//------------------------------// // 02 - An Expected Misfortune // Story: To Walk Again // by Cxcd //------------------------------// [Rusty’s Mind, 5/5/3210, Two Sister’s Reunion] Buck. Buck. Buck. Buck. I thought I had died. I really, truly hoped I had died. But for some reason, my consciousness kept holding on. Like a dangling filly, I could not escape it. I think I’m asleep? No, I know I’m asleep. Floating in some black void. I can’t see my coat, but I’m sure it would’ve been stained with blood. I can hear voices. I had thousands of eyes on me. Maybe I was dead? Maybe this is hell, and the eyes are those I’ve directly tormented. They’ve come back for me. They’re restless. The voices, though… They sounded… comforting? Actually, I think I hear the voices of the mares who had saved me. I could definitely hear Fluttershy. What about the other ones? I tried really hard to redeem myself in the final hours. I could feel my end. Like a pre-death breath of fresh air. I had hoped I could breathe again. The lavender unicorn spoke of a mysterious power… friendship? I knew the concept, but I had never had friends. She promised forgiveness. She promised open-hooves. Why was I so foalish to listen to her insane ramblings? The pain had came back, again. Every little while, something would hurt. In the beginning, everything did. But as the hour went on, I could feel myself being administered drugs, another point to my theory of still being alive. They were doing something to me. It started out with pain of the back-legs, like they were doing something. But a little while later, I had lost all feeling back there. Then, my right-hoof. It was more sudden than the back legs, but like my back legs, the pain dissipated. But I swear, there’s something more missing. More than just the pain. It was like matter itself was sucked away from me. My torso still hurt. It was still fire. My head throbbed. Why couldn’t they do anything to help against that? Probably the worst would be the atrophy. I can feel my body loosing weight. I can feel myself loosing pounds. My once bulky earth-pony figure had quickly devolved into a lanky mess. I can only assume, though. Maybe they were purposefully malnutritioning me? Getting me ready for prison whenever I woke up? If they were so adamant on locking me behind bars, why would they care so much to save my life? Just so I can shrivel behind the bars? It didn’t add up. This didn’t make sense. I can feel their hooves, pressing into my chest. What were they up to? If they could lay off it for a while, that would be great. [Ponyville, 5/5/3210, Two Sister’s Reunion] “The fluid has gone down quite a bit.” The Nurse said to the mare, standing on the other side of the bed. The patient in the middle of the room, Miss Rusty Gear, had tubes and wires hooked up to her. The once ginger-coat had faded in color, leaving a pale ghostly presence, like her body was drained of blood. Which, for lack of a better term, absolutely had been. “Will she be alright?” The unicorn pressed. The nurse could only shrug her shoulders. “I’ll give you the same answer this week as last, and the same next week, too.” She said. Her grammar confused the pony. “There is truly no way of telling. She’s… stable today. She might not be tomorrow. Miss Gear is so badly banged up, we are pushing into the realm of theoretical healing if we’re not careful.” Twilight had expected this answer. It had already been a month since the fall of King Sombra. But the answer still hurt. If it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t be in this position. Twilight thought to herself. I should’ve let the others fight King Sombra. I should’ve guided her to safety. She was already so badly injured, why did I just leave her there? Twilight just laid orange flowers on top of the patient’s lap. She looked at the closed eyes of the mare, and started talking. It began with an apology, then slowly diverted into her day. Then the others day. Sprinkled in was a little bit of crying, a little bit more apology, and finally a farewell, just in case she didn’t make it till her next visit. This repeated for a long time. [Manehattan, 1/17/2203, Celestia’s Solo Reign] “Holy shit! We are dining fancy tonight!” Herb said, kicking his hooves in front of himself, vaguely looking like a horse for a moment. I liked to see him excited. It was almost comforting. For almost a year, we’d been in this blasted homeless shelter. This is where we met, after all. Finally, even if it was for a few days, we could pretend to be any pony else. We excitedly grabbed our cloaks, and left the shelter. This was it! Our first real date. I just wanted to be near him. I just want to feel his warmth against my coat. I just wanted to see him smile. And tonight, I was going to get all of those, tenfold. As we entered the restaurant, his lime-green coat reflected the incoming light, illuminating the waiting area. The person leading us to our seats gave us the side-eye. Not only were we wearing the shabbiest-looking cloaks, but we were both sixteen. All the other Mares and Stallions looked down at us with an evil eye. The buck were their problem? A twinge of anger built as I met the eyes of a Stallion. He had a white mustache, and was sipping on what I could only assume was grape-juice. He got to eat like this everyday, and the one time common-pony wanted some of it too, he gazed at us like we were animals. I wanted to watch his body burn. I wanted to watch his family burn. I- A hoof was gently rested across my backside. Herb could feel me getting angry, and calmed me down. I only then realized my face was lighting up red with anger. The anger slowly changed to embarrassment, then blushing. God, he was hot. How could I get so lucky? And why did his parents abandoned such a handsome foal? Maybe he was ugly when he was a foal. That didn’t matter. What mattered now was his soft gaze into my eyes. We were seated next to a window. Outside, snow built up on the ground, and around the window sill. Ponies marched around outside, trying to out-pace the snowflakes. I softly laughed as I saw one slip. A feeling came from my abdomen. I looked down to see Herb had placed a napkin on my lap with his magic. “So fancy.” I said, redirecting my attention to the stallion across from me. “Fancier than anywhere I’ve been.” He said, lowering his head slightly. “Mind telling me where you got these bits from?” I contemplated for a moment. He would understand. But I decided against it, just shaking my head instead. “That's about what I expected.” He said, smiling deviously. The menus soon came later, and we both made the choice to buy the most expensive things we could find. I proposed a plate of pasta linguine, with a healthy helping of sliced tomato, and some cheese, all for only 50 bits. That was more than my month’s wage. Herb spoke up, instead pointing towards a dandelion truffle, worth 60 bits. The price only increased, as our bill reached 200 bits. We had enough to pay for it, obviously. But the taste of that meal was nothing like I’d ever had before. Of course, the feeling was amplified by the cute Herb sitting across. That had to be the night I would never forget. [Rusty’s Mind, 5/5/3210, Two Sister’s Reunion] And I never did forget it. That was the night before Herb took the blame on the murder of Mr Clover. Everypony I touched turned out bad because of me. Maybe it was better if I had died. I kept replaying the same situation in my head, over and over again. What if I took the blame? Would I be rotting in a prison-cell instead? Would Herb be the pony currently unconscious from trying to save his only friend in the world? Why couldn’t I die? I wanted to die. I want to die. [Ponyville, 8/10/3210, Two Sister’s Reunion] Twilight burst through the door. A temporarily stunned Spike dropped the pile of books he was holding, sprawling across the floor. He rubbed his head tentatively with his claws. “Twilight? Why’d you-” He suddenly noticed the large smile across her face. He had not seen her like this for a long time. Not since the Crystal Empire, at least. “Whoa… What’s gotten to you?” “What’s gotten into me? Nurse Redheart just announced Rusty is going to wake up!” Twilight pranced around the room like a filly, bounding up and down around the small dragon. “Wait… they can just do that? Why has she been in a coma for so long then?” The small dragon questioned. “Well, silly, they want to give her time to heal. If she starts walking and talking before she’s had time to heal, she might cause even more damage. Keeping her in a medically-endued coma is the safest way to keep her alive.” Twilight explained, stopping momentarily before continuing her bouncing. “With that out of the way, we need to start planning.” “Planning?” Spike cocked his head, looking towards Twilight. His head started spinning, trying to keep track of the bounding mare. She stopped suddenly, and turned towards Spike. “Of course! I volunteered to keep her until shes on her hooves. We also have to have a welcome-back party-” Spike stopped her right there. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. No party. Na-hah. No way. This pony has been in a coma for four months. I think she just wants to… exist… for a little while. The party can happen after she recovers.” Spike scolded Twilight. She looked like someone deflated her, slinking to the floor. Spike suddenly saw a very uncanny relationship between her and Pinkie Pie. “Oh, alright. But we still need to find a place where she can sleep.” “Right… When does she get discharged?” “Well, she’s going to wake up tomorrow, and if there are NO complications, she should be out within the week.” “Great! That gives us plenty of time to prepare! Just one question.” “Go ahead, Spike.” “Can she… walk?” … “No.” [Rusty’s Mind, 5/6/3210, Two Sister’s Reunion] How long had I been asleep for? I could feel myself deteriorating. Memories kept becoming fuzzier, and faces of ponies had become nothing more than static. I wasn’t in hell. I could feel myself in the real world. I was just trapped in my mind. Well, trapped as much as you can. Maybe if I tried pulling myself out, I could wake up. But to be fair, what was on the other side? The Royal Guard ready to arrest me? A damp jail cell? No. I couldn’t deal with that. But I couldn’t deal with forgetting, either. Either I rot in purgatory until my memories are nothing more than a fine sheet of see-through paper, or I wake up, and rot in a jail cell, still intact. Buck. I had to wake up. I was in so much pain. I was in so much pain. I was- I started to cry. When was the last time I’d cry before? When I was a little filly? I didn’t want to go back to reality, but I couldn’t let my memories atrophy like this. My sense of time was so distorted, I really, really didn’t know how long I’d been out for. Finally, I grabbed out. I could feel the tension in reality, pulling myself out of the pit. Finally, I could move my hooves. The pain started to lessen. Instead, I felt like I’d been asleep for a long time. The knots in my shoulders and neck were not a good sign. I opened my eyes. I wasn’t awake yet, but I could finally see the void. My amber coat glowed back at me. I felt reality, like swimming to the surface from the deep end of the pool. I was so scared. God, I was so scared. What would await me on the other side? Buck.