospital. “Son, I know Mom probably said some uncomplimentary things about me, but I think you should hear my side of the story.” Stable was trying his best to be sincere--an attitude that didn’t fit easily on him. “I don’t reckon’ it’s fair to accuse her of slander,” his son replied curtly. “And why not? She’s guilty of greater crimes!” Stable was beginning to lose his temper. His wife seemed to have turned his only child against him. “Because she’s no longer here to defend herself,” Caramel solemnly explained. His mother’s death still remained a traumatic memory in the far reaches of his mind, suppressed for the purpose of his sanity--not to mention survival. Before finding sanctuary at Sweet Apple Acres, Caramel had endured many grueling years as an orphan: stealing food to avoid dying of starvation, sleeping under anything to avoid the elements, and skipping town before anypony became too suspicious. He couldn’t afford the luxury of grief and depression lest he follow his mother to Discord’s gates--a prospect he had considered once or twice. “I... I’m so sorry; that’s awful! How long ago?” Stable could hardly trust his senses. His son was here, and the mare who birthed him had passed away. Another similar blow and he estimated a self-prescription of antidepressants might be in order. “I don’t remember. I think it was a few years before I earned my cutie mark.” He remembered in detail receiving his cutie mark: three horseshoes marking his talent for physical labor. He hadn’t exactly felt overwhelmingly pleased with it at first--the labor seeming more as means to an end for his continued stay at the Acres. Gradually, however, he enjoyed the calm nature of the work and revelled in the feeling of accomplishment after a difficult day. His father was at a loss for words. The unicorn was utterly astounded at this horrific news. “N-no! That--no! That can’t be! It isn’t right! My son, an orphaned foal while his father lived!” Stable collapsed to the floor, his face almost pressed against it. He began weeping softly, whispering “no” repeatedly as if it were some spell with which he could change the past. Caramel’s previous indifference to his apparent sire dissolved. How could he not be empathetic to a stallion who had also lost his family and spent much of his life in solitude? While he still didn’t know the whole story, the earth pony felt his father--given all the pain he had endured over the years--deserved at least a chance to explain himself. He placed a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. “Tell me what happened, Dad.” ~ ~ ~ Caramel sat silently, hoof still on his father’s shoulder as his open mouth struggled to find a suitable response to the dark tale of his early foalhood. “I-I... dad, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that she...” he said, voice drifting off. “Of course not, how could you know?” Stable assured him sympathetically. “I just... I just can’t believe she’d hide this from me--she lied to me!” Sensing the anger in Caramel’s tone, the unicorn grabbed both his front hooves and hushed him. “Your mother loved you more than anything else in this world, son. Don’t you ever think differently. She only did what she thought was best for you.” “By taking me away from my own father?!” Images of his past flashed before Caramel. Every freezing winter night in a strange town, every day on the streets stealing from market stalls just to survive, and every long, lonely sunset spent wishing for somepony who cared--somepony to tell him everything would be fine. Each memory felt like a small stab in the back. His own mother, the only pony he had ever trusted, betrayed him, and now Caramel realized the horrific truth: none of that ever had to happen. His childhood could have been a simple, pleasant experience with a mother and a father who loved him... but she took it away from him. The earth pony’s face hardened as he sniffed away what weakness had escaped him. “I hate her!” The words echoed in the small room, each reverberation increasing the height of Caramel’s snarled expression. “Don’t say that,” his father said in a flat tone. “And why shouldn’t I?! She has caused me more pain than you know! Why shouldn’t I hate her?! She deserves every bit of it!” “What she deserves is the respect due to the dead, and I will not allow my son to bring himself so low!” “She destroyed my life! She took me away from you and you from me! Why shouldn’t I be angry?!” “Because it doesn’t stop there!” Stable bellowed, scowling at his son. He paused to calm himself and continued, “I have walked down that road son, and it is not one I would wish on anypony, especially you... You start off hating her, but you can only focus your anger for so long. Eventually you just lose control of your anger, and the ponies close to you are the ones who get hurt most. After that... after that, nopony befriends you, and you harden your heart forever.” Caramel stared wordlessly at his father, trying to imagine the pain of losing both a son and a wife. Bowing his head shamefully, the earth pony trotted out the door, where a dumbstruck nurse stood waiting. Caramel cantered past her and out the doors of the hospital. Dr. Stable sighed and also exited the room. Before he could get very far, however, he found two hooves wrapped around his neck. Looking down, he saw a pink mane pressed against his neck. The doctor moved aside the hair with a hoof, and saw two bright blue, tear-filled eyes staring back at him. Tentatively, he wrapped his own hoof around her neck and squeezed gently. “Thank you,” he whispered as he sniffed back his own tears. Nurse Redheart merely smiled and held him tighter. ~ ~ ~ Braeburn shivered as he cantered towards the hospital. Granted, Appleoosa could get quite chilly during the winter, but Ponyville felt downright frigid by comparison. Still, he had a mission, and Braeburn liked to believe perseverance in the face of adversity remained a pillar of his very being. As fate would have it, the very friend he wished to speak to was now trotting out the doors and towards him. Braeburn picked up his pace and smiled. His grin quickly disappeared as he observed Caramel’s troubled expression. “Caramel,” Braeburn called out, “y’alright bud?” His friend turned to face him, a fake smile quickly shrouding his despondency. “Yeah, just great,” Caramel responded, a a sour tinge of sarcasm leaking through the last word. “Now, don’t yah lie ta me, ‘Mel. Ah can see clearer than a spring mornin’ that something’s botherin’ yah. C’mon, tellit,” Braeburn said with a gentle punch to the smaller pony’s shoulder. Caramel’s facade fell, and his voice took on a much flatter tone. “I just saw my dad for the first time I can remember.” Braeburn’s jaw dropped slightly and his eyes widened. “Huh? Wher’? Did he say anythin’?” “He’s been working at the Ponyville Hospital ever since my m-mother took me away,” he responded, voice slightly choked by approaching sobs. “You tol’ me he left her!” Caramel nodded. “That’s what she told me. I guess she wasn’t the mother I thought she was.” Braeburn sighed. “Ah’m sorry for yah, ‘Mel. Gettin’ news like that can’t be easy, but I s’pose yah don’t quite feel ready to talk about it, huh?” Caramel shook his head earnestly. “I wouldn’t even know what to say,” he said flatly, causing Braeburn to frown slightly. “Ah know. But hey, you listen here; when yah need somepony to talk to about it, ah’m here for yah,” he responded, putting a hoof on his shoulder. Caramel gave a small smile, grateful for his de-facto brother’s empathy. “There it is!” Braeburn yelled, laughing. “C’mon, let’s go home.” The two trotted towards Sweet Apple Acres, taking their time to appreciate Spring’s arrival. Various small flowers had begun budding on both sides of the path with a promise of beauty in the near future. Caramel breathed in deeply, allowing the sweet aromas to distract him from his plight. A small, yet bright, yellow flower bending lazily in the wind caught his eye, drawing him towards it. Upon further examination, he noticed the petal tips were adorned with the sweetest shade of pink imaginable. Caramel began to feel an overwhelming urge to pick the flower, rescue it from an ill-starred fate of watching the ponies pass by without a second glance. He reached a hoof towards it, smiling as the flower seemed to bend towards him. Then, he paused. Is it right? Should he really be the one to take this beauty from its home? No, he is not worthy. Caramel backed away slowly, returning to the path. “What was that all ‘bout?” Braeburn questioned, having watched the entire scene unfold without a word. “Nothing,” Caramel replied hesitantly, “nothing at all.” “Now don't you try tah feed me that shit, cuz ah ain't hungry. Ah know a love-struck colt when ah see one.” Caramel averted his gaze and blushed slightly, causing a grin to spread across his friend's face as he continued. “Come on, big fella, who is she? She mus’ be awfully pretty tah deserve a flower like that one there.” The brown-maned stallion huffed and resumed cantering to Sweet Apple Acres, hoping Braeburn would drop the subject entirely. A foreleg around his neck and a hoof in his mane, however, quickly rubbed out any such thoughts. “Agh! Damnit, Braeburn!” Caramel yelled as he attempted to writhe his way out of the larger pony's grasp. “Quit it!” “Ah’m sorry, ah don't think ah caught a name in there! C’mon, who’s caught your eye?" “Nopony’s--urgh--caught my eye!” Braeburn laughed. “Oh come off your high human, will yah? Just tell me her name!” “Fluttershy...” he said in almost a whisper, but not for the sake of his release. A few hooves away, the yellow pegasus stood staring at them. Braeburn turned around and smiled bashfully, hoping his rough-housing hadn’t bothered the young mare. Almost immediately, Fluttershy took off in a gallop, tears streaming from her eyes as she ran. While his friend became utterly shocked by this display, it only managed to depress Caramel. With a sigh, he resumed trotting towards Sweet Apple Acres once more, only to feel the sharp sting of his tail being tugged. “Ow! What in Celestia’s name--” “Shut it!” Braeburn snapped. “Now y'all better explain jus’ what in the hay that was all about--startin’ at the beginnin’.” The brown-maned stallion grumbled, but went on to describe the morning and previous day's transpirations. Braeburn listened quietly, occasionally nodding his head or saying something to the effect of, “Awww! You li’l Roameo, you!” and giving his comrade a thorough nuggie. Eventually, Caramel told him how he had pushed Fluttershy away and that her recent breakdown was a result of what he said. “Why in Equestria would yah say something like that to her?! You’re practically head over hooves for the filly!” “I-... I know. I just don’t want to hurt her.” Braeburn huffed. “Oh please, we both know you’d never hurt a damned fly let alone a sweet little mare like that!” “That’s just it, though,” Caramel said softly. “Remember what Granny Smith said about dreams under a lunar eclipse? How they predict the future?” Braeburn nodded. “I dreamed that... that I... raped Fluttershy!” Tears once again flooded Caramel’s eyes, blurring his vision as they threatened to descend down his cheeks. “Now wait just a second!” Braeburn scoffed. “Y’all don’t honestly believe yah’d do that, do yah? Hell, I’ve known yah for years, ‘Mel; there’s nothin’ even slightly vicious about yah.” “But they always come true, ‘Burn! Every single one!” He stomped a hoof emphatically for the last three words. “Ah don’t care if they’re prophecies from Celestia herself, ah’d never believe anything sayin’ yah’d do somethin’ like that,” Braeburn said quietly, putting a hoof on the other stallion’s shoulders. “Have some faith in yerself... did yah even see yerself do it?” Caramel paused. “No... But I could hear her screams... Sh-she was begging me to st-stop...” A deep nausea filled his stomach, and he had to fight the urge to throw up. Braeburn shook his head. “Ah’m sorry about this nightmare of yers, Caramel, but ah can’t believe, even for a second, that it has any chance of coming true--eclipse or not!” “Well, I don’t plan on finding out.” With that, Caramel began rotting towards the Acres, leaving his friend quite befuddled. “Damn,” Braeburn sighed as he turned towards the library. “Twilight’s in for quite a ride.”