[Ponyville, 5/15/3210, Two Sister’s Reunion]
The sunlight had protruded from the open window, shining onto my eyelids. The dancing light forced me awake as I looked outside the window. For a moment, I saw the familiar monotonous gray skies. A blink took that vision away.
Last night, I had a dream. A very, very strange dream. I’d been avoiding sleep ever since I was discharged from the hospital. Maybe that wasn’t the best idea. I’ve crashed before, but I’ve never crashed that hard before.
The dream started out as a nightmare at first. But instead of ending in bloodshed, waking up in a pool of my own tears, the dream manifested into… a picnic?
Yes- a picnic on a large, billowing green hill under a lush tree, looking over Ponyville. The place seemed familiar. Like I’d been near the area, but never sat on that specific hill. I remember watching the ponies doing their tasks, like busy ants of a larger colony. Oddly, it was silent melody.
There were also two ponies, both of which towered over me. The first, who I could only assume was a stallion based on it’s snout-shape, was nothing more than a blurry mess that hurt to look at. The second pony was a yellow pegasus. Although her face was still blurred, I could faintly make out her cyan eyes peering back at me. The caring eyes of a mother.
Had these two ponies been my parents? Was it a gateway to the past, or just an interpretation of my imagination? I rolled onto my back, and stared up at the ceiling. If my mother was a pegasus, why didn’t I have wings? I would’ve loved wings.
The previous night, I had positioned pillows to break my fall in case I accidentally fell out of bed during an episode. But today, with a clear mind, I purposefully fell out of bed. The pillows catching my fall. With a single hoof, I slowly inserted my dangling legs into the carriage mechanism I’d designed a day before. Although still a prototype, having the ability to walk was an incredibly liberating feeling. If I hadn’t been so foalish, I wouldn’t be in this position.
But that was neither here nor there.
Slowly, I inched my way down the troubling steps, making sure not to slip a wheel. I don’t want to end up in the hospital. Again.
The smell of pancakes infiltrated my nostrils, temporarily taking my mind off of the shuffling. Somepony was cooking, and I had to get a taste. I practically floated over to the source of the smell, descending yet another small staircase deeper into the tree.
“Up early today, Rusty?” The lavender unicorn said, not taking her eyes off of the daily newspaper. She was sitting at a table, out of the way of the main kitchen. The kitchen in question was small, with a single stove positioned against the wall, under a window. At the stove was Twilight’s favorite assistant, Spike the Dragon.
“Oh- I guess. What’s the time?” I asked, rolling my way towards the table.
“Based on the sun, I would say it’s about… nine?” She said, looking up and sticking a hoof in front of her eye, closing the other.
“Hey, Rusty. Ready for some breakfast?” The predominately male voice stated. Why was Spike the only male in this entire town? Half the hospital staff were mares, and she’d barely seen any stallions on the streets. Back in The Crystal Empire, it was about a 1:1 ratio.
“Yes please, Spike.” I said with an enthusiastic nod. Spike looked back at me for a moment, then went back to flipping pancakes. However, he stopped mid flip, and looked at me again.
“Whoa. Maybe you don’t need any pancakes.”
“Why’s that?”
“Did you gain ten pounds overnight?” The dragon asked, piercing my comfort zone. My cheeks went red, as I stared at the small dragon. To my left, I could hear Twilight spitting her drink all over the table in front of her, surely ruining her copy of the local newspaper.
“Sp-hike!” She said, clearing her airways of any residual droplets of coffee. “You don’t say that to somepony! Anypony!” She looked at him not with anger, but surprise at his sudden remark.
“Sorry. Geez, I wouldn’t have said anything if I knew it’d offend you so much.”
“Ahem- What Spike means to say is- You’re looking a lot healthier.” Twilight said, looking back at me with a forced smile. Although the comment itself was insulting, I didn’t take it that way. Spike was right. I do feel healthier.
“I don’t mind, trust me. Recovery is a long process- or whatever the doctors said.” I explained, trying to force my voice into an upbeat tone. I started slipping out of my wheel-chair, transitioning my body onto the chair across from Twilight at the table. Finally, with a thunk against the ground, I was sitting at the table.
“So… have any weird dreams last night?” Twilight said, finally putting down her paper. She cocked her head at me, while giving my an inquisitive grin.
“Huh- funny you say that-”
“Anything with Princess Luna?” She said, raising her voice a few octaves. Now that she mentioned it, I do remember conversing with Princess Luna for a few moments, before slipping into my personal picnic.
“Wait. I do remember something with- how the hay did you know that?” My face contorted into one of a flabbergasted pony.
“I may or may not have sent a letter to Princess Luna before knocking you out.” She said with a devilish grin.
“You sly dog, you.” I said, laughing as she made a face. The pancakes were placed in front of us by a Dragon who could barely reach a table. With a satisfied grin, he pranced back to the stove to pour himself noticeably larger pancakes than ours. I pretended not to notice, as Twilight smiled at the Dragon’s selfishness.
“If you don’t mind me asking, Rusty. What was the dream about?” Twilight said, before indulging on her breakfast.
“Oh. I should’ve seen this question coming. Umm-” I wanted to put a hoof on my chin, but that would only make me face-plant into the pancakes.
“Cmon, you can be honest with me.” Twilight was still in the middle of stuffing her face.
“Well, therapy is non-judgmental, right?” Twilight stopped eating for a moment, taking a cursory glance at me.
“Rusty, was it a wet-dream?”
“What? No! Of course not, Twilight. I’m not a perv.”
“Someponies can’t help it. Especially pegasi. You should see Rainbow when she gets aroused.”
“Twilight, please!” I said, the red in my cheeks returning once again. “It was nothing like that. It was about… before.”
“Oh. Bad memories?”
“Yeah- but the nightmare was interrupted by Luna.”
“Princess Luna.”
“Sorry- Princess Luna. She shifted the dream to a happy one. It was a picnic with two ponies.”
“Two ponies? Who?”
“Well, I could only assume they were the stand-ins for my real parents, who I never knew. My dad was just a blur, I can’t remember anything about him, but my mom was… a yellow pegasus. With cyan eyes. I remember that much.” With this, Twilight stopped eating again, shooting me an inquisitive look. She went back to her food, before stopping yet again, slapping a hoof to her forehead.
“What?” I asked.
“I think I- Hmm.” She said, looking towards the floor. “Rusty, do you know what naming-dreams are?”
“Nope.”
“Well, after a mare has her foal, she has dreams about what the foal should be named. Like for instance, my grand-mother saw a setting moon over a horizon, and named my mom Twilight, who then named me.”
“Your mom’s name is Twilight, too?”
“Yes. Now, I wonder about that dream of yours, whether its something similar.” She looked longingly at her half-eaten pancakes. I could tell she decided to stop eating for a moment to explain this when she looked back up at me. “Rusty, I think you have childhood trauma.”
“Well, duh. I was abandoned. That’s sure to have some lasting affects.”
“Right, but I was thinking… What if you still are, in some way, searching for a mom?”
“Like how?”
“I mean- your still looking for a mom, subconsciously. Somepony to take you under their wing. I can tell by your face, does that ring a bell?”
“Actually, it does.” I tried remembering. “Back when I was captured by Canterlot, I remember immediately swayed towards Princess Celestia after she treated me nice. Then, recently with that dream, I think I treated Princess Luna like my mom.”
“But those are princesses. Anypony whose anypony would act like that to them. Any other examples?”
“Umm. Not really, no.”
“Are you sure? Because I have an idea.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know a certain somepony who treated you like their child.”
“What? Who?”
“A certain yellow pegasus with cyan eyes.”
“Like the one in my dream?”
“Yeah. I’ll ‘introduce’ you to her later. For now, eat your food, foal. It’s getting cold.”
“But Twilight! I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“If I lift my hoof, I’ll headbutt the table.”
[The Crystal Empire, 4/4/3210, Two Sister's Reunion]
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, Rusty.” The yellow pegasus said with a sympathetic expression.
“Of course she has to do it, she got us here in the first place!” Rainbow dash floated above the small group. For the past hour, we had been making preparations for the assassination of King Sombra. Now, that we’re actually here, I began feeling a familiar chest-tightening sensation in my lungs. What was wrong with me? I’ve never had panic attacks before, at least until the other day.
“Rainbow! I, for one, completely forgive her.” Fluttershy said, coming to my side. Surprisingly, I don’t remember the last time somepony had tried to defend me before. I’d always been on my own.
“Yeah, and if we get out of here alive-” That made my heart drop. “-then I’ll throw you a ‘congratulations, you’re not dead’ party!” Pinkie Pie bounced up and down. Although she was trying to lighten the mood, I could still feel the bones in my legs get progressively weaker.
“Okay, if we could go over the plan one more time?” Twilight said, hovering over a long piece of parchment with blueprints on the other side. Presumably, she found it on the ground and wrote an entire novel on the back.
“I don’t mean to upset you, but this’ll be the sixth time you went over the plan.” I said, somehow maintaining a non-quivering voice.
“And the fifth time wasn’t too much?” She retorted. “Anyway- Rusty, you will lure King Sombra into the workshop and position him in front of, or near, the boiler. Then, I’ll throw the shield spell, and blow up the boiler. Sound good?”
“Perfect.” I said. Although I sounded confident, my head only began to spin as the ponies continued to work. Were the walls always that shade of black? Never-mind.
“So.” I said, regaining the attention of the six other mares. “I guess it’s time?” I said. My voice came out as a long, drawn out whisper. Quieter than I intended. I only got some looks from the other mares as they tried desperately to read the expression on my face.
“Are you alright, Rusty?” The familiar voice of Fluttershy rung out across my ears. On my shoulder, I felt a hoof. The wave of euphoria made me snap back for a moment or two as I looked at Fluttershy in her cyan eyes. I’ve never felt this way towards anypony. Not even Herb.
“Y-yeah.”
“You don’t sound alright. Wanna sit down?” She said, to which I promptly planted my flank on the ground. When was the last time I ate? Must’ve been over a thousand years ago.
“Your looking green, dear.” I heard the voice of Rarity call out to me. However, my gaze was directed solely towards the ground. I wanted to tell them how bad of a pony I’ve been. I want them to understand this will be my last ‘rodeo.’ I want them to see my true colors. But as I sat there, I could only feel a sense of uncomfortableness as I couldn’t find my words.
“Do you want to say something?” Fluttershy said, once again her words washing away doubt for a moment.
“G-guys. Listen.” I finally caught my breath. I kept staring at the ground as I explained. “I’m not a good pony.”
“Don’t say that-” Rainbow dash was going to say, before I kept talking.
“I’m not. I’ve caused so, so much death. And yes, I mean death. I’ve seen ponies brains across walls.” I closed my eyes, partially to distance myself from their faces. “And I will never be pure again. I want to redeem myself. I do. But I don’t think any amount of redeeming will cleanse the acts I’ve done.” I kept waiting for a few more moments, eyes still closed.
“Is that it?” Pinkie Pie said, breaking the short-lived silence. “All of that wooziness for something we already know?”
“What?”
“Rusty.” The voice of Applejack rang out. “We’ve seen our fair share of villains in our times. Nopony has been so willing to change than you.”
“What matters is whats happening right now. So what if you’ve done a few evil deeds? I know someponies who’ve done so, so much worse.” Twilight said.
“Really?”
“Yes, really. I don’t want any of that sap from you. Now, get out there and show King Sombra whose boss!”
“O-oh. Alright. I guess.” I said, shakily breaking my shoulder from Fluttershy’s hoof. Without looking at the group, I kept walking until nearly colliding with a door. I gave one last reassuring glance towards the group, all of which looked concerned for me. Alright. This was it. I going to kill King Sombra.
The second I left the workshop, I collapsed on the floor. God dammit, I had shown them such strength. I convinced them I was able to deal with this, yet here I was, almost sobbing on the floor.
The chest tightening became much worse, and no matter how hard I tried, my legs refused to respond. I closed my eyes and listened to my own shaky breathing and rapidly increasing heartrate.
I wanted to kill the prick, I really did. But in that moment, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
That was until I felt a hoof on my shoulder.
If was Fluttershy again. Did she have some hidden sixth sense of when mares act like fillies? That didn’t matter. What did was how overly welcoming her hoof felt on my shoulder. I could feel my chest start breathing again, and I could feel my legs suddenly regain blood flow.
“You have to do this. For me.” She said. I could almost feel energy drooping off her hoof into my own body. Maybe I could do this. “When this is all over, I want to give you a tea party, sit down together, and talk. Maybe even go to the spa. I-if that’s okay with you.” I took a sharp, shaky breath inwards, and released it as a soft laugh.
“I’ve never been to the spa before.”
“Oh. Me and Rarity go there all the time. It’s really quite nice.”
“Even after everything I’ve done? You’re willing to take me in like that?”
“Of course.” She paused for a moment, hoof still planted. “Rusty, did you ever have parents?” This question struck me as odd, and out of place. But, at the same time, it was going to eventually be asked. I just didn’t expect it so soon. Maybe when we got out of here. If we got out of here.
“No, Fluttershy. I didn’t. I grew up in a box on the side of a street.”
“Oh dear. If you could find your parents again, would you?”
“No offense, Fluttershy, but I’ve been displaced over 1,000 years into the future. Anypony over the age of two hundred that I knew is probably dead. Parents included.”
“Oh. Of course. Sorry for asking.” They sat like that for a few moments. “But- if you could go back and be with your parents again, would you?”
“I dunno. Honestly, I think I would. They might be raging snot-holes, but I would love just to… look at them.”
“If you ever want to feel comfort again, Rusty… I need you to be strong and get King Sombra down here.” Oh, right. That’s why we were doing this.
Buck it, I feel better. Mentally reinvigorated. I can do this. I have the mental capacity to do this. I’ve been training all my hundred-and-fifty-one years of living for this. This wasn’t any harder than brushing my teeth in the morning. I could feel the suspense building up, my head gaining perkiness as I stared down the empty hallway. Alright. I can do this.
“Yeah. Thanks, m-Fluttershy.” I gave her hoof a slight pat, and stood up from my fetal position.
Time to go get this sum-bitch.